Best used DVD Player...Not interested in Blue R...

I used to have a Sony 999es that I liked alot.

I used both Sony and Denon. Sony has bright pictures, somewhat over saturated, and depending on your preference you will love or hate it. Personally I like the vivid colors of Sony. Denon in comparison looks soft, even with upscaled to 1080i via HDMI/DVI. Denon provides a lot more options in the menu, so you can tweak them any way you like. I exclusively use HD/DVD player now even for playing standard DVDs.

If you don't want HDMI/DVI digital connection, make sure you check the spec on the video DAC, as the quality of video DAC significantly impacts the output from analog component output. If you are using digital connection video DAC quality is moot.

I have a Sony NS999ES with modification from ModWright. Can't be happier. I compared side by side with the Sony NS9000ES and the modified Sony beat the old beauty sonically hand-down. The older (NS9000ES) has an excellent build with remote and power cord. However, the NS999ES is much better with the picture quality, media format tolerance, and the exceptional sound from the mod.

So are some of you telling me that the DV-981HD for $229 is a better buy than the DVP9000ES or Toshiba 9200 hands down for music and movies for a 2 channel system, its hard to believe but I presume this means, sound/picture/ built quality and reliability?

You have lots of good answers here and the Oppo's sure have a good reputation. I'll just add that I'm considering the Toshiba HD-A2, A3, and A30, all can be had for at or less than $300 (new). They also have a good rep for upconverting standard DVD's and if a movie or concert comes along in HD-DVD, oh well, you can play that too.