religious question - which chip?

[eDRoaCH]

I know this is one of those questions like linux vs windows, xbox vs ps2, etc, but I'm really hoping to get a constructive answer or two.

Ive just killed my 2nd ps2 in ~3 yrs with the slidecard and think its time to buy a modchip. So I plan on going with a nice pre-modded slimline ps2. But I really dont know much about the technology. Ive heard from various places go with the Infinity, so that was my plan, till I read the review in the sticky and it talks about 10 second blackscreens at startup.

Not that thats a deal breaker, but I wouldnt mind avoiding it. Seems like the 2 major players are Infinity and DMS, with the mysterious crystal appearing sometimes. The site I plan on buying from has all 3. I actually have done some reading on several different sites today, but cant find a side-by-side comparison, or even proper reviews of them on the same site.

What do I want to do? play ps1 and ps2 backups with dvd9 support JIC.
Nice bonuses would include dvd region free, (they all seem to do this anyway) PAL support, hd loader support, (prob would never use till the dvd drive died) and if one of them can play my psx inu yasha backup it will have a huge advantage. ^^

basically, i need recomendations, but also state WHY. like 'the ___ is more compatible with ps2 dvds than ____' or '___ loads faster than ___'

last thing, site I'm looking at (wont mention it cuz I'm not sure if its ok) has the comsoft slimline v4 laser fix for a price or the Summ0ne for free. opinions on them also helpful.

thx in advance