I personally would believe your choice comes down to the amount of quality in playback you're willing to sacrifice. I personally don't own a universal player and I've been a little scared to go pick one up. All the posts and reviews I've read seem to say that this first generation of universal players haven't quite worked out all of their bugs. It seems they all have their strong suits, be it SACD playback, DVD-Audio playback, video playback, ease of set-up, etc., but none of them seem to be solid in all of these areas. You're left with a decision on which one of these formats you prefer the strongest playback with. I would personally wait a generation for the manufacturers to work out the kinks. Also, the prices are bound to fall by that point.