You can’t swing a lasso in your local electronics megastore without hitting a bargain-price DVD player that gets all the basic things right. But if you want the very best sound and picture quality that DVD has to offer, plus the newest and coolest technology, you’ll have to skip the rope and focus instead on those players that take advantage of the most exclusive DVD features. Any “most wanted” list would include things like multiple-disc storage and playback, a top-quality progressive-scan video output, DVD-Audio or Super Audio CD (SACD) playback, and DVD recording. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for your credit limit), no single player provides all of these features. So here’s a guide to help you decide which ones belong on your personal “most wanted” list.

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