That said...can we have the ENVELOPE PLEASE?!?!?

OK...Sorry. :)
Its a FINE FINE player, but there are issues to discuss. Previous PowerDVD builds were noted as being slightly below their major competitors because of the video. It was very good overall, but it wasn't the BEST. Cinemaster and WinDVD were both noticeably SHARPER, especially on outdoor scenes where detail is easily lost when the camera pans. PowerDVD's engine also was behind their competitors. Demanding titles and scenes could glitch the playback on PowerDVD where others could get through clean. PowerDVD plays FINE in most circumstances. BETTER than fine, but the big video guns were always held by their competition.

What I 1st noticed was some serious artifacting in THE PATRIOT. It frequently showed color/contrast twinkling issues, and serious screen artifacts and blotches. WinDVD showed no such problems, so I ran the shakedown of drivers to be sure. After 3 weeks of trying, and communications with Cyberlink, I can say that PowerDVD 3.0 has taken significant steps forward in its video prowess. The playback is SHARPER. Edges are more defined, and color seems good. Where I ran into my PATRIOT problems was when HARDWARE ACCELERATION was checked ON. While they have upgraded the PowerDVD engine, they are using older ATI acceleration routines to run the ATI DVD hardware acceleration. The problems show on both the Celeron and the Pentium-3, so Cyberlink chimed back a familiar answer: "ATI DOESN'T RELEASE THE PROGRAMMING CODES FOR THEIR DVD ACCEL TO OUTSIDE COMPANIES. THEY WILL SOON, BUT SINCE ATI IS IN THE PROCESS OF REDESIGNING THEIR ROUTINES TO USE THE DIRECT-X VA STANDARDS, THE OLD CODES ARE NO LONGER SUPPORTED. WE ARE WAITING FOR NEW ATI CODES AND ALL PROBLEMS WILL BE FIXED THEN. SORRY THAT POWERDVD 3 COULDN'T GET THE LATEST ATI CODES. BUT ITS ATI's FAULT, THE OLD CODES WORK, BUT STRAIN SOME."

ATI! My 3 weeks of hell is YOUR FAULT! I thought PowerDVD had let me down! I re-installed Windows! Bought a Processor! I DIDN'T EAT!