I would like to know whether it bitstreams Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD MA. The HDMI chips used in the previous versions could only output those codecs via LPCM (after decoding them internally), but maybe they replaced them with more modern chips that can do it. Thanks.

Yes please.

Excellent.

Yes, please.

Yes, please.

In for 1.

S9 looks great.

I love Engadget, but this post has about half a dozen grammatical/typo issues in its 5 sentences. It seems like the proofreading has gone way downhill lately.

Try the Audioengine W1 wireless adapter (http://www.audioengineusa.com/). It is about $150, but then you can use whatever speakers you want. Engadget gave it a favorable review, and it has worked well for me. You may want to consider powered rear speakers in conjunction with the W1. Audioengine has some of those as well, and they even have a USB port to plug the W1 into for power. I too considered all-in-one sound bars, but my room is open so I decided the wireless powered rears would work best.

Don't forget the Tivo HD and Series 3 options. You can transfer programs to your PC, but you will need to use some backend processing to free them from their .tivo shackles.