I've done some testing as planned and the image from the DVD player is poor quality with a fully wired SCART lead (upscaling doesn't apply if using SCART, only HDMI). I didn;t even test with a disc - I just used the menus etc.
There is ghosting on the image so it's either composite or the RGB input on the TV is poor quality/broken. Ah well/ I was looking forward to a flat scren miggy but at least I have a proper Philips CM8833 II to use still.