For standalone, the Apex AD-1500. You can usually find it on Amazon.com, for around $70 to $90. The picture is excellent, never had a problem, bought two of them. The best part, you can download software from certain sites for this model (flash the bios kind of a thing) that allows you to tape VHS movies from your DVDs, for educational purposes of course.
It plays just about every format, including Music CDs, ripped DVDs, you name it. At one time I read on Cnet.com it was the hottest selling dvd player on ebay. Check it out..