HT gets more and more complicated.

1 - DD and DTS are competing formats and DTS has the edge on possible fidelity, by nature of higher sampling rates - should the engineer choose to use them. they are both compressed digital signals, but DTS's compression algorithm doesn't lose as much as the signal as DD. what it really comes down to, though, is who mixed it and how mch effort they put into it. they can both sound good when done right.

2 - you MUST use the 6-channel audio analog outputs from your dvd player if you want multichannel dvd-a. the digital connection will only pass standard PCM, DD, or DTS signal - not dvd-a. why? because of copy-protection issues. they won't allow the signat to be transfrered digitally for fear of somebody making perfect digital copies.

3 - yep, it's pulse code modulation. good 'ole PCM, like we use on CD's (and dvd-a)

4 - what you're referring to is specifically meant for 24/96 audio discs. some receivers can not handle the higher bitrate and don't know what to do with it, that is why they give you the option of downcoverting which would, yes, degrade the signal.. your denon has no such limitation, so don't worry about the downcoversion.

5 - i think AFDM stands for American Franco-Demolition-Marauders. this is the coalition of people in the government who have a secret network of citizens who are trying to make all American citizens hate all things French. if you are a REAL american, you will send me all of your french goods (wines, cheeses, uber-expensive audio equipment) for proper disposal and/or storage.

i'm not too sure about that last one, though.

Yeah... I never did trust those White flag bearing surrender monkeys.

Thanks Laz.

Well that sucks. Now i need to go get new interconnect cables. Why? Because when i sold my last reciever i threw them in for free as incentive.

Thats ok though. I was using some pretty shabby monster cables. Im going to keep all the cabes i got in my HT at THX cert level.
Man this upgrade im working on will cost wuite a bit and take forever seeing as how im the sole income in the household.

Ohwell. Its fun to buy ney stuff, i think the anticipation is almsot as much fun as finally getting the product.

Hello there is some very good info above. Here is the deal Dolby Digital which is AC3 Was really the first in the new wave of Digital Home Theater And your correct there are more formats coming out but some of them do require compatable components to really take advantage of the new formats. they all can sound good depending on the way it was mixed which has alot to due with the final product.its a no brainer that DTS SOUNDS BETTER THAN DOLBY DIGITAL AND HERE IS WHY TO BE EXACT DOLBY DIGITAL RUNS AT 16 BIT TO WHERE DTS RUNS AT 20 BIT ND THE 4 BIT DIFFERENCE IS REALLY BIGGER THAN YOU WOULD THINK. You will start to notice your local movie theaters are starting to use DTS MORE AND MORE AND THEY SAID "" SOON WE WILL BE RUNNING DTS FOR ALL MOVIES"" WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO IT THEY ALL SOUND GREAT DEPENEING ON THE MOVIE. WHAT DO YOU USE As your refrence dvd for when you demo your home theater for people? the 2nd scene of FINAL DESTINATION 2{The high way accident} was pretty cool and also The fight scene on the plane of AIR FORCE ONE Is really nice as well . I Hope I was of some help? good luck and enjoy thats what its all about. GINO

Although I do nearly always prefer the DTS sound track to the DD track, it's typically not available. It may be that there are more DTS available now and increasingly in the future, but I'd say that when I go to the video store, the ratio is probably close to 100:1 in favor of DD. There are vanishingly few of titles available in the newer formats, such as Neo:6, DTS ES, DD EX, etc. It's so few that last fall when I was shopping for upgrades to my pre/pro, I simply crossed those formats off my requirements. I'm sure I'll be upgrading again, and probably more than once, before those formats are numerous enough for me to want to buy equipment to play them.

dts neo:6 isn't a format per se - it's dts's version of prologic 2, or just an algorithm to extract multichannel from 2-channel sources.

as such, nothing will be "recorded" or "released" in neo:6

i use it on occasion, but for the most part prologic 2 does a better job on tv broadcasts and the sort. don't ever use either for music. it's not good.

You are not alone !!
I bought a 2803 (last years version ) and found the manual useless. I called Denon support and the people there very helpful.
AFDM is auto flag detection mode. If set on, and you play a movie that is in DD ex or DTS es, there is an embedded flag in the data. This flag is detected and the surround rear channels are automatically turned on.

And to think I almost considered selling my Rotel to get a more "user friendly" Denon. It took me weeks to figure out how to get the OSD to work since the manual failed to mention you need to be on one of ten different remote settings or it won't work!!

I have been told that DTS is better because it is more subtle, the image is presented in such a fashion that it is harder to place the source or the speaker from where the sound is comming from, it is also said to be more dynamic in general, and it is also said that DTS is going to be the standard format for some around the corner new technology (hidef DVD) dont quote me, just what I have heard.

I have never really been happy with Dolby digital. I use the PCM and feed it into my audio aero capitole for upsampling and I am very happy with it.

There are some audio feeds that are mixed for Dolby and they can sound better in Dolby; but, all things being equal, I think Dolby is over rated.