HDMI ain’t all that, IMO. If you’re mixing gear with different protocols – 1.0, 1.2 etc. – you may have some “handshake” problems (which is merely a polite way of saying “incompatibility”). Currently only Blu-ray DVDs are capable of delivering 1080p. And even then, if your screen size / viewing distance relation isn’t optimal, it won’t look any better than 720p.
To answer your questions:
a. You’ll get the DVD menus. As far as the receiver menus on-screen, the manual should tell you about that.
c. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe all the bass management is accomplished in the digital domain, therefore incoming analog signals will be converted. Makes sense to me to use the player’s digital output and avoid an addition conversion step.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt