[jet_andy]

Picked myself up a nearly new (6 month old) DVD-97S to use with my 42PV500. I'd read a bit about the Samsung HD950 and although the picture sounded good, it has other less good points. Had read good things about the DVD-S97 as well and just happened across one on ebay. Also had a lot of good Panny products in the past. Very pleased with the HDMI into the PV500, a definate improvement over normal RGB. Tried 1080i and 720p, not a lot to choose bewteen but settled on 720p. Plays my DVD-A nicely as well.

I see it as a good stop gap before HD-DVD or Blue-ray, and even then I don't intend replacing my entire collection with HD discs. Hopefully someone will produce a HD-DVD/Blue-ray player, that ALSO upscales normal DVD. Should get the best of both worlds then.

[Vnb]

I agree that the panasonic is better than the Samsung. I had one for about a week and thought picture wise it was poor, so went back to the panasonic. Admittedly I didn't try hdmi but over component it was inferior, and had far less functionality. SACD was great though and it's a shame the S97 id dvd-a only.

regards,
vnb