I'm thinking about buying a DVD player but wanted to ask a few questions first.
1. I have a dolby digital reciever with dolby decoding built in. On the reciever there are no component video inputs but I do have them on my TV. I need advice on how to set it up. Can I have the component video going to the TV and the digital auidio going to the reciever to be decoded?
2. Also, because I have the decoding on the reciever do I need it on the DVD?
3. Finally, any advice on which model to buy? I know I want a sony but besides that it's up in the air.
Thanks in advance.
Peter

1. There's no reason why you can't have component video going directly to the TV and audio going to the receiver. This is what I do (though with S-Video). You'll just have to make sure to set the TV & receiver to the right inputs.

2. As long as your receiver has Dolby Digital decoding -- and isn't merely Dolby Digital Ready you won't need a decoder in the DVD player. However, most of the upper-end players (ie. more features) throw Dolby Digital decoders in anyways. You don't have to use the built-in one, however, since they still include all the proper digital outputs.

3. If you want Sony (my choice as well) and don't need a decoder, the best you can get is the DVP-S7700. If this is a bit expensive, the current DVP-S300 and S500D are nice (I own the S500D) but Sony's announced brand new models with some handy features for late Spring release - the S330, S530D and S550D. The 5xx models feature built-in Dolby decoders, while the 3xx and 7xxx models don't.