Thank you for the education. BTW, the sound is clearer, more pronounced with the optical hook up. Digital Audio is the way to go for sure.

I look forward to your review of the 997 and thanks for taking the time to respond back to my questions,,,

I'm glad to hear that the optical output is an improvement. The DAC in your satellite box is certain to be pretty underwhelming, and for any Dolby 5.1 sources the downmixing to stereo is going to be about the same.