There is a 30% off sale on these already cheap players at Fry's (didn't see it posted anywhere in the store, but heard a guy ask about it and it rang up cheap). It gets pretty good HDMI upconversion marks, not so great on analog/component. Compelling price if you need a simple HDMI upconverting player.

here is the review:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=DVD+Player&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0#PanasonicDVD-S52%20(HDMI)

I tried it with my HD1000 projector and it looked bad at 720p and 1080i.

interesting. a friend is borrowing my HDMI-HDMI cable, so I'm just looking at it in 480i and p through component and letting my 34" Wega do the scaling. Looks fine to me.

guess I won't buy another for my 46" set though if the upconversion is terrible.

honestly, I don't think the upconversion is even necessary. most sets do a good enough job. This was as cheap as any standalone DVD player and gave me the option to look at progressive, upconversion, component, and HDMI and see if I thought there is a difference.

I have the S52 and really like it. I've tried it with both HDMI and Component and either way it provides an excellent picture. I'm using it on my 46E2000.

AKA,
I have the same set. Any difference between HDMI and Component that you can tell? The review seems to think that the HDMI-Auto1 does pretty decent, while the Component cuts off some pixels and has some color issues.

Trying to decide if I should spend 2x to get the Sony 75 instead.

I was also considering the Sony, but had read both good and not so good reviews by users that I decided on the S52 instead...especially when considering the $$. As for PQ, in my eyes I can't see a significant difference between component and HDMI on the S52. The PQ with component is so good that I don't even bother with HDMI anymore.

I like the way the S52 handles a large collections of CDs burned onto a DVD in MP3 and/or WMA format. The Sony also handles them (MP3 format only) but not quite as well IMHO.