I'm in the process of building a surround sound system and my DVD player is old. I'm not sure if it has any digital outputs so i can feed them into my receiver. (It may). To utilize surround sound, do you NEED digital connections from the DVD player to the receiver?
I've never seen a DVD player that doesn't have a digital audio uotput, but it's possible they exist. You need a digital connection for DTS or DD 5.1, not for pro-logic.
Some older DVD players have analog 5.1 out with a built in Dolby Digital (and new-older ones DTS) decoder. If your receiver has analog 5/6/7.1 in (most do) it can be hooked up this way as well. Takes up a lot more cables though, and you may lose quality since the decoding is being done before the signal hits the receiver. Like David said though, DVD players without digital outs are rare or non-existent (I have never seen/heard of one either).
On the other hand, DVD players have improved quite a bit. For around $100 you could get a new one and I'd bet you'd notice a significant increase in picture quality. Good luck with building your system...