Just what we needed, more questions about the HD audio formats and Bluray! Anyhow, I will be buying a Bluray player in the near future and want to make sure I get the right one. Right now I have an old receiver that only supports Dolby Digital and DTS and does not have HDMI inputs. It does have 5.1 analog inputs. The two players I am looking at primarily are:

Sony BDP-S550 ($400)
7.1 analog out, and it SEEMS that it can decode TrueHD and DTS-Master Audio. Owners manual and Sony are not especially helpful. Can it send these formats out decoded via analog outputs?

Panasonic BD30K ($300)
5.1 analog out, does NOT decode TrueHD and DTS-Master they must be sent out as bitstream to the AVR via HDMI. Not sure if it can decode Dolby Plus or DTS-HD formats and send out via analog out. Again Panasonic owners manual and tech support are next to useless.

My question is if anyone has these players and is using them with the analog outs, and what formats can you use?

I will be upgrading the AVR shortly with one that can decode all the new formats, so if I have to live for awhile without and can save $100 with the Panny, that is OK. But it would be nice to at least use the Dolby Plus and DTS-HD in the meantime, if the lossless formats are not available to me.

I know all the players can decode PCM bitstream, but can the send that out via analog outs or is that HDMI only?

Thanks in advance.