I thought I'd keep you guys up to date and welcome any Thoughts and comments on the e-mail I sent to Scott below:

Scott, I just tried to call but there was no answer. I played around with the 950 last night because it was suggested in a post that I try locking the sound data format. While I was doing this I was cycling thru the different formats with the remote and I noticed it did not make the popping sounds while aquiring a new sound format with it sitting on the same TV station channel. Since the popping only occurs when changing channels I started thinking that the problem maybe in the Optical Digital connection in my Sony Direct TV Receiver and not in the 950. I changed the hookup between the Sony and the 950 from Optical to an Analog and the Popping sounds are gone. So I think my 950 is fine and there must be something wrong with the Sony Optical Port. What do you think?

Thanks for your help

Rob Phelps