Neil, thanks for clarification. Out of curiosity, dou you know the approximate percentage of DVD-video players not supporting 24/96 stereo LPCM?
No. However, out of the 5 players I have one of them is 16-bit only - Cambridge Audio Azur MkII (The Mk I was DVD-A capable).
Bizarrely, it does output at 96kHz although why they made it 16/96 is frankly beyond me and this is from a HiFi company.
If it is DVD-A capable the odds are it outputs 24-bit audio, but if it is a straight DVD-V only player the odds of 16-bit only rise dramatically.
The 96kHz thing is usually a firmware setting, and default is usually set to 48kHz.
There are a bunch of Sony players that are 16/48 only with no options to change anything.
The problem is the wording of the specs. They say that support is 16, 20 or 24-bit at 48 or 96kHz in 1 to 8 channels to a maximum of 6.144Mbps.
Sadly a lot of cheapskate companies (and some not so cheap) read this as the minimum support is 16/48 stereo, and therefore that is all they are required to support.