big bucks on dvd player worth it??

Video wise, even the cheap players make a good picture. You will not see the change in resolution unless you use an awfully good screen and view at a faily close range.
Keep your Pioneer and let the market settled out with the HD stuff now arriving.

I would say unless you have a super big scren the diffrence will be small, sure alot wont get a cheap player simply because it is cheap....but on small screens, performance stand-outs are mostly small aswell. I too would argue to wait it out, and see where all the dust settles.

An excellent DVD player is the used Philips q50 (close) for 150; these retailed for 600 originally and Good Guys closed them out at 220, I recall. Anyway, they have a great picture; would not use for a quality CD transport but for video it is great.

Another option is the Sony dvp-s7700; excellent video performance despite no progressive scan. This was sony's top of the line unit in the late 90s and is built like a tank. It also has dedicated lasers for the DVD and for the CD resulting in this unit being an excellent transport, as well. Has true high end build quality (for its price point; it is not a MBL...) and a good value for the 250 to 300 used.

The newer top rated cheap players are no where near as good as your 59avi for video.
The Pany s-97 that I just sold here is a full 30% inferior in overall picture quality than my Onkyo SP 1000 on my 110 screen with Optoma H-78DC3 PJ.
Your 59avi is close to being as good as an SP1000...so why bother if its only for picture quality.
If it were for audio, build,ergonomics and video....it would be worth upgrading.
I would also wait for hi res dvd to finally show up.

I got so tired of waiting for hi res dvd that I bought an hdmi JVC 5u DVHS player which is superior to any dvd player for picture quality ...and suprisingly enough... has better audio on most tapes... DD and DTS.

If these tapes are any indication....hi res dvd should be worth the wait.
The only reason I plan on keeping my Onkyo SP 1000 after hi res gets here is because I preferred it for redbook and sa-cd over the Sony xa777es and Marantz sa-14.....otherwise I would sell it before hi res gets here.