Panasonic's DMP-BD10 has a 7.1 analog output. So far, the other players have only offered 5.1 analog outputs, with the rationalization (not a good one, in my opinion) that nearly all of the titles currently available are only using 5.1 tracks anyway - sound engineers continue to mix almost exclusively in 5.1 for theaters and nobody seems to want to re-mix for video release to add the rear surrounds. Many HD-DVD and Blu-ray owners have been splitting the surround outputs to go to both side and rear surrounds. Of course, these are still first-gen players, and we're still seeing the new technology issues you'd expect (we still don't have anything that can decode DTS-HD Master Audio, for example). My SWAG: as the formats mature, we'll see two trends - more players that omit analog multichannel output entirely, and more of the players that elect to retain the multichannel output going all the way to 7.1.

If you're still running a 1996-vintage Pro Logic receiver, let me just say that moving to Dolby Digital and DTS alone (not even taking into consideration Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio) would classify as an amazing upgrade.