There is no such beastie as a DVI to component cable, although I have heard of some folks with older CRT front projectors tracking down a black box that converts a DVI signal to component. It's likely to cost more than the Oppo, though, and I'm not sure where to track one down.

A very few players upconvert via component - and the number is dropping with each generation. Upconversion via component is frowned upon by Hollywood, who wants to close the "analog hole" and restrict component video to 480p or 540p. Some of the Samsungs have support upsampled component output, as have some Zenith/LG players (the Zenith DVB318, for example). Denon, Pioneer, Panasonic, Oppo, Onkyo, Yamaha, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting have consistently only upsampled to 720p/1080i over DVI or HDMI outputs.

The Oppo is unusual among the upsampling players, but not because the component output lacks upconversion to 720p/1080i. It is unusual because the component outputs are not progressive scan (480p) - they are straight 480i, the native resolution of the disc. As a general rule, I only recommend the Oppo if you have or intend to soon have an HDTV with DVI or HDMI input. The analog video output is not really its strong suit.