Soundhd...The downmix mode of player operation is described in the player owner's manual. I have used Panasonic, Pioneer, and Denon DVD-A players and they all did it. The producer of the disc can lock out this downmix feature by info on the disc, but I have not seen any like that.
Also, I heard somewhere that the gain coefficients for the downmix process are not fixed by the player design, but are provided to the player from the disc.
DVD-A discs do not have more than one layer. On SACD the SACD stereo program is on the same layer as the Multichannel program, but on a different area of the disc. The CD-readable program is on the second layer of a SACD disc.
Also, I heard somewhere that the gain coefficients for the downmix process are not fixed by the player design, but are provided to the player from the disc.
DVD-A discs do not have more than one layer. On SACD the SACD stereo program is on the same layer as the Multichannel program, but on a different area of the disc. The CD-readable program is on the second layer of a SACD disc.