I have to agree with Homedad on the comment about sound. Everyone always asks about picture comparison between upconversion and Blu-ray. Yes the picture is much better but the newer codecs on more recent BD's is incredible.

I am using a Denon 2500 BD player and an Oppo 981. On a standard DVD, I find the pictures very similar. I will usually use the Oppo to play a SD because of a slower load time on the Denon. Although,I should mention the Denon loads faster than my old Sony BDP-300.

Greg