I have owned both of these players. Got a 2200 in February for which i paid £499. I was very pleased with the PQ on my Hitachi 42PD3000 plasma but unfortunately there was a slight fault with the player so I had to return it for exchange. This is the silly part! Having already paid for the 2200, and never in a million years being prepared to shell out circa £700 for a 2900 in one go, my twisted logic started to tell me I should pay the extra for the 2900 and upgrade whilst I had the chance (given that I will keep this standard of player for some years) because i only had to pay the difference and I'd had another 2 paydays since forking out for the 2200!! So that is what I did and I am now the very proud owner of a 2900!!
ANYWAY, for me the PQ is very similar between the two but
possibly slightly more depth/detail in dark areas i.e. a black suit lapel. However I do feel that the biggest gain has been in the audio. There seems to be more range from the deep bass to the higher frequencies, it just seems to pick out
everything.
That said, I was mightily impressed with the audio of the 2200 which was a big leap from my previous player, a sony DVPNS700. CD replay is also excellent on both players but pretty much the same applies in respect of this sound as well i.e. the 2900 is definately superior.
Let me stress though that you will not be dissapointed with the 2200, it is very close in performance terms.
One final note, and this gain may outweigh the gain between the two players, I bought a Russ Andrews Classic Powerkord from
http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?lookup=1®ion=UK¤cy=GBP&pf_id=1040&customer_id=PAA2396056104845DZLUHYKZQDSYLBZT and the leap in depth and spaciousness of sound, whether DVD or CD is superb. A 2200 plus mains cable would still be cheaper than a 2900.
Whichever you go for is up to you but rest assured, they will both make you grin from ear to ear!!
Cheers
Pacha