I started buying DVDs in January 2001, when I tore up my Blockbuster rental card in front of the clerk because he wouldn't credit me for a defective VHS tape! and I have never looked back. DVD is so much cleaner, brighter, etc....and with movies mastered as anamorphic (16x9) widescreen in 5.1 sound...wow!! Even the DS DVDs look so much better than the old VHS tapes. I'm now on my 4th DVD player, which upconverts to near HD quality for my widescreen plasma HD TV... All I can say is this: if you have good eyesight and good hearing, then you WILL appreciate the increase in quality. Trust me, I thought my mid--okay: late!-40s eyes, with tri-focal glasses, would never be able to tell the difference between the old standard def TV and video and the newer HD and such...but I can. I have not been disappointed, and you won't be either. (BTW--DS looks pretty darned good when zoomed to fill the 16x9 screen).