Lossless Audio on older Receiver??

[Crypter]

I have a 7.1 Surround Sound Setup at home and my receiver is not that old but it does not decode audio via HDMI (even though it does HDMI Switching). It supports all the other codecs and it is even THX certified. I have come to realize I have 2 options, either I get a new receiver (not going to do this) or I use the 7.1 Analog inputs on my receiver and let the standalone player decode the audio. Since I am pretty sure you cannot get lossless audio from Coax or Optical.

My question is this, is this solution any good? Is anyone out there currently using the analog input on their receiver to listen to the new lossless audio formats? I have not bought a standalone yet, I currently just use the 360+Addon+VGA+Optical. But I might consider picking up a Standalone player if it will be a significant boost in sound quality. Also are there currently any movies that have true 7.1 surround tracks?

EDIT: Mods, I made an identical thread to this one in the HD-DVD hardware forum but I thought this would be a better place for it. Please feel free to delete the other thread. Thanks

[cardpetree]

I have a 7.1 Surround Sound Setup at home and my receiver is not that old but it does not decode audio via HDMI (even though it does HDMI Switching). It supports all the other codecs and it is even THX certified. I have come to realize I have 2 options, either I get a new receiver (not going to do this) or I use the 7.1 Analog inputs on my receiver and let the standalone player decode the audio.

This would work fine since the player would do the decoding even if you were running HDMI.

Since I am pretty sure you cannot get lossless audio from Coax or Optical.

This is correct

My question is this, is this solution any good? Is anyone out there currently using the analog input on their receiver to listen to the new lossless audio formats?

This is an excellent sollution since a lot of people do have older receivers that don't except HDMI audio.

I have not bought a standalone yet, I currently just use the 360+Addon+VGA+Optical. But I might consider picking up a Standalone player if it will be a significant boost in sound quality.

It would definitely be a significant boost in sound quality, but in less you're just an audio freak there is no reason to switch from the add on at this point. I would wait for some of the newer players to come out. You'll also be able to get a player for a lot less this holiday season. I will add that I am an audio freak and had to have lossless audio so I replaced my 360 add on with a HD A2 and bought a receiver that accepted HDMI audio.

[HD Guru]

i agree with the above poster - using a standalone with analog will be a massive improvement.