Pioneer 696 v Sony NS76H - dumb sound surround ques

Hi All,

I'm looking into buying either the Pioneer DV-696AV or the Sony DVP NS76H dvd player. The Pioneer is ?0 more but has a 5.1 decoder built in, however this stills needs amplifying and I presume I'd need to buy something like a Denon 1507, which I'd need for the Sony. So is there any point of the Pioneer decoder?

I did say it was a dumb question.

Cheers,
Tony