One thing I always recommend to new 950 owners who are trying to get the most out of the remote is to download a copy of the SL-9000 manual -- it goes into more detail than the 950's manual does, and if you substitute the LED flashing for the LCD messages described in the SL-9000's manual you'll find that there's a lot in there (punch through for channel or transport control buttons, a somewhat expanded explanation of macro programming -- called memory button programming -- with a more accurate example).

Like you, I also poked around a few months ago trying to punch through the surround mode buttons, but I was not successful. In the end, I learned them to another learning remote I had handy (Sony RM-AV2100) and then learned them to the buttons for the sources that might need them. Never ended up actually using them, but they were there just in case. I suppose you could try to create macros to send the DD, DTS, CES, and stereo commands from the four macro buttons at the bottom of the remote, assuming you didn't have any other macros, but I don't know how well that would work and it would use up pretty much all of your macro capability.

I haven't run into the problem that you are having with PLII on CD's and DVD's, but I've also used a different approach that I'll touch on in a minute. Have you switched to DLPII-M while in a DVD menu to see if that will help? Doing so would not impact how 5.1 soundtracks play back, although it would presumably leave you in DPLII-M for DD 2.0 DVD's. As another thought -- changing gears fairly significantly here -- I have set my 950 up with the AUX1 input using the same digital input as the DVD input. I do this so that I can leave the DVD input in surround mode all the time and leave the AUX1 input set to stereo. When I listen to CD's with the DVD player, I switch to AUX1 and the 950 is in stereo mode. No need to mess with surround mode settings for the CD, or to switch back to surround mode the next time I have a DD2.0 DVD on. With the 950's remote, I created a macro that switched to AUX1 (so I wouldn't have to hit AUD, then AUX1, the cover the IR emitter when I hit DVD). I had a similar macro to switch to the 6 channel input for DVD-A -- which might be handy for your SACD's, as well. When I switched to an MX-500 remote last week (very cool remote, by the way), I taught the AUX1 and 6 channel commands to buttons for the DVD controls and eliminated the need for the macros, but I had a great deal of success with the macro input-switching on the 950's remote.

------------------
gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review