I personally like 7.1.
Iam the type of person that likes to matrix my music and use mt b-surrounds.so 7.1 is worth it to me and it`s nice to have that option then not have it at all
These receivers both need a blu-ray player to decode internally to get HD audio.
I would be looking at a reciever that does the decoding(you might want to look into this).but that's me.
There is a lot of 7.1 movies.Almost every lions-gate movie(blu-ray)that has been coming out is in 7.1 and there will be more to come.If you get the 5.1 you will never get to experience that.
You get more watts per channel with the 5.1 and less with the 7.1,but i would still go with the 563.
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/p...l?CNTID=567576
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/p...l?CNTID=567575