1) Will I loose anything by only having the optical cable from the DVD player to the 950? Do I need the analog cables connected along with the DTS optical cable for any reason?

2) Can I use a Component cable like it was an analog cable? I would like to purchase the Component cables now, but I only have an analog connection to the TV at this time. I will soon have a RPTV that will accommodate the component input, but wondered if the cables could be used as analog in the mean time?

I think the answer to my first question is Stereo bypass will not work.

For (1), you are correct that stereo bypass will not work -- that is only available for two-channel analog inputs. With a digital input, you don't have the problem of multiple digital-to-analog-to-digital conversions, so you don't need the bypass mode. Unless your DVD player happens to include really, really nice DACs and you want to use it as a CD player in stereo mode, I don't see any reason to connect analog cables.

The PSC component cables can also be used as composite cables without a problem (or as digital coax cables).

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