How big an issue is DTSMA - how many disks have it as their HD audio?

[Theo Cupier]

Can you guys give me some advice about the soundtracks which appear on BD movies, please, so I can make a decision about what decoding I need from the BD player I buy:

I need my BD player to do its HD audio decoding in the player and for it to have 5.1 analog connections to send the decoded audio to my amp's analog connections.

(This is because:
1. I don't have an HDMI amp
2. I'm not about to upgrade my amp since it will cost FAR TOO MUCH
3. I want HD audio, having experienced it on my HD DVD player, so I won't accept downmixed audio via optical out, as in the PS3 etc, hence 5.1 analog outs are my only route)

So far I've been waiting for a BD player that will decode DTSMA, as well as TrueHD, DD+ and unzip uncompressed PCM soundtracks. However, this limits me to one of 5 players:
- Panasonic BD50
- Denon 3800
- Marantz 8002
- Pioneer 05
- Sony Sapphire 5
None of which are actually for sale yet and only one of which (the Panny) is likely to be affordable.

So, my question: Do I actually need to bother with DTSMA decoding onboard? Or should I be content with TrueHD, DD+ and uncompressed PCM in the player? If so, that seems to add about a dozen more players to my short list, all of which are actually available for purchase NOW!

I'm not especially interested in a discussion about the technical merits of DTSMA soundtracks versus TrueHD / U-PCM / DD+. I'm only asking this from the perspective of what soundtracks are found on Bluray disks.

In other words, if I get a player that cannot decode DTSMA, will that leave me unable to access an HD audio track on any Bluray movies? Or in reality, do all Bluray movies with DTSMA soundtracks also have either TrueHD and/or U-PCM soundtracks as well?