With its unconventionally curvaceous design, touch-sensitive controls and a glossy fingerprint magnet finish, the DVD-H1080 deserves a place in the middle of the coffee table.

In these Blu-ray-dominated times, a DVD deck can't rely on looks alone to compete, and thankfully, the Samsung has a few tricks up its sleeve, the most important of which is video upscaling.

The deck will automatically choose the appropriate resolution for you, but you can also manually make it output 720p, 1080i or 1080p. To benefit from this quasi-HD wizardry, you'll need to hook the player's HDMI output to the corresponding input on your TV. For those that don't have one, Samsung also supplies component and composite video outputs – but take note: there's no Scart output.

The deck also sports a USB port, but rather than spoil the sleek, minimal design, Samsung has placed it on the back. Not only does this let you play back music, video and photos from a flash memory drive, but the player can also rip audio tracks from CD into MP3 and save them on a connected device.

However, there's no way of tagging tracks, so you'll need to edit them afterwards on your PC (which rather defeats the object). Format support is decent enough, but DivX HD, MKV and WMV get refused, as does DVDRAM on the disc front.

Ease of use

The deck's unusual design does pose a couple of problems. The first is that there's no display panel, so you can't just glance up to check how much of the film is left – instead you have to call up an onscreen display by hitting 'Info' on the remote.

Secondly, the limited number of buttons on the front panel means you're completely reliant on the handset, which is no good when you don't have it to hand standing up close to the player.

On a more positive note, though, the H1080's neat trickplay modes and convenient features make movie viewing hassle-free in every other way. If you hate the black bars that sandwich 2.35:1 pictures when viewed on a 16:9 TV, the EZ View mode gets rid of them. It also rescales the image in various other ways depending on the aspect ratios of source and screen, but inevitably there's a reduction in picture quality.

The player's no-frills nature means there's very little you need to tweak before settling down with a packet of popcorn. But one thing worth checking out in the setup menu is a dedicated HDMI section, that enables you to change the resolution plus the brightness, contrast and colour saturation settings.

The five levels on offer are too coarse for proper calibration, but might compensate for any deficiencies in your TV's settings. While the onscreen menus are a bit basic, their bright colours, legible text and logical structure make them easy to work with. The deck's responsiveness is another pleasing improvement on some of its sluggish predecessors.

Finally a word on the remote, the design of which is as distinctive as the player itself. It's small enough to fit the palm of your hand and features rows of tiny circular buttons, but clever placement of the core playback and menu controls makes it surprisingly easy to use.

Picture

Crisp and vibrant 1080p images abound as the Samsung gets to grips with our Men in Black disc. The deck's decent contrast range is key to this, enabling it to deliver richly saturated yet natural colours, pristine whites and deep blacks. The titular agents' distinctive suits exemplify its terrific contrast capabilities: lapels and creases are clearly defined and you can make out the various areas of shading and shadow detail.

This deck gets the balance just right and dark scenes, such as the climactic showdown with the chief cockroach, are forcefully defined with lots of detail.

We're also impressed with the H1080's handing of complex textures and fine detail. The bustling CG creatures inside MIB HQ are sharply rendered and their frenetic movement is tracked effortlessly.

Edges are generally clean, but there are a few jaggies on diagonals that you wouldn't get with more expensive processing, and although it keeps block noise at bay, there are glimpses of mosquito smearing and pixel crawl in shots of the sky and background walls. Despite this, we think the deck still offers a pleasing performance for the money.

Sound

Slip a CD in the tray and you get punchy sonics that occasionally sound hard on high frequencies, but generally do the trick. Internally ripped MP3s also sound fine and movie soundtracks, fed from the analogue outputs to a TV or amp, are clear and open.

The quality of Dolby Digital and DTS tracks fed via electrical digital depends on your system, but Men in Black sounds fantastic on ours.

Value

The DVD-H1080's combo of convenient features, stunning looks and solid performance make it superb value for money. To put it into context, the Samsung costs the same as the Toshiba SD490E (£70 starting price, £50 online), which lacks component and USB ports and isn't anywhere near as attractive.

Picture quality is on a similar level too; the only drawbacks with the Samsung being the lack of a front display panel and a Scart output, but if that's not crucial concern then this is a terrific purchase that we'd recommend.

The Toshiba XDE-600 is the second generation of DVD players to feature Toshibas' coveted upscaling technology that attempts to upscale your existing DVDs to 1080p, commonly known as XDE.

