You are mistaken about it being impossible to have no delay. A DVD player can be made to read ahead and buffer the data, so that its output is constant, with absolutely no delay in the output. Thus, there can be zero delay.
As for the viewing experience, films are made to be shown without such a delay, and any player that has a noticeable delay does not show the movie as the director originally intended. If you regard it as "pathetic" to want a viewing experience as close as possible to what the director intended, perhaps you also regard it as "pathetic" to want the original aspect ratio instead of pan and scan cropping.
Since one can get a player like mine new for under $100 (if they are still selling them; it is a discontinued model), there is certainly no great budgetary reason to tolerate this. Other players can also accomplish this modest task, so, again, there is no reason to put up with this if one does not like it.
As for my patience, I still watch laserdiscs from time to time, and there is a significant delay with the side change. I tolerate it without difficulty. It is something that probably no player was made to eliminate (the video is analog on laserdisc, and they stopped making them some years back, so they do not have the latest capabilities). However, if a budget laserdisc player (<$100) were available that could accomplish this more difficult task, I would buy it if it met my other requirements.
Why tolerate an UNNECESSARY deviation from perfection? But, if you are happy with a delay with your DVD player, I am not asking you to purchase anything to replace it.
