Bob's got option 1 covered. If you want to see the 950's format detection at work, watch the front display when the disc menu first loads. The audio on the menu is typically Dolby 2.0 - when the 950 detects a new signal, it mutes briefly to determine what format the signal is and then displays that format on the right side of the display for a couple of seconds. The top right will say what the signal type is (DOLBY D, or DTS, or PCM) and the bottom right will offer so additional information. For Dolby Digital and DTS, it displays how many channels are included. On a menu with Dolby 2.0 audio, the second line would show "2/0.0". For Dolby or DTS 5.1, it show "3/2.1" (three front channels, two surround channels, and LFE channel).

I will assume that you got the Denon 2900 for DVD-Audio and SACD. As Bob recommends, use the digital output for regular DVD's, but for DVD-A and SACD you will use the six-channel analog output. You will need to select multichannel to get full use for these two formats. In order to let the 950's analog bass management work, you will want to go into the 2900's speaker setup menu and set all five speakers to "large" and the sub to "on." This will cause the 2900 to not apply any bass management.

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