I'd like the more knowledgeable here to comment as to whether this is correct.
HDMI, while being a considerable improvement over other connectors in data transfer capability, also has its limitations.
If you want to output a full resolution 1080p image and have high-rez multi-channel sound -- it seems you can't. If you want to play the highest resolutions of sound you have to pick 720p or 1080i as your screen resolution.
Here's Stereophile's comment on this:
Setup was fairly straightforward, except for one thing: If you want to
take advantage of the hi-rez multichannel digital output over HDMI, you
need to set the player to 720p or 1080i. What does video
output have to do with audio signals? In the HDMI protocol, the data
pipe has a bandwidth of only 27MHz at the lower video settings—not
nearly enough bandwidth for six or eight channels of hi-rez digital.
Is this limitation also valid for HDMI 1.3? I'm thinking of eventually installing a 1080p projector, but I want the best possible audio and will want high-rez through all channels. So maybe no 1080p ...