Trying to decide between the Malata 520 and the JVC XV-SA600. These seem to be the two best "Universal" DVD players out there as they have near perfect PAL conversion. The Malata seems to be the preferred unit among the regulars at DVDTalk.com. It is basically the only player in the world that has X-Y scaling and has probably the best incremental zoom out there (useful for getting rid of overscan). The JVC, on the other hand plays DVD-Audio. HKFLIX.com seems to have the best deal on these players, especially with the free shipping:
[Link: hkflix.com]
Does anyone have any comments regarding either of these players?

The Malata is probably shakier than the JVC on build quality. But the XY scaling is one of the 3 main selling points of the Malata. If you need this, nothing else will do.

JVC aren't the best in quality. But Malata has a looser (if at all) QC process.

GO FOR THE MALATA.

The X-Y scaling and panning is essential when playing converted discs.

The Malata can zoom into 4 pixels!! (but it takes a while to get there)

About DVD-Audio. I just got a bunch of DVD-Audio discs in and they are downward compatible and play on regulat DVD-Players like the Malata. E.g. I am listening to the dts 5.1 of Eric Claptons - Reptile and it sounds great!

Are there discrete ON/OFFs for the Malata? I'm considering it too, but not if it will make my HT setup less convenient.

No. It's a bit of a pain for remotes. I haven't even found a good macro solution around the lack of discretes.