Charles,
The germ of thinking about upgrading my consumer-grade Sony DVD player comes from my recent purchase of an HD 30" wide-screen TV with HDMI inputs, etc. My Sony DVD player doesn't have progressive scan, for starters (though it does have an optical digital out).
Now, I view the new TV as a 2-3 year stop-gap necessitated by the death of my old 4:3 tv -- it will ultimately become our bedroom TV when HD plasma tvs drop in price in a few years. I'll wait.
I'm actively working on upgrading other items. What's set now is I'm driving five NHT VS-2s with B&K 200w amps (based on recent purchases).
So my upgrade path now looks like this:
1. I need a sub.
2. I have to upgrade my old Fosgate pro logic processor (a Lexicon DC-1 v4 sounds like the way to go but I need to look at the whole DVI/HDMI variable) -- right now, I can't even take advantage of the optical digital outs of both my satellite box or my consumer-grade dvd player.
3. I need a better DVD player.
4. HD/Tivo satellite tuner -- maybe a year off -- the TIVO variable has that price way up there right now.
That order isn't fixed -- finances and used item opportunities will drive that game-plan along, but I'm thinking the sub is going to be next (since my Fosgate does work and I do have a DVD player). But, concurrently, I need to start thinking about what I want in a DVD player and what I want in a processor.
I really don't want to spend more than $500 - $750 on any one thing in the chain, and going pre-owned wherever I can will go a long way. Going used with the amplification was easy, the speakers, too, and I'm confident the sub will be that way, too. I'm worried I won't get off so easy where the processor and DVD player are concerned -- have to learn more about the HDMI/DVI issue.