Hello 73 Bruin.
Just throwing in my two cents.
Your are right about cost repair on that RP-56. I assume it has served you well. Time to move on to bigger and better things.The BD 50 from Panasonic should be available by June/July at the latest. That is what I was told here in my area which is out on the east coast.
I have an Infocus 7205 projector with one DVI input and one HDMI input. I also have the 990 processor which only has DVI input/outputs. They do make adapters for DVI to HDMI.
I do not have a Blu-Ray player as of yet but I am considering the Panasonic BD50 as you have mentioned. Sony is coming out with a second generation Blu-Ray in the short-term future which I will wait for and compare before I pull the trigger on either model.
The Oppo Dv-983H is a looker and I like the universal dvd.
I have seen Blu-Ray pictures before and I am really impressed and excited. However I have never been able to compare a blu-ray along side the Oppo up-converting DVD player. How much better can the picture be in comparison? The DVD quality is what matters just as much as the player.
That is what holding me back besides comparing the latter two DVD players. Opppo has a pretty sound reputatuon. Even the Oppo DV-980H has received good reviews.

Maybe Gonk can give some input as well.