Quote Originally Posted by gman086

Thanks L.J.! That IS what I see on the receiver when I set the player to PCM. And I don't need all the 7.1 analog cables, just the HDMI cable for that, correct? I'll have to critically listen to see if I can hear any difference. Every blu-ray I've played lately tho has a different audio format just adding to the confusion not to mention I can kick the 7.1 multi-channel over to THX mode in the receiver as well on the Dolby tracks just adding to the confusion. Too many options and the owners manuals don't exactly explain any of this!!!

Best,

G
Yes, this means the player is doing the decoding of the HD audio. In your case, this is the correct settings. The decoded audio can be output over the analog outputs or HDMI. Now, I don't really know if one offers any advantage over the other, as far as SQ is concerned, so I will suggest you try both ways and decide for yourself. Someone may have more info on that.

A couple of things to note is that if you go the 7.1 analog route, you will have to set your speaker levels and distances in the player, since the player will be handling the bass management. Going with HDMI, the bass management will be handled by your AVR, and this may give you some surround processing options like THX, DPLII and stuff like that.