Some receivers, processors, DACs, etc... out there have the ability to display what the bit rate is of the digital stream. But the format still dictates. As I understand it... a redbook CD is always only going to be 16/44, regardless of how it was recorded. So there's really no way to tell in this case. But with DVDs you could get different output rates depending on the recording and equipment.
24-bit question.....
Other than the packaging stating the recording was remastered/recorded with 24 bit resolution...is there any other way to determine if a recording is such?