It's a rough call to hammer a product that does so nice a playback job generally. Forget the region problems which may have been caused by MY system. What I liked most about CineMaster 2000 is it plays nice DVD's and sounds GREAT in LFE mode! But then again, CineMaster players did that before? There simply isn't much NEW to get excited about, but in many ways, there is a lot new to be unhappy with. The lack of/loss of ZOOM control is inexcusable, and the poor interface has stayed weak for several versions. CineMaster still doesn't trust end-users to have the brains to see/adjust many performance features, only DVD Genie gives us these options.

PowerDVD and WinDVD have controls and features such as zooming and screen capture available NOW. A modern interface skin-system seems like a no-brainer? CineMaster 2000 is a fine DVD player, but it just hasn't gotten much better? Comparing it to what it was in CineMaster 99 versions, it seems they lost a lot without really establishing any new standards or raising the bar at all. Yes, its good and watchable. But for my player of choice, unless revisions are made to address a few issues; I will resort back to CineMaster 99 based players or one of the competitors (Unless an OEM version of CineMaster 2000 includes the improvements listed). Each new update from WinDVD and PowerDVD keeps raising the bar in a war to become #1! This is GREAT for users! We keep seeing the features and playback quality multiply as they fire away at each other, to our benefit! CineMaster 2000 seems content with GOOD ENOUGH. And frankly, GOOD ENOUGH just isn't what a NEW version should be.

For more DVD Information visit the following pages: DVD Frequently Asked Questions. DVD Tips & Tricks. DVD Terminology. DVD Genie.

Product Scoring: Video Quality 8.5 Audio Quality 8.5 Performance 8.0 Features 6.5 User Interface 6.5 Total Score 7.5 (Total score is not an average)

Review conducted by Kelly Garvey.