Ok so all this talk about True HD sound has me salivating, but my 4802 doesn't decode True HD. So I'm looking into the Denon BlueRay player with built in True HD decoding. But if its decoded in the player itself, then it has to send the signal to the reciever through an analog connection right? So how does it send it, through regular RCA cables? And how many will I need, 8??? I'm not sure the 4802 has that many RCA connections, I believe it only had 2 (left right) per input... So does this mean True HD sound will be impossible with the 4802?

Oh hey now that I'm looking at it there is an 'Extension in' section with left and right RCA jacks for Front, Center, Surround & SB (I believe that's surround back) which would make for 7 channels, but then where does the bass signal come from? Or is the SB the subwoofer input? If so that sucks because then the most I can get out of it is 5.1... What a waste when its 9.1 capable!

Yes, regular RCA cables.
You need six cables for 5.1 or 8 for 7.1.
Now question for you:
You have Front/L, Front/R, Center, Surround/L and Surround/R properly identified and you have ONE more labelled SB?
If you have ONE, then it is probably the subwoofer and you have a 5.1 multichannel input (even the big $$$ like Anthem Statements only have that too so don't feel too bad! ).
(gotta go, an employee just entered my office).

No, there are two (left & right) & its labeled SB... Then I noticed at the bottom of that section there is a little line between two of the right (red) imputs and it says SW (which I assume means Subwoofer). But there aren't any actual RCA imputs for a sub.... Does this mean that the Subsonic frequency info is sent through the other channels, and then gets separated before its sent out to the speakers again?

It is very unlikely that you don't have a sw input.
A question that might seem silly: do you have the manual? If not, then you might want to check for online manuals for your unit (it is pretty impressive sometimes what you can find).

Micah, the subwoofer connection is the one to the bottom of the center channel connection, as there is no Left or Right for the center.

That makes 100% sense!

Ah ha, now that does maketh more senseth!!! Thanks for pointing out what my pee-brain would never have figured out in a million years!

Oh and yes I do have the manual. But I find it much more satisfying to make other people figure these things out for me!

Lol, j/k

Ok now for my next question... Since the Blue Ray player is going to be doing the decoding for me, what do I set my reciever to? I'm thinking either 'Pure' or 'Pure Direct' since the HDMI cord will be plugged directly into my TV. I wouldn't want to color that pristine True HD signal with any Dolby Digital crap after all!!!!

One thing is decoding and the other is bass management.
If you want to use "Pure" on the receiver, make sure your player will also do bass management on top of decoding.
In the player, there should be a "speaker setup" section where you choose between "large" and "small".

From Page 33 of the manual

Input mode selection function
Different input modes can be selected for the different input sources.The selected input modes for the separate input sources are stored in the memory.

• Selecting the external input (EXT. IN) mode
Press the EXT. IN (on the EXT. IN button on the remote
control unit) to switch the external input.

From Page 38 of the manual

Playback using the external input (EXT. IN) jacks

Set the external input (EXT. IN) mode.
Press the EXT. IN (on the EXT. IN button on the remote control unit) to switch the external input.

Once this is selected, the input signals connected to the FRONT-L , FRONT-R, CENTER, SURR.-L (surround left) and SURR.-R (surround right) channels of the EXT. IN jacks are output directly to the front (left and right), center and surround (left and right) speaker systems as well as the pre-out jacks without passing through the surround circuitry.
In addition, the signal input to the SW (subwoofer) jack is output to the PRE OUT SW (subwoofer) jack. When EXT. IN is selected, the input signals connected to the EL (effect left) and ER (effect right) jacks are output to the PRE OUT (SBL and SBR) jacks.

Selecting the EXT. IN Inputs will bypass the processing performed by your receiver, so you will need to set up the speakers distance and crossover in the player's setup menu jsurt as you did in the receiver.

Whoa, I guess manuals really are good for something!

Wow now I'm getting really excited about hearing this True HD format everyone's touting! When I first turned my Denon around and found no HDMI input/output I figured I would be out of luck in hearing the new formats until I upgraded my reciever (uggg, one doesn't plan on 'upgrading' a $2000 dollar reciever THIS soon!!!). But since they can be decoded in high-end BlueRay players and sent through my 4802 via it's 'ext in', I'm in business!!!

And here all along I had been thinking the RCA jacks that litter the back pannel of my Denon were the obsolete items and the digital imputs were current! =O

Glad to hear your receiver going to work for you. I'm kind'a in the same boat with my Yamaha receiver, no True HD, etc. But I'm getting a new Panasonic Blu-ray that will do all the work for me and my receiver will basically kick out the signals to my speakers.

When it comes to audio, everything ends up analog in a digital world eventually. It's just deciding at what stage it's going to happen.

This topic title could be a link to a dating service for audiophiles.

Trust me, so am I! When I bought this amp 5 years ago I considered it an investment that would carry me WELL into the future.
After all back in 2003 they were just starting to put DVD's out with 5.1 surround, & the 4802 is 9.1 capable. So I figured there was plenty of potential to unlock before it would ever becoming obsolete! But it didn't take long. Back when it was made it was still up in the air whether or not 'HDMI' or 'DVI' would become the new standard in digital connections. Denon put their eggs in the 'DVI' basket as it has one of their connections in back, but no 'HDMI' connection.

That was very frusterating about a year later when 'HDMI' started springing up EVERYWHERE!!!

OH well, it still does a beautiful job at bringing movies to life in my livingroom. So as long as this BluRay player experiment pans out, the Denon will still be anchoring my system for a few more years to come anyway!

Ah-ha, FINALLY I have found a fairly high end, and yet fairly reasonably priced Blu-Ray player with 7.1 RCA jacks...

http://www.dtdiscounts.com/pielbdfrsh.html
(never mind the picture, that is not the right unit in the pic)

It seems a built-in SACD player is out of reach for now. Why it's so hard to incororate the two into a single unit is beyond me. Seems as though manufacturers are just too stubborn to give us what we truely want in a single unit. My guess is they just want to get more money out of us by making us buy separate units. But with only one set of RCA inputs in my reciever, an all in one unit would be very nice indeed.

Perhaps in time.

Micah:
Just because the discs are each 5", doesn't mean the technology is the same to read them. For instance, different lasers are needed. It's also possible that manufacturers are not willing to increase the cost of their unit by $200 to support a dying format.

You might want to check out the Panasonic 55...it's reviews are better than the Pioneer and it's cheaper.

Better? Cheaper? I'm always up for that!

Hmmm... I likey the SD card slot. But for the best in audio playback the Wolfson Audio DAC might be worth the $100 dollar extra price of admission on the Pioneer BDP-51FD (the non-Elite model).

In my opinion anyway.

Micah, there's no good reason why the Wolfson DAC would be worth anything extra. DACs are a mature technology and the small measurable differences between them aren't of audible significance.