Hi all!

Great site! First time post for me.

I just purchased the oppo 980 and not sure which outs to use. The 7.1 or the optical? Does the optical provide all the 7.1 channels? I also purchased the Onkyo 990 which also has the 7.1 and optical inputs? I'm a bit confused as to which input/outputs to use.

Thanks for any advise.

Hi all!

Great site! First time post for me.

I just purchased the oppo 980 and not sure which outs to use. The 7.1 or the optical? Does the optical provide all the 7.1 channels? I also purchased the Onkyo 990 which also has the 7.1 and optical inputs? I'm a bit confused as to which input/outputs to use.

Thanks for any advise.
Depends on the source material. The optical will NOT output the multiple channels of SACD or DVD-A; for those, you have to use the analog outputs (or HDMI). Otherwise, the optical will serve for CDs and DVDs.

You can connect both 7.1CH and Optical digital. Since OPPO DV-980H output both analog and digital signal at the same time (nice!), so you can easily choose any input connection to use.