audio decoding question

[philitalia]

Really confused here because I've read different types of advise.

I would like the blu-ray player to do the audio decoding.
Do I use the analogue connections or can I use the HDMI and put the audio setting on "auto" instead of bitstream and set the amp to "pure direct" ?
Through the analogue connectors the player sounds absolutely fantastic - but the audio is sometimes just a little out of sync (and I don't seem able to correct this).

ps. I think the audio sync is more due to the tv/amp connection. When the bdp is directly connected to the tv there's no problem