If you want (or think you may want in the future) any SACDs or DVDAs, then I would say go with the universal. They can be found for prices that are pretty low. I think the toshiba universal has been reviewed on this site.
I have a Yamaha C750 and I only use it for music. For DVDs, I either burn them to an external hard drive for access at anytime and playback on my Linkplayer networked DVD player or just pop them into my Bravo DVD player. The Linkplayer has a great picture, but I love the PQ on the Bravo and want to use it on occasion (I should probably just Ebay it).
If I were buying a DVD player and did not want universal playback, I would buy a Linkplayer for it's relatively low price, great upconverting picture over component outputs, and it's networking ability. It also has the ability to playback recorded high def if you are interested in that sort of thing.
There are a lot of choices. I need at least two players to suit all my needs.