A few observations...
First, aside from a few early upscaling players and at least one firmware hack, upconversion to HD resolutions is not available via component output - the best you will get via component is 480p. If your Sony lacks a DVI or HDMI input, your options for upscaling DVD are very limited.
If you do have a DVI or HDMI input, we have a different situation on our hands. A DVI input will need to be HDCP compliant to be of much use, but if you have that then you can treat it just like HDMI. You will want to change over from component to HDMI to get an upscaling player to work, at which point you can either go straight to the display or use the 970's DVI switching (which will be a transparent process and will allow you to operate two DVI or HDMI sources with a single DVI or HDMI input on your TV).