Cheap 'supermarket' DVD players often have a performance level that matches their price tag. Stick a cheap DVD player into a small TV and it will look OK; play it into a large television, plasma or projector and you will have completely devalued your system. And it doesn't end there, because the visual performance of cheap DVD players is actually hugely better than their audio performance. In other words, if you buy a cheap DVD player, you may as well not bother buying a decent amp or a decent set of speakers! This is particularly true if you want a DVD player that will play CDs anywhere near as well as a reasonable CD player. You will have to spend at least £200 to get anything you would be happy to sit down and listen to seriously.

At the other end of the scale, reference DVD players, like the Denon DVD-3930 create stunning 3-D images with vibrant colours and awesome sound quality. They're capable of generating the sort of Home Cinema experience that didn't exist 2 years ago at ANY price! But why buy a 'standard' DVD player at all, when Blu-Ray is upon us?! The simple answer is that the new HD machines are not as convincing with existing DVD titles (and how many of those have you got?!), plus, Blu-Ray players tend to come from companies that are not known for their stereo audio quality, so they don't sound anywhere near as good with CDs.