To me, it's rather difficult these days to buy a brand name DVD player.
I also believe that what the first poster has in mind is

me, ie brand name DVD player. Apart from its longer track record, the form and function of brand name players are usually better than those Chinese branded DVD.
I'm also stucked with this thing too... And if Pioneer 676 is really equivalent to Pioneer 578 (US version) which received an OK score, I guess it may not be that bad to go for 676. Also, I'm not sure about Denon 1910 (probably the only newer player with DCDi at its price point)
Also, my assumption is that the person who bought Sony DA will not have a budget for Lumagen or iScan HD which are both really good but, I believe, way ahead of the budget at this price point...