I've got this unit..bacon's SUPER compact (not very deep and very slim). The tray seems to take longer than necessary to open and it doesn't read scratched DVDs as well as my older players. I haven't messed with the USB yet.

Are you serious...the USB is more than half the reason to get this unit. Do it, you'll regret not doing it earlier!!!

Get Toshiba HD-A3 instead. It's much better than this POS.

I wouldn't recommend this player. You will get 'video resolution not supported', 'codec not supported' error messages on certain movies. I returned it immediately..

What sets this apart from the 5960? (besides the slow tray open and more than likely crummy remote)

#1, go plug in a HD to your player already (or at least a thumbdrive with a few mp3s or videos).

Only diff btwn this and the 5960 is that this is black, and that it supports upscaling to 1080p rather than topping out at 1080i like the 5960. Not worth it if you already have a 5960. I've never encountered the problem #4 mentioned with the 5960 at least although I am using hacked firmware on both units.

Any CircuitCity's coupon, plz?

fleabay has quite a few for buy it now. Probably worth it.

#6, which hacked firmware did you use on it?

I'm with #9, #6 please provide a link. Thanks.

I have problem playing back vob files (files extracted from DVDs) on thumb drive. The picture hesitates and audio stutters. Is it because the thumb drive is not fast enough? Is there any recommended fast thumb drive to use for this or I have to stick with using a external powered hard drive.

The 5982 supports usb 2.0 for significantly better speeds reading usb devices over the 5960.

I have this unit.
#4: You're probably getting this error because some .avi files were created with codecs meant to be played on the PC only. I converted 1 file from .avi to .divx using DivX Converter and was then able to play it on this unit.
Pros: Does good job of upconversion. Plays almost every file type (.mpg, .avi, .divx). Was even able to play a DVD created on my PC that my PC could no longer read.
Cons: Quirky remote. Only first 14 characters of file names show up. When DVD is paused, goes into screen saver mode after several minutes. After several more minutes of inactivity, shuts itself off. No way to change this in Setup.

I love how they are charging $40 for an hdmi cable. How many suckers fall for that?

Is this even a sale? I saw one time it was down to $40 at circuit city.

yea...those translucent cables are the baconnaise. i have one at home and i noticed that if you turn off the lights and look very closely at it, you can see the electric signals flowing through the cables. when you pause the player, all the electric signals come to a complete halt.

I'm glad to see everyone has come aboard the Monster train. It's about time people started realizing the difference that quality Monster cables give over those generic, cheap HDMI cables. Enjoy watching your TVs with crappy cables and sub-par PQ while those with Monster cables watch TV with supreme PQ.

Not only that, but there's a sense of greatness just knowing you own a Monster product. I'd say Monster is to cables as BMW or Mercedes is to cars. Yeah, that's a very fair comparison.