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Partly clear with a chance of jaggies
The DV-440 delivers video performance on a par with that of any entry-level player out there. Details abounded on the excellent Men In Black disc, from the minute instrumentation surrounding the tiny doomed Arquillian inside the human robot to the not-so-minute crags on Tommy Lee Jones's face. We could even read the name of the eight-track he slips into his player.
The major problem here had to do with the DV-440's ability to convert anamorphic, "enhanced for widescreen," DVDs for display on standard-shaped 4:3 screens. In Men In Black, we saw moving jagged edges on the flying saucer as it swept over Shea Stadium to the dismay of New York Met Bernard Gilkey. Adjusting the player's internal sharpness control in an attempt to soften the edges didn't help much. This is a common problem, though, and some DVD players do an even worse job of anamorphic conversion.
The DV-440 has much to recommend it, but its Achilles' heel is its $299 list price. Although it's well designed and packs some unique bonuses, such as an MP3 interface and video adjustments, it's just a notch above an entry-level player. But if you can find it online at a significant discount, you should certainly consider it.
