first of all, thx for the quick replies. i went ahead and tried some gold plated composite cables i had lying around. the dvd player worked fine but the difference between the movie in s-video and this was not very different. (the composite cable/component connection looked a little brighter...) from what you guys are saying, i should just drop the $15 and get the component cables...but is it really going to show a noticeable difference?
the dvd player is rather old too, its a Sony DVP-s560d, so i know its not progressive scan. so old, i can't even find it on the sony web site!!