There's a big difference between DVD and Blu-ray's picture quality, but Toshiba's eXtended Detail Enhancement (XDE) technology aims to narrow this margin.

XDE garnered superb results on the first player to feature it, the XDE-500, by giving it the edge over most other budget upscalers on the market.

• Read TechRadar's Toshiba XDE-500 review

Can this cheaper follow-up, the XDE-600 version cut the mustard?

Features

Inevitably, the XDE-600's build quality is a lot more 'budget' than its predecessor. The light, hollow sounding casing is, sadly, all too common among players at this price. But Toshiba has at least given it a fashionable, gloss-black finish, accentuated by a distinctive grey slope at the bottom.

On the fascia you'll find a limited display panel and a USB port for playing back digital media. Connections include the all important HDMI output, which delivers 720p, 1080i or 1080p images to your TV. It'll even output NTSC discs at 1080/24p, but, as it's locked into Region 2 it's not much use (unless you get the deck chipped of course).

You can convert PAL to NTSC and activate 24Hz, but the results are unwatchable.

The XDE-600's media support is solid in that you can play DivX, XviD, MP3, WMA and JPEG files, although formats like DivX HD, WMV and MKV are a incompatible. Disc-wise, it spins most platters with the exception of DVD-RAM.

Wisely, Toshiba has included XDE as an optional rather than blanket application. There are three different settings: 'Sharp' mode that casts its discerning eye over the picture and sharpens up detail; 'Colour' mode, which refines the hues (blue and green in particular) to natural levels, and 'Contrast' mode that emphasises detail visibility during dark scenes.

Select either of these latter modes and 'Sharp' mode is automatically applied at the same time. As well as these show piece features, you get the complete range of DVD basics, such as a three stage zoom, slow-motion, frame advance and a speedy 10x scan mode.

The 'Enhanced Audio' mode adds a 3D effect to stereo sound.

Ease of use

We can't fault the setup menu, which features a common-sense structure, legible text and a responsive cursor, while the rest of the playback info (including the video bitrate) is clearly presented.

This is just as well, considering the minimal front panel display is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Controlling the deck with the remote is a breeze thanks to the spot-on button layout and labelling, and there's a dedicated button for toggling through the XDE modes, which makes comparison between them very easy.

Picture

The impact XDE makes on the picture is instant and dramatic. We fired up The Departed at 1080p, activated 'Sharp' mode and revelled in the extra clarity given to fine details such as clothing, walls and skin. They become crisper and more pronounced, as if someone has suddenly focused the lens properly.

Obviously, the effect doesn't come close to the intense clarity of a good Blu-ray picture, but the 'Sharp' function does provide that extra depth and punch missing from regular upscaled DVD pictures.

Edges also look tighter and cleaner and the processing works its magic without introducing hard white lines around objects, as do so many of the cheap, standard DVD decks currently available.

'Colour' mode also delivers impressive results. With a shot of a blue sky visible through an office window, the XDE-600 makes the hue more vibrant and utterly realistic, without impinging on the scene's darker colours. Likewise, in shots of police recruits training next to a green field, this mode finds the perfect saturation level for the grass, making it look natural without touching other parts of the picture.

But most impressive is the 'Contrast' mode, which emphasises shadows, while boosting the visibility of background objects during dark interior scenes. And, impressively, it does so without any detrimental side-effects. Turn it off and the detail gets swallowed up in the blackness.

On the downside, XDE can be a bit of a double-edged sword. Some viewers might not like the way it can gently emphasise noise in the picture, but without it pictures look average, due to the soft detail and limited black level. On the whole though, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Sound

Playing CDs through the analogue outputs results in smooth sound quality, which might not offer the same dynamic range and neutrality of a similarly priced CD player, but is still very enjoyable.

The quality of digitally-piped Dolby Digital and DTS tracks depends on the quality of your decoding equipment, but big action scenes sounded spectacular on our test system.

Value

Had this player not been equipped with XDE processing, we'd have been looking at a rather lacklustre performer, but this excellent technology really does boost picture quality above and beyond what you'd normally expect at this price.

And when you take the deck's other features, connections and ease-of-use into the equation, we have to concede that the XDE-600 is one of the best budget upscaling DVD decks on the market.

Primare's DVDi10 is an integrated DVD player, 2.1-channel receiver, and DAB radio tuner, the natural evolution of the Swedish company's CDi10 CD/amp combi. It aims to deliver separates performance from a single stylish unit. Just match it up with stereo speakers and a powered sub.

