JVC XV-N44SL DVD Player

I owned my first DVD player in late 1998. Back then it was a no-brainer over laser discs as a typical DVD was substantially cheaper. I knew nothing about the new format other than what I read in magazines. The player cost me $421 at the time, did not have progressive-scan and could not play MP3s, DVD-Rs, CD-Rs, JPEGs, or VCDs. It broke down in early '03 and I didn't feel it was worth getting it repaired. The JVC XV-N44SL ran me $100. Let's just say we've come a long way.

Connectivity
This DVD player comes with composite, s-video, and component connections. My guess is that if you bought this player for the progressive scan capability, you only want the component connections but it's such an inexpensive player that you can buy it for your regular television with the intention of upgrading your television later.
Digital audio capabilities can be distributed through it's coax or fiber connection.

Features
As with pretty much all DVD players, the setup menu allows you to choose whether you have a 4:3 or 16:9 display.
There's a switch in the back of the player that configures the DVD player for interlace or progressive output. Or to even allow you to switch between modes using the remote. On my particular monitor (Toshiba 57HDX82), I didn't notice a great difference in picture quality between the interlace and progressive output due to its own ability to up-convert an interlaced signal. I was already pretty satisfied with the old picture coming from my previous interlaced-only DVD player. I'll probably have to switch back and forth between modes for a while to appreciate the difference.
Otherwise, color and picture quality are still great.

As well as your standard features for slow and fast playbacks at multiple speeds, there's also a 1.5 speed playback mode of particular note. This function allows you to play movies at 1.5 times the normal speed AS LONG AS it's not in DTS format in which case it will only play the video at 1.5 times but mute the sound. Subtitles are also displayed. I've found this to be a really nifty feature when finding the film to be extremely boring or are short on time but still don't want to miss anything.

The player has zoom features up to 64x. Don't be fooled. This is a digital zoom and picture quality degrades. It just multiplies the number of pixels exponentially. Pretty much works the same way a digital zoom works on a digital camera versus an optical zoom which would give you more detail.
The small LCD display on the left side of the face of the player displays interlace or progressive output, track, and time played. It's a very small and light DVD player that is so shallow in depth that I can only put it on top of all my other equipment. Nothing can go on top of it - not a VCR, equalizer, or tuner. Not a big problem.


Reason for non-anamorphic 4 border display on 16:9 monitors
Just a quick note on the playback of non-anamorphic media on 16:9 displays. More and more DVD titles are coming out as anamorphic format so I have not found this to be a problem (anamorphic DVDs automatically adjust picture size to the type of monitor you have). However, with respect to the way that the N44 displays non-anamorphic materials with 4 borders (see lessmoss' review at http://www.epinions.com/content_102157422212 where he complains about this) there is probably a good reason for this. Most non-anamorphic formated DVDs display subtitles below the picture. The N44 displays with 4 borders in order to allow viewers the ability to watch with subtitles. For those who don't care about subtitles, they can zoom 1.8 to take full advantage of the 16:9 screen size. Sure, you lose the zoom if you pause the film but I think it's a small price to pay.

Remote
Although the remote is intuitive with great feeling buttons, I have some complaints. One is that the remote buttons are not visible in the dark nor is it backlit. Not a huge complaint given the price range of this unit. But this is a really ugly remote and I find all JVC DVD players have ugly remotes whether you're buying the cheapest one available or the higher end models. Clunky and K-Mart looking come to mind. On a brighter note, that clunkiness is probably why it's a little more durable than a typical remote.
I typically use the universal remote for my receiver anyways but for most people, the remote is not a strong or weak selling point anyways.

Conclusion
Even for those of you who haven't purchased a high-definition monitor or a monitor which can make use of a progressive output this player is great value. And you will always have the ability to utilize the progressive output if you ever replace your television.