My Denon DVD player (DVD-800) bit the dust last week. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I have since learnt that they are definitely the weak link in the Denon family. It was about 8 years old, did an admirable job, but it has ceased to be.
I have replaced it with the soon to be superceded Panasonic Blu-ray player (DMP-BD35) for the nice price of $399. It matches my Panasonic 1080p telly.
The shock to the system came with the purchase of a HDMI cable. Safe with the knowledge that any HDMI cable is better than the normal AV cables supplied, did I do the right thing in spending $170 on a cable (Monster 700, providing 4.95 Gbps and 8-bit colour), or maybe it was overkill, or maybe I didn't spend enough?
I also bought a fibre optic cable for the sound, I couldn't believe the difference!