For this money, you'd expect rock-solid build quality and that's what you get. The metallic bodywork is sturdy, and the fascia moody and minimal. Three thick feet quell vibrations and the row of bullet-like buttons with illuminated green icons on top is delightfully old school.

Good CV

From the spec sheet, its DVD credentials are solid. At its heart is the Genesis FLI2300 video processor, which handles 1080p DVD upscaling duties, ably supported by an Analog Devices ADV7320 video DAC. It also plays back MP3s and JPEGs from DVDs or CDs, but not DivX, SACD or DVD-Audio – all missed chances.

On the back, three sets of analogue phonos cater for external sources, but there are no digital inputs. Coaxial and optical digital audio outputs offer a path to full 5.1 with a separate receiver, and the built-in analogue to digital converter lets you pass on line sources from these outputs.

On the video side, you get HDMI, component, S-video and composite outs and there's an iPod connection offering front panel control and a metadata display.

On the receiver side, Primare claims a rating of 75W per channel and naturally it decodes Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks. The DAB radio tuner offers 10 presets and 196kHz/24-bit conversion.

One odd thing: I thought the OS menus distinctly old-fashioned. It's since transpired that Primare has updated these – existing owners can take their DVDi10 to their dealer to get the new software.

Putting that disappointment aside, I fired up Apocalypto on DVD and was hit for six by the sound. The drums that propel Jaguar Paw through the rainforest are vital and urgent; the sharp, sweet treble coaxes out subtle detail and there's a depth and richness that also permeates CD playback.

The 1080p picture quality is immaculate too – the rich tapestry of the film's rainforest was conveyed with pristine clarity, and there are no noise or upscaling artefacts to report. Contrast, colour saturation and edge definition are excellent. A run-through of the Silicon Optix HQV underlines the quality of the video processing, as diagonal lines are free from stepping and feathering.

The DVDi10 is pricey for what it is, lacks a few features you might expect, and has a clunky, operating system. Luckily, it makes up for it with a classy AV performance and an eye-catching esoteric design.

Toshiba's SD490 is the latest DVD player to come out of the company's current upscaling focus.

The deck's back panel is sparse and, being an upscaler to 1080p, the most useful output is the HDMI. There is a Scart, too, but no component video. A separate audio link is provided via an electrical digital socket, but it also travels via HDMI when PCM is selected.

When upscaling, the player's default auto mode chooses a suitable quality for any HDMI-equipped TV, or you can override manually to choose a specific resolution within your TV's range. This is in case you prefer 720p (progressive scan) to 1080i (interlaced) on a non-1080p TV.

There's support for MP3 audio, JPEG photos and DivX video from discs burned on PC. While the instructions only mention CD-R/ -RW as a medium for these, recorded DVDs also work, so you can fit more files on one disc – the equivalent of an iPod nano's worth of MP3s, for example, if using a double layered blank.

The SD490 lacks any of the snazzy networking features for linking directly to PCs, as found in some TVs, amps, Blu-ray players and digital recorders.

Ease of use

There are a few buttons on the front in case the remote isn't handy, but these are embedded into the casing and are almost invisible. The remote control is basic but neat, with the largest buttons devoted to playback.

The corresponding onscreen menu is unfussy and, being a no-nonsense player, there isn't much to set up. The SD490 is fixed to Region 2 by default. A multiregional hack for this model is listed on the internet – using a short handset number code – but we couldn't get it to work with our test sample. If multiregional playback is essential, look for a pre-modified version.

The tiny front display only shows the chapter number during DVD playback rather than running time (and this is inappropriate for DivX as chapters may not be indicated). An onscreen message calls up elapsed and time remaining info on demand, but it's distracting if you're merely curious about what stage the film has reached. You can also bookmark up to three moments in a DVD, though these are lost when you eject the disc.

There is a three-level picture zoom – controlled by a handset button – and a separate View Mode, which is only accessible via the menu even though, arguably, it is more useful (there's even a blank button on the remote where it could have sat). This mode controls how non-standard sized images appear (cropped, stretched to fit or unaltered), and it's especially convenient for DivX viewing.

Picture

The player reveals a good contrast range, with very little digital blocking or noise around object edges. The Assassination of Jesse James is a challenging DVD due its compressed length and dark scenes, but it holds up well, particularly with the smooth gradations in chapter 4 where Brad Pitt is seen silhouetted against backlit steam.

