I am assuming for now that the 997's analog section will be at least equal to the 990's, which means of course that it will be close to as good as the BDP-83's (although possibly not better). Using the HDMI connection with a 997 will allow you to use the 997's Trinnov room correction, though, and we need to hear a 997 with Trinnov dialed in before we can predict how much benefit that will impart. In the absence of that first-hand experience, I would say that it's at least best to plan on trying HDMI.