I have just bought a new home cinema 5.1 speaker and receiver package,
but notice that there is only provision for left and right audio input
for the DVD player, instead of 6 (5.1) seperate multi channel inputs
for the DVD player. (My DVD player has these 6 outputs, so it's a
shame I can't use this.)

Instead, I connected the left and right audio output on the DVD player
to the left and right audio input on the AV receiver, and it all works
fine - I hear the 5.1 sound coming out of the 6 seperate speakers OK.

My question is - am I missing out a lot by not having the dedicated 6
inputs on the AV receiver?

Thanks, regards, dnw.