Similarly There Will Be Blood shows impressive textures, undisturbed by too much graininess or over-sharpened outlines. The rich mix of rustic colours and clear skies is portrayed vividly. While we can still tell that it is coming from a DVD and not from an HD disc or a TV source, results are also visibly sharper than average.

Switching to CGI animation, there is evidence of jaggedness in the fine details of Beowulf such as hair and chain mail, which causes a rippling effect. This is less obvious in the more polished, slick appearance of Pixar's movie, Cars.

The Scart offers RGB output, although if this is your only option you'll lose out on progressive scan, HD upscaling and the generally punchier quality gained via HDMI.

If playing DivX, you may need to resize the image using the auto-fit mode mentioned earlier, depending on the format. However, the resulting quality is less impressive than the SD490's DVD playback or some other players' DivX handling.

The JPEG viewer is normally clear and colourful, but there were glitches in presentation during our test with an unexplained band of colour distortion at the top or bottom of some images.

As with the picture, the SD490 is an able player of audio. The DTS soundtrack of Korean bandit movie The Good, The Bad, The Weird comes bursting with strongly defined surround effects and clear vocals.

Music from CD or higher bitrate MP3 files is also refreshingly lucid. The 3-D sound mode is best avoided, though, as it adds an unpleasantly hollow echo effect.

Value

Listed with a £69 starting price, the SD490 can be found on sale for a reasonable £50 or less, which certainly represents decent value for a top name player.

While the pre-recorded disc sector is inching gradually towards Blu-ray dominance, it is by no means a mass market proposition yet, and if you are not moving up in that direction just yet, but want to get more out of having an HDTV, then this DVD player should fit the bill.

The Panasonic DVD-LS84 is equipped with an 8in widescreen, but thanks to the 'Free Style Viewing' feature, you can choose how to watch it. The screen unclips from the back support and slides forward onto the base, turning it into a tablet-style device, or you can opt for the traditional flip-top design.

Either way, this slim, compact unit is comfortable to hold and pleasingly light, even with the battery pack attached. But its dull grey finish doesn't do it any favours.

In the box are a plastic headrest bracket and cigarette outlet adaptor for in-car use (but, strangely, no remote), and the player is packed with useful picture and sound modes, plus Cinemascope and American Vista zoom modes.

Format compatibility is excellent and the 7hr battery life is very good, although you have to reduce the screen brightness considerably to achieve it.

Sadly, picture quality is blighted by the 480 x 234-pixel screen, which makes detail look soft and gives the image a chicken wire effect with jagged edges. Colour reproduction is also unnatural, lending skin tones a lobster-like hue. But blacks are deep, punchy and noise-free.

As for audio, the built-in speakers unsurprisingly lack any punch, but through headphones you're in for a treat, particularly if you activate the headphone virtual surround mode.

All in all not a bad effort, but lacklustre pictures and a lack of USB/SD card slots make other players better value for money.

This is the answer to parents' prayers: the PET712 has a pair of 7in screens, so kids can watch the same movie on separate screens.

Pictures are supplied to both via a compact square-shaped player, cutely styled in white and silver. It feels a little flimsy, but its shock-proof construction means it should withstand a few knocks.

The player is connected to the screens using the two supplied minijack-to-phono adaptor cables, and it outputs composite video and stereo audio to each one. The screens also hook up to the player's DC input, and the whole unit is powered by a car cigarette lighter (there's no rechargeable battery).

The resolution of each screen is 480 x 234 pixels, which isn't ideal for DVD playback, but each panel is anti-glare and has independent volume, brightness and contrast controls, plus separate headphone outputs that are preferable to the weak built-in speakers.

WHITE STUFF: Each screen on the LG PET712 has its own sound and image controls

There are no USB or SD card slots, but the remote is simply laid out, with well-sized buttons and clear labelling. The lack of dedicated scan buttons is annoying.

Picture quality is decent enough, but the clear pixel structure gives the image a gauzy, jagged aspect and haphazard fine detail reproduction, none of which is helped by the composite video feed. It is aimed at kids, though, and they'll likely be more than happy.

With its eye-catching black and white finish, the SD-P73S looks as pretty as a picture. It uses the traditional flip-top design, with a 7in, 16:9 screen set into the top section.

It doesn't swivel like some of the other Toshiba models so shared viewing isn't easy, although there are two headphone sockets specifically for that purpose.

