Nit pick away John...Meridian came to me when we were both discussing "business oportunties". They were proud to explain that the 800 used a Tosh DVD rom at under £100 cost....
Perhaps I should have said most Denons use Panasonic derivative units. Well, DVD 1600, 3300, 2000, 2500
Anyway the bits aren't important. If VIG do some heavy mods the MAX may well be amazing. I've seen the Chris Stephens Modded Marquee 9500LC projector and it's astounding. Much better than a Madrigal MP9 based on same chassis and powered by Interpolator
(and I hope we all agree that Interpolator is rather good scaler)
Best bit though is that I believe your units offer great VFM!
Gordon