Given These Criteria, Can You Recommend a Player?

[Linksys2.4]

Getting ready to retire my first-generation Panasonic DMP-BD10A due to its poor DVD upconversion, lack of Master Audio support and no bitstreaming of TrueHD...

Given these criteria -- that is, it must have very good DVD upscaling (and better BD performance with better chroma/color delivery as compared to first generation players like mine) and bitstream all surround codecs (which is a given with today's players, I would think) -- what player would be recommended with a max of $500 budget, give or take? I'm being told the player right now to have is the OPPO because of its Anchor Bay chip which handles DVD performance extremely well, but should there be any decks I should be staying away from or be adding to my shopping list?

Here are some more criteria: I would like to stay away from Samsung, and I don't want a PS3 (has to be a standalone player; just my personal preference)...I had at one time considered biting the bullet to purchase one of the expensive Denons, Marantzes or Sony ES players at around $2K, but I'm hearing that the OPPO player reaches these players' performance at $500. Also, I didn't read good things about the Sony ES player in terms of video processing in Home Theater magazine; what would be a good player to recommend?