In Need of New Receiver

[sfjack]

Hi, I am a bit new to the HD Audio stuff (been doing HD Video for as long as it was available) and ran into the same issues mentioned. I have a great Sony 40 inch Bravia XBR LCD HD TV and had been using a Denon DVD that upconverted to 1080i with my old Harmon Kardon receiver outputing the Dolby 5.1 audio to the receiver over Toslink.

I just upgraded to the Samsung 1400 Blue Ray, upgraded the firmware and have been grooving on the 1080P HD until a few days ago when I encountered my first BD that had the HD DTS only and my receiver could not decode it over Bitstream so I was forced to change the BD player output to PCM for that movie. I thought I was going to go out and buy the Onkyo 605 and then realized I could output the audio from the BD player's 6 channel analog outputs to the receivers 6 channel inputs! It now once again sounds great, I can choose the Dolby DTS HD Master option on the player and I am getting all six channels with the same excellent seperation and sound from all six speakers that I was accustomer to.

The question I have for all you who understand this better than me is this.

Is there a reason to upgrade to a new receiver like the Onkyo to get the HD DTS over HDMI? I am happy with six speakers and don't think the rear center is that important to me but after investing in the new TV and BD Player, I do want to get the most possible from the new components, so what do you all think.

Thanks for taking a moment to share your thoughts and Happy Holidays.

Jack