yeah, i don't see why it'd work with digital. my dvd player is a samsung too, forgot the model number. i run optical into my onkyo receiver and everything that i've seen that is 6.1 dts es has always worked properly. also i have an encoder in my receiver that will enhance 5.1 to 6.1 dts, i don't really know if this improves anything tho, i usually don't mess with that feature and let it decide based on what the movie should be.
anyway, good luck.