Well the in-laws decided they wanted to get in on the home theater action a little before xmas. So about 3 weeks ago they picked up a package from FS and one of the son's was supposed to set it up for her but could never make it... So, I was over there yesterday setting it up.

So heres what the bundle included :

Sharp Aquos 46" LCD
Scientific Atlanta HD box
Energy take 5.1 speakers
Yamaha 6130b AVR
Sony S350

They wanted it wall mounted so I put in an order for some cables, recessed wall plates from monoprice about 2 weeks ago & a few Carlon Orange "cut in" plates from home depot. Installing the whole thing was pretty simple. Took about 2hours to have everything wall mounted and all cables setup. Time to make the connections.

I connected the both the BD and HD box into the 6130 and out to the Aquos. Image was great and sound from the tv was all good. But we couldn't get the audio from the STB or the BD into the 5.1 system. No signal was coming in... the HDMI cables worked fine since image was there and sound (on tv) but the 6130 wouldn't do the audio. I tried every setting possible until I checked out the manual and notice a small comment:

note:
Audio siganls input at the HDMI jack are not output from any speaker terminals but output from the connected video monitor. To enjoy sound from speakers connected to this unit make an analog OR digital connection besides the HDMI.

So, is this the case with low level entry units right ? Because I thought ALL AVR with HDMI ins/out didnt need extra connections for audio. This kinda annoyed me since I told them all they needed was that... Now they regret the purchase and wish they could get something else. What was also "odd" was that the STB was connected with an optical cable and still no sound was coming in...

Any thoughts on this ?

It looks like it is specific to that unit. It may also be true of other low end units.

You should still be able to connect the digital audio cables and get soudn though.

So, is this the case with low level entry units right ? Because I thought ALL AVR with HDMI ins/out didnt need extra connections for audio

Yup, many entry-level receivers with HDMI often don't handle audio via the HDMI. They'd have to step up to the HTR-6140 in order to do that. Hopefully they can exchange it, as the 6140 would accept LPCM from the Blu-Ray player for lossless audio (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio). Best you can do right now is regular Dolby Digital & DTS via an optical and/or digital coaxial cable.

My 6080 does all the audio through HDMI. Both my mot.6416 and ps3 for BD work great. Not sure if the 6080 is entry level or not, probably is now with everything doing the HD audio.

The 6080 is much higher model.

The last two digits are representative of the feature content and the first two designate the receiver family. I.e. the 6180 is the new version of the 6080.

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for the info.

Yup, many entry-level receivers with HDMI often don't handle audio via the HDMI. They'd have to step up to the HTR-6140 in order to do that. Hopefully they can exchange it, as the 6140 would accept LPCM from the Blu-Ray player for lossless audio (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio). Best you can do right now is regular Dolby Digital & DTS via an optical and/or digital coaxial cable.
This is exactly why I chose the 6140 over the 6130. (Thanks again, cooper!)

If you're going to exchange it (as per Coopers suggestion), look into the Sony d820. I just picked this up for low $$ (don't know what the Yamaha cost your inlaws) and it is a value. It does all the dolby stuff and hdmi switching flawlessly. No upconversion but with your equipment list, I don't know that you need it. I had other issues that lead me to the Sony (size of my cabinet) that forced me into a kinda had to buy it scenario as other receivers were too deep and I was a bit hesitant, especially after reading some impressions on these forums about the power of the unit. Having it constantly on over the past three days has allayed all those fears; to date, no complaints.

Edee,

This isnt my system and they can't exchange it... so hes going optical out of the Sony BD into the Yamaha. But to be honest with you, they wouldnt notice the difference. I just thought it was weird & a pain in the ass that the unit wouldn't do that option. Since I read everywhere that HDMI does Video AND Audio.

Thanks for the response guys!