Hmm, I bought my girlfriend the cyberhome dvd-300 about this time last year for 50 bucks (now its even cheaper). It plays every dvd you throw at it plus mp3 cds and several types of vcd. She watches atleast a movie a day for the last year and sometimes several a day....It has yet to show any problems. Also its hackable to make it region free I hear....I don't know what else I would want out of a dvd player then that, its also compact.
Nevermind, I see now your looking for more then a simple dvd player 🙂