You might think about not buying one until the industry gives you, the customer, what you want. They have made it hard for the honest and innocent to use their product, while doing nothing to stop criminals. That said, won't you be able to use 7.1 analog inputs from the HD player to the 990? Did you read something that said they would provide an analog signal carrying one of the HD audio formats?

I won't buy a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD probably ever but certainly not until the format wars end, the anti-piracy shields are lowered, the prices comes down (early adopters are punished--they pay the bill for development), there's plenty of media available and the stupid industry stops thinking that they can charge $30-$40 for a DVD and expect people to pay it. That's gonna be a long time.