Best used universal transport/player for $1,000?

Denon 3910, you can get it modded as you grow. That DAC's in it are already pretty good, you may not need/want your other.

Pioneer Elite DV59-AVi

I second the 3910!! Got one and never looked back... the 2 best ones in this price range are teh 3910 and 59avi, with each having its pros/cons:

Denon 3910
-pros
* Best Picture Quality south of the 5910
* Outstanding Build quality, heavy, excellent loading mechanism
* Superb Audio, only surpassed by the Onkyo SP1000 and Denon 5910
* Lots of audio control (Time delays, LFE control, etc) for SACD/ DVD-A...
- Cons
* Costs more than the 59avi
* can produce Macroblocking in certain displays

Pioneer 59avi
-pros
* Excellent Picture Quality (almost as good as 3910)
* Can output 480i via HDMI, thus ability to use external scaler
* can be had for $300 or so less than 3910
-cons
* Build quality/Loading mechanism not as robust
* Audio slightly inferior to 3910
* Not as many audio setup options as 3910

Either way you go you will be happy, but I personally think the 3910 is the slightly better machine overall....