Yes John. I said analog as in the opposite of digital. The "D" in HDMI stands for digital. It is actually the only format capable of transporting a full 7.1 channel lossless audio soundtrack like DTS Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD but older receiver/preprocessors (like mine) may not have the required input and even if it does may be incapable of decoding it. (In fact this is only output on HDMI if the player is configured to output bitstream and the upstream device supports it.) Coax and optical digital outputs are limited to 5.1 channel 'lossy' formats like Dolby Digital or DTS. Yes DTS-ES does encode a back surround channel within the format if it is available on the source but this is not really a discrete channel.

The point I was trying to make is that if you have an older receiver or preprocessor without HDMI inputs or without support for the latest lossless 7.1 channel audio formats using player without a full set of 7.1 audio outputs will limit your options for getting all those lossless channels out to your speakers. For me this was a compelling reason to get an Oppo. I got the 95 but even the $500 BDP 93/103 has the full set of 7.1 channel analog outputs. Mind you if your receiver/processor doesn't have the 7.1 channel inputs this isn't an issue.

Sorry, but that's incorrect. HDMI is the acronym for High-Definition Multimedia Interface.

A technicality. HDMI is an inherently digital format. Of course digital coax and optical digital outputs are digital. Only good old fashioned analog is not digital but most consumer BD players including the Sony that was mentioned earlier only have front left and right analog outputs. No centre, surrounds, or subwoofer.

The first few generations of the top of the line main stream consumer BR players (Samsung, Panasonic Sony etc.)had analog outs, but as HDMI took ove, most companies dropped the analog outs, not sure on how viable using an old BR player would be now.

Agreed. There may be some other brands that still make a high end player but Oppo basically owns this market.

Is there even any other player in this segment? I am not talking about rebadged Oppo's either.

I do not believe Denon offers a player at this price/feature point anymore, that would have been my only guess.

Your earlier post stated "To get 7.1 audio out you need an Oppo...". As clarified, you were only referring to a situation where the receiver had no HDMI input(and processing), but did have multi-channel analog inputs which could take the feed from the Oppo multi-channel analog outputs. Point understood.

Yes exactly. One scenario where the 7.1 analog outputs of an Oppo would be advantageous compared to the commodity consumer players is when one is using an older receiver/preprocessor without HDMI or that cannot decode the newer lossless audio formats. (Or when one wants to buy a used high end preprocessor for cheap.) This only applies if it has 5.1 or 7.1 analog inputs.