If you have the $$ to buy an entry level why not??
First few days when i had my BDP S380, i played ahem DVDs, BDs, CDs, genuine US & UK BDs, all worked out fine. Tolerance lvl for me was worth every cent i spent.
Upscaling for DVDs was a significent imporvement to the PQ even for those ahem DVD 9 dual layer copies.
Would advice u bring your fav DVD or BD and do some test run on a demo set on KLIAV or audio shops u prefered to go.
Do look up for Cinavia free units to prevent any dissapoinent from ahem discs playback errors. jMHO!

Try looking at Sen Heng whether they still carry the older s380 batches...with M06.R.0415 firmware...or older Samsung D5300 with 1022 firmware...

I am sure there some shops still carry some old batch stocks.

It is really sinful to watch DVDs on a 50" HDTV. 

U could ask the sales person to show u the firmware on their available stocks or google on how to read the manufacture date on diff brands of the BDP.

What BDP u asked till they qouted u 500-700?
Staff clueless = bad service ( i hate the most)

No worries man. I m sure when u look around enough, u will definatly find a player that suite your budget and needs.

Dont worry on the sales person, just tell them to hook up the S380 and from the menu go to System Settings --> system info.
Make sure the firmware is M06.R.0415 or older so is confirmed a Cinavia free unit, if the firmware is beyond what i just stated then is a Cinavia effected unit which will have error playing ahem discs.
That was what i did when i got mine and the sales person also don't know much except hooking up the BDP to the TV, LOL!!

Cinavia has very low entropy, they may have incorperated some very strong error correction. So far its still unbroken.

The ONLY option available is to make the sets to not detect cinavia, like hacked PS3 sets.  So far CINAVIA is UNREMOVABLE.
Another plus for S380 is its also capable of 1080i analog component output. All other brands don't offer component out other than 480p composite.

Can I know what is your player serial number? I looking for non-Cinavia S380; at least a guideline for me. Since worry buy a Cinavia effected S380 to replace my current PS3.

Thx guys. Finally got it at a remote Sony shop. All major 1 sold out. However the price they still follow as retail price @ RM499.

U will b lucky if u manage to get none Cinavia compliant unit. All player are now complied, thus u can't play pirated DVD, bluray or downloaded ones. I grab 2 units of S485 include my fren..thank god they were none Cinavia compliant. Ii kept 1 as spare. Anyway, S485 got good ratings & bet most of its unit is none compliant.