"We will need HDMI inputs, for audio, into the SSPs to get the best quality."

Will that mean that you can�t separate Audio/Video out from the player? Or will there be one HDMI for video and one for Audio?
That's not what I think the standard is aimed at.
And if all channels are separeted in the player we will need a 7.1 analogue output at the player and the same at the processor to be able to use new equipment together with old.
I'm not interested at all in bringing video into the processor. Sometimes it's nice to listen to one music source while you are waiting for a game to get started and switch over to the game sound just at face-off.

Happy New Year
Harry