Will be hooking up new HDTV and BluRay in near future. My receiver does not have HDMI.

Will connect DirecTV and BluRay video to direclty to TV via HDMI.

Please rank the following three audio hookups from best to worst. Thanks!

A. Optical
B. Coax
C. 5.1 Analog (MultiChannel Direct)

Thanks!!!!!

Depends on your player, your receiver and your speaker arrangement. Analog will get you the highest resolution MCH but, most likely, you will have to handle bass management and speaker delays in the player since most receivers will not be able to do that with analog inputs. Typically, players do those functions but poorly.

OTOH, if you use optical or coax (no significant difference), you will have access to those functions in the receiver but you will be using a lower resolution signal from the player.

So? What are your specifics?

I have a Sony 5.1 receiver that's about 4 years old. No HDMI. DirecTV box has Optical and Coax options. BluRay has Optical, no Coax - but does have 7.1 analog out.

The problem is that the reciever only has 1 optical in and 1 coax in.

I will view DirecTV much more than BluRay; so, I was going to use the optial out on the DirecTV....leaving my only BluRay option as analog.

Are you saying there is only a negligable diff b/w coax and optical? I though optical was superior...

Are you saying there is only a negligable diff b/w coax and optical? I though optical was superior...Negligible is an exaggeration. In the majority of situations, there is no difference at all.

Negligible is an exaggeration. In the majority of situations, there is no difference at all.

Thank you very much for your responses. Coax from DirecTV and Optical from BluRay it will be!