Until now, 1080p upscaling has been reserved for expensive high-end DVD decks, but it's just become a lot more affordable. The Pioneer DV-600AV costs just £150 but comes with full 1080p, 1080i and 720p upscaling, and more besides

A couple of years ago a DVD player like this would have cost closer to a grand than the DVD89's asking price, but then no player at any price would have offered the battery of features on offer here...

At first glance, this is as comprehensive as a combi should be. It has a 250GB hard drive, a DVD recorder, VHS VCR and even an SD card slot

Onkyo's hi-fi releases are very like buses: nothing for ages, then several come along at once. After a flurry of digital amps, not much was heard from the firm - and now both the unusual D-TK10 speaker and this universal DVD/SACD player show up

While capable of producing some of the finest performing DVD players around, Sony hasn't tended to look as comfortable at the ultra-budget end of the market as some of its rivals

In a market that's dominated by Japanese giants, the success of a small British firm is no mean feat. But Cambridge-based Arcam has developed a prestigious reputation, by designing high-performance like the DV137 from scratch

The £170 DV4001 is an attractive DVD deck with the kind of robust build we'd expect from Marantz. It boasts a thick aluminium fascia, a double-layer bottom plate and shock absorbing feet to set it apart from the swarms of balsa-wood budget players

Following last year's DVD-1730, this new version adds 1080p upscaling to the 1730's already impressive feature list. Denon says it has upgraded the performance, but another interesting addition is a green ECO standby mode

There appears to be a competition among the major DVD player makers to see who can cram the most into a deck and charge the least for it. The Samsung DVD-HD870 won't upscale your DVD collection to 1080p, true, but there's enough here for the £70 price tag

With its black finish and improbably slim dimensions, the SD-370E is a hugely attractive DVD deck that perfectly compliments Toshiba's latest range of Regza LCD TVs and HD DVD players.

It's an extensive outlay for a DVD player, but believe it or not the DV137 is part of Arcam's relatively more affordable DiVA product line up. It's Arcam's first universal player, and its sturdy metal cabinet, oozes quality

Universal players were all the rage a couple of years ago, but now the importance of SACD and particularly DVD-Audio seems to be waning fast. Which, according to Arcam, makes this the perfect time to release a trio of universal players

DVD is now indisputably a commodity product, with players available for the cost of the newly released movie that you might play on them. So why would you pay £2,000 for a player that doesn't even support high-def? Arcam has the answer

NAD'S T515 sits towards the bottom end of the company's DVD line, but it certainly isn't last in the queue when it comes to good looks. This is a very attractive model, with super-slim styling and a chic, dark grey casing

Marantz has been a strong and continued supporter of multichannel high-resolution audio sources like DVD-Audio and SACD, and its new, low-cost DV6001 universal player continues this trend

The first thing that strikes you about Yamada's extremely affordable DVD player/Freeview receiver combi is just how slimline it is. Not an unusual feature in low-cost players, but the DVD-7600XTV is almost paper thin in comparison

Few, if any, DVD brands have a finer reputation for affordable quality than Toshiba. But its latest deck, the SD-270E, retails for the relatively puny sum of £50. Surely this has just got to be too little to get you any genuine quality?

We've perhaps become a little blasé about budget DVD players, but this deck from Pioneer deserves nothing but your full attention. It will obviously appeal to those who don't want to spend a fortune to get a quality experience

Denon's DVD-1730 is a stunningly impressive budget option now that it is available for under £100 on certain websites. In terms of looks and build quality, it's a far cry from the 'solid gold blocks' of Denon's higher-end models

Panasonic has gone all-out on the 1080p upscaling front this year, putting the feature into several of its DVD recorders and this player. The DVD-S53 is no one-trick pony, though, and offers a list of other tempting features

Despite its wallet-friendly £60 price tag, this ultra slimline DVD player is actually Toshiba's top-end model. Its main claim to fame is its HDMI output, which offers upscaled 720p and1080i pictures designed to make the most of DVDs on an HD Ready display

For many people there is a good reason for hanging on to VHS technology - a large library of tapes that they want to either keep watching, or transfer to DVD. The Panasonic DMR-EZ45 is aimed primarily at the latter

Supermarket chain ASDA, is selling DVD decks for just £9, so you might be amazed that people will still pay over £100 for one. What sets players such as this one apart, however, is superior build quality and internal components

Until now, 1080p upscaling has been reserved for high-end heavyweight DVD decks, but now you can find it on £100 players such as this one.This is made possible by the inclusion of an HDMI terminal.

The distinctive-looking DVD-S2700 is part of a double-act. The Laurel to the brand's Hardy RX-V2700 receiver, it's styled to match both the latter's award-winning performance and it's distinctive aesthetics