Once the Sammy 5000 receives its firmware upgrade, will DTS-MA be able to be passed through the 7.1 analog outputs, or is this the one sound format that will only pass through hdmi?

my understanding is that once the player becomes capable of onboard decoding, you will be able to send DTS-HD MA through either the HDMI or the Analog outs.

just keep in mind that the sammy has no speaker distance settings (just large and small) and a 100hz fixed crossover, so you'll need to have a receiver or processor that does these things for you (ideally without DSP).