I've got a question that I'm a little embarassed that I don't know the answer to. First some info though:

I've got a 32" Sony Wega TV which is not HDTV ready. I've been using a Sony DVD player I purchased in late '99 since then and it's been great. Lately though I've been looking to upgrade the DVD player, mainly for playing more recordable media and multi-disc capability. I've found a player I'm interested in which should tide me over until the format war is settled.

We are probably two years away from upgrading to an HDTV, although it may happen sooner if affordable 1080p native TVs come out. The player I'm looking at meets all my requirements, except for the fact it doesn't have an HDMI output. My understanding is that most players with HDMI will upconvert to 720p/1080i over HDMI, but nothing else. I'm also under the impression that most TVs can do their own 720p/1080i conversion as well but I'm not sure if they'll do this over component inputs.

Is it worth purchasing a DVD player without HDMI, knowing that I get no benefit from it now, or will I regret that decision as soon as we purchase an HDTV?

The only difference is that HDMI carries the audio signal as well. As for what to do now there are dvi to hdmi cables and adapters for any combination.

The player I'm looking at doesn't have DVI outputs either.

I say don't sweat it now. When you do eventually buy an HDTV it will perform any upconversion you need for all SD sources. At that time you might also feel like upgrading your player to either HD DVD or BluRay Disc players and these are backwards compatible with SD and have HDMI.

Yeah, that was basically my feeling as well. Thanks for the feedback.