The lock on doesn't really seem to be an issue. It takes just as much time from my cable box to the TV or through my 990. So I don't see that as a problem. It takes 1 second, but the cable box always took that much time in analog 2.0.

As for upsample, it works on the analog in as well. I assume it converts the analog much in the same way that it converts to 5 channel stereo from an analog in. I am not using the digital in for my CD player.