High-Definition Audio Question?  

Murray,
See the "future proof" receiver sticky thread at the top of this forum.

The simple answer is that you will need HDMI V1.1 or greater interconnect to get full quality from the new audio formats. Traditional optical or coax digital audio connections will work in a "compatability with older devices" way, but not at full quality.

HDMI V1.1 is all you need if the player decodes the formats, as will likely have to be the case for virtually all commercial discs, since they are authored in the "advanced content" mode.

HDMI V1.3 is required if you want to send the undecoded form of the new audio formats to the receiver for the receiver to decode. As stated in the last paragraph, depending upon the disc you are playing, that might not work anyway since the player will be required to do the decode due to the method by which the disc has been authored.

Your best bet is to:

1) Buy a player that can decode all the new formats of interest to you all by itself and which has HDMI V1.1 or higher output. It will send multiple channels of high res digital audio (PCM) over HDMI to your receiver, and the receiver will take it from there. Many players ship today with the ability to decode only some formats, and additional format support is promised as a future upgrade. So don't just assume that a given player can decode all formats, or will never be able to decode some format. AND

2) Buy a receiver with AT LEAST HDMI V1.1 or higher and which is speced to accept high res, multi-chanel PCM over that. If your receiver is HDMI V1.3 or higher and also has the ability to decode some or all of the new formats itself, AND if your player is also HDMI V1.3 or higher, then, depending upon the disc you play, you may have the option of having the receiver decode the format instead of the player. As stated above, it is likely that many if not most commercial discs may preclude this.
--Bob