Toslink or Coaxial SPDIF - Using an SPDIF connection, the Dolby Digital bitstream is sent directly to your receiver for decoding, converting to analog, and amplifying to your speakers.

HDMI - Depending on the setting chosen in your Blu-ray dsc player, the HDMI output can be used to transmit the Dolby Digital bitstream to be decoded in the receiver, or the player itself can perform the decoding to a PCM signal and transmit instead in that form. The receiver will still be needed for digital-to-analog conversion and amplification.

Multi-channel analog - With the analog connections, the player itself must decode the Dolby Digital bitstream and convert it from digital to analog. This will then be passed to the receiver for amplification. In this case, calibration adjustments such as speaker sizes and channel levels should be entered into the Blu-ray disc player's setup menus, not the A/V receiver's. The quality of the resulting sound will vary depending on whether the Digital-to-Analog (DAC) components in the player are as good as those in the receiver. If the receiver has superior DACs, a digital connection (either SPDIF or HDMI) will be preferred.