Q: I have a 42-inch TV and want to upgrade my DVD player. I saw you recommended the Oppo 980H. Should I head in this direction or spend $399 and get the PS3 for Blu-ray? I watch movies and never play video games.

-- DAVID McANALLEN, Pittsburgh

A: My personal preference would be Blu-ray because I have a very large screen and a sound system fully compatible with the PS3. In your case we need to evaluate a few things to see if you want to get into Blu-ray right now.

With a screen over 50 inches the difference in picture quality between the even best DVD upscaling and Blu-ray is night and day, Blu-ray being far superior. At 42 inches the difference in picture quality isn't nearly as pronounced. Blu-ray audio is always much better, as long as you have a system capable of working with it. In the case of the PS3 this means a receiver compatible with multichannel PCM audio over HDMI.

Most consumers have older receivers with multichannel analog inputs. These work best with stand-alone Blu-ray players having multichannel audio outputs, a feature the PS3 lacks. Unfortunately none of the Blu-ray stand-alones on the market are worth recommending, save a single model from Panasonic (the DMP-BD30) that costs $100 more than the PS3 but isn't as capable. Anyone wanting or needing a stand-alone Blu-ray player should definitely wait until at least this summer, when fully developed stand-alone players will be available.

The Oppo DV-980H is a great DVD player, but if you own a lot of DVDs or want the very best picture quality available from the DVD format, consider spending the $399 on the Oppo DV-983H. Oppo has built quite a reputation for its customer service and DVD picture quality, and the DV-983H is state-of-the-art, providing noticeably better images than the DV-980H. (In a recent test the DV-983H duplicated the DVD upscaling scores of the $5,000 video processor I use in my own system.).

With the DV-983H you'd be extremely pleased with the image on your 42-inch TV, and there are a lot more movies available on DVD than Blu-ray. You will pay a lot less for the DVDs as Blu-ray movies are still quite expensive, often more than $30 each at retail stores. Netflix will soon be charging a premium for renting Blu-ray movies, as well. If you want to buy Blu-ray movies I recommend using Amazon.com, where you usually save more than $10 per movie.

To sum it up, if you have a sound system compatible with multichannel audio over HDMI, a screen over 50 inches, or simply want the best and don't mind paying for it, definitely go with the PS3 and Blu-ray. If your sound system uses multichannel analog inputs, you have a really big DVD collection, you are price-sensitive, or want the best possible image from DVDs, consider an Oppo player. With the Oppo, you can get the most from DVDs while you wait for competent Blu-ray stand-alones to arrive, and movie and player prices to come down a bit.

Oppo is working on a Blu-ray player, and when it hits the market (It is believed to be about a year away), it is likely to raise the performance bar while lowering the price.

You can see the PS3 at www.Playstation.com and Oppo DVD players at www.oppodigital.com.