I finally got a 5990 (after all the advice gotten here! 8) thanks! )

It did something I can hardly believe...

Had it hooked up with an HDMI cable to the LCD TV, which also was hooked up to an older DVR/OTA Digital Converter Box via component cables for playback, not passthru. In other words- two inputs to the screen, one on component, one on HDMI. No direct cables between the DVR & the 5990.

OK; first try, I took a disc, that had been partially played, out of the DVR (which had been off) after a so-called 'marked stop'.
I stuck it in the 5990 to see how upconversion looked on my setup.
I pressed the 'close tray' button and the 'play' button.
The disc resumed play from the point where it had been stopped!

How the heck did the 5990 know to do that?