I would really be suprised if SACD's died any time soon. I think Telarc is still alive and kickin'.

You can use either the digital connection od the 5.1 analog for DVDs depending on where you want to do the processing (5.1 would have been processed in the player, digital would be processed by the pre/pro . I alwys use the digital for DVDs and CDs as my 990 has better DACs than my disc player. For DVD-As and SACDs the processing will have to be done in the player so you've got to use the 5.1 analog connection for multi-channel. For 2 channel, either the 5.1 or a standard analog connection will work.