Yes, agreed. You need to first state what you need in a new player. I was in the same situation as you (8 year old player), but I knew what I wanted: a universal player that has progressive scan, sacd, and does both video and audio quite well. I was looking at the Denon 3910 (about 1k), and the 5910 (about 2.5k, a bit more than I wanted to spend), so I came across the Denon 2900 for $480.00 at Vann's. It will do everything I want quite well at a low price, even though it's old school (no DLink, hdmi/dvi, br/hd, etc.). The beauty of dvd players right now is they are pretty much at the pinnacle of their development, and becuase of upcoming br/hd, also near the end of their life cycle (as far as r/d and marketability). The flip side of that is they will always play cd/dvd (and dvda/sacd, etc), and a very good player will always play those formats very well. I will probably not purchase a br/hd player until they work out the kinks and the prices come down, and until there is a large selection of titles that I desire (3-4 years typically). In fact, when the 5910 comes down near 1.5k, I won't hesitate to buy it as my main player. I'm a dinosaur.
