I got my Panasonic XP30 in the mail today (from an EBAY auction) and it works perfectly. I got a Mitsubishi DD-8040 last week from Tweeter for a similar price, I will take it back now since the XP30 is superior. But if I couldn't get it, the Mitsubishi is fine 2nd choice and readily available new in stores. I confirmed the XP30 is sharper and confirmed its flat frequency response on a scope, also its lack of color flicker bug. The XP30 also plays all types of DVDs (I tested DVD-R,RW,+R,+RW) also VCD and SVCD on CDR/RW worked too. The Mitsubishi also reads all the DVD types and VCD but not SVCD. The load times were similar for all types about 8sec.