The supplied battery clips onto the bottom, but even when it's attached the unit is remarkably slim and compact. Build quality is excellent, too, although it could have done with a rubberised finish.

Battery life is a decent five hours – that's at least three rom-coms – and there's a cigarette power adaptor for in-car viewing. Also in the box is a credit card-sized remote, which is inevitably fiddly and requires the shift key for some functions, but it's tolerable enough.

As per many portables at this size the resolution is 480 x 234 pixels, so when playing back 720 x 576 DVDs there's an inevitable pixel shortfall. This manifests itself in a visible chicken wire effect and lack of fine detail.

But to be honest, when watching DVDs on the train it's not a major problem – of greater importance are the vibrant colours, solid blacks and lack of noise, which make pictures rich and punchy.

Sound from the speakers is okay for dialogue-rich movies, but loud scenes are tinny, so invest in some good headphones.

It's hard to be overly enthusiastic about portable DVD players these days. With what amount to dire sales happening in other areas of electronics, most notably with laptops, it's hard to justify spending a couple of hundred quid on a fancy movie player – especially when a fully-functioning portable PC can be gleaned for just a little extra moolah.

However, LG's DP391B portable disc spinner does make a decent stab at turning heads.

To begin with, its swanky tablet-like aesthetics allow it to look comfortable in any surrounding, even a lounge. And, as it doubles as a CD player and a digital photo frame, I could see it being happily used in a bedroom as a multimedia device.

Sleek design

For such a slim and sleek piece of kit, it certainly packs a healthy variety of socketry around its rim. Ports exist for memory cards (in all the common flavours) and USB 2.0 connectivity (for a stick laden with JPEG images, for example). And there are two headphone sockets to share experiences with one other on your travels. Splendid.

Picture quality, via its 8in TFT screen, is very good indeed. There's decent colour fidelity and motion control is tight. Audio via the headphone port is beefy, bassy and bold.

The deck makes a half-decent stab at virtual surround and the number of file types supported (DivX, XviD, MP3, etc) add an impressive cannon in its arsenal.

However, the in-built speakers break up at higher volumes and the rechargeable battery can't be changed manually.

Although Blu-ray grabs all the headlines these days, people still buy DVDs – and they still buy DVD players. But with brands like Philips, Toshiba and Samsung selling upscaling decks for as little as £40, what's so special about Onkyo's DV-SP406 that it retails for £100?

In short: performance. The DV-SP406 delivers glitch-free upscaled images with clarity and sharpness, and takes fast-moving scenes in its stride. Colour reproduction seems natural too. Compare this with a budget deck from five years ago and you'll be flabbergasted.

Upscaling via HDMI brings definite noticeable benefits, particularly in terms of picture sharpness with resolutions from 576i to 1080p are provided, though it can takes a while to cycle through them.

The front-mounted USB port provides MP3, WMA, DiVX and JPEG support and it's simply a question of jacking in, and navigating around the simple-to-use GUI.

The Onkyo's build quality – particularly the bouncy disc-tray – can perhaps be expected because of its 'budget' price, but that doesn't excuse the bland styling and almost miniscule display.

Toshiba's XDE-powered DVD player is not much more expensive and outdoes the Onkyo in pure picture performance terms.

Now here's a neat idea – a portable DVD player that doubles as a digital photo frame. When you're not watching movies, you can stick the DP391B on the mantelpiece and display JPEG photos using the built-in slideshow and nifty transition effects.

The dual functions explain the deck's unusual design and higher price. The 8in screen is at the front and the fold-out battery pack on the back lets you rest it on a table top.

The entire front section opens up to reveal the disc drive, keeping the gorgeous, gloss black frame that surrounds the screen free from clutter, apart from an illuminated menu control on the right.

Connections include a mini USB port that supports MP3, WMA, DivX (including VOD) and, of course JPEG, plus a card reader that takes SD and MMC cards as well as Sony's Memory Sticks.

Battery life is only 3.5hrs, but the 800 x 480-pixel resolution suits DVDs and picture quality is a lot sharper as a result. Bright outdoor scenes demonstrate this best, as you can clearly see the smooth edges, fine detail and lack of banding within colours.

And during dark scenes it's easy to make out what's going on too, thanks to the wide contrast range and low-reflection screen. This really is top-drawer portable picture quality that offers crisp and vibrant JPEGs as a bonus.

It's a shame we can't say the same about the sound quality, as the speakers are predictably tinny, but in every other way the DP391D is a fantastic portable proposition.