T. Perinne, you can connect the 5.1 outputs of a universal player to the 7.1 input - you simply leave the surround back inputs empty on the 990. The extra inputs are there for two reasons: it lets people who prefer to use direct radiating surround back speakers as surrounds (instead of dipole side surrounds) for multichannel music, and it offers an avenue for future formats (such as Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) that will have new 7.1 surround sound formats that might be digitally output over HDMI. Since those formats are not currently finalized and manufacturers can't incorporate support for them, a 7.1 analog input will let those future players use 7.1 analog outputs with those formats.