"Steve Kraus" wrote in message
m...
William Sommerwerck wrote:

"Cheap home player" and "analog audio output" (presumably of the
lossless HD formats) are mutually exclusive. Getting the latter
requires specialized chips, which you won't find in cheap players.

No, the minimal requirement would be a digital coax or optical connector
not analog. Even the cheapie Sony I tried had a digital coax connector but
that's the exception. Many have nothing on the back but the HDMI connector
so I can't go quite that low if the player is to be useable in an emergency
at my business. (At home that's fine as I don't do fancy sound at home --
just the tv sound.)

To the best of my knowledge, you can't get 5.1 or 7.1 HD audio through a coax
or optical connector. My understanding is that that is what you wanted.