Probably a stupid question but will the 997 support True-HD in the preamp itself instead of analog connections?

I am behind the times with my 950.

Thanks!

The 997 will decode all the new formats internally.

To ammend to that, the digital signal will have to be sent over a player that supports HDMI 1.3a or higher (or HDMI 1.1 if you are sending the data as bitstream). Optical and Digital coax won't work.

Lanion's got it - the 997 will accept a TrueHD or DTS-HD MA bitstream via HDMI v1.3 as well as a multichannel PCM signal via HDMI from a source that decodes internally.

Hopefully the PS3 will do that for Blu-ray!

It does - decodes TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio and outputs them as multichannel PCM over HDMI.

Does the PS3 give you the option to NOT decode and send the bitstream data to the 997 where it will then be decoded?

I'm likening this to 1080P upconverting - whether it's better for the player to do it or the TV.

Does the same logic follow? Is it better for the PS3 to decode the audio or the 997?

Thanks

The PS3 cannot bitstream the new formats - the HDMI implementation they used was the very first one built, and indications are that the hardware simply can't do it.

I think the question of whether to decode in player or receiver/processor is a tough one - some folks really want to do it in the receiver or processor, but if you decode properly in the player you are delivering multichannel PCM to the receiver - which is the same thing that would happen if it decoded internally. Because of that, I'm not convinced it matters (assuming the decoding is done properly). One benefit of decoding in the player is that it allows some bonus features (specifically secondary audio) to work.

As always, thanks for the info Gonk.