I have seemingly searched everywhere for the answer to this question, but have been unable to find it. I'm hoping someone here can help me.

I'm considering the Samsung BD-P1400 player, which, thanks to a firmware update can now bitsream DTS-HD master audio via HDMI.

Can a firmware update allow a player to INTERNALLY decode DTS-MA and pass it out through the 5.1 analog outputs, or does this capability require a hardware upgrade?

Thanks in advance.

I should also note that I will NOT be replacing my Anthem processor with a Receiver and/or processor that decodes all of the new codecs. Therefore I would need the player to handle all of the decoding.

I was just wondering if The Samsung could possibly decode DTS-HD MA via a firmware update sometime in the future.

Thanks again.

As far as I know, existing players (except for the PS3 and Denon's player) lack the processing horsepower to decode DTS-HD Master Audio internally. I think that the upcoming BD50 from Panasonic will decode TrueHD and DTS-HD MA internally when it is released soon.

The new Sony S550 will also internally decode DTS-HD MA when it comes out sometime this fall.
I am personally waiting until the end of the year to see if Oppo might release their Blu-ray player, hoping the it will also play DVD-A and SCAD.
I don't believe that the Sony will do either one but I think the Panasonic BD50 will play DVD-A.
Those of us with the 990's can really take adavantage of the new sound formats with the new Blu-ray players with the 7.1 analog output and internal decoding.