GL, I'll add a bit more overview. First, the Rotel statement about insufficient bandwidth is pure hogwash. Besides the fact that the optical connection is a digital connection, both optical and coaxial connectors would have no problem with the digital DVD-A output. The problem is that the recording industry fears that the digital output would be used to make unlimited numbers of perfect digital copies if it was made readily available. So, the material using higher sampling rates and/or bits is available only through the analog outputs of the player.
Since receivers generally do their bass management processing in the digital realm, the analog input doesn't allow for this, and none of the lowest bass from the other channels gets sent to the sub unless the player has already done some bass management before it converted digital to analog. Your Rotel has a partial solution in that it can duplicate the bass under 100Hz and send it to the sub simultaneously with the other speakers. This doesn't separate the duties but may be a net plus. It's for you to decide if you prefer to use it.
