Podboy,

Im not referring to Bluray or HDDVD as standards. I am referring to the HDMI committee and their additions to the standard, and manufacturers that are shipping incomplete gear(not enough processing power to decode DTS-MA, and no BD-Java on Bluray). Some were obviously significant enough that it makes you wonder why they didn't take the time to make sure the specification was feature complete. I am not a luddite analog guy. Im all for convergence and media centers as long as I can get high quality sources (not iTunes!).

The deceptive advertising whether inadvertent or not is what got me mad. After taking a step back I came to the conclusion that I'm better off without it, especially when used for audio with next gen HD video sources. I use HDMI for my cable reciever and TV, and it looks great.

Do you really think the kids at Magnolia have a clue as to what receiver and what HD player supports what features and which don't? Don't you think that most people are going to make rather significant mistakes like new Onkyo HDMI receiver owners that cant get DTS-MA tracks of their disks?

The easy solution is to skip HDMI for audio from your HD Video sources. People are so used to digital everything that they don't even consider analog, which is the other 50% of the problem.

As much as we complain about the audio problems with HDMI implementation, it's the problems it has with display compatibility that gets the most attention. SimplayHD was set up by Silicon Image as a way to certify (and, by way of another logo, indicate to consumers) that source components will play nice with any HDMI capable display, which (as you might expect) is not an uncommon problem.

It is sad that SI don't see these audio issues coming, and work to include or develop a certification for audio compatibility as well, in order to keep consumers from losing their minds. It's a telling sign that the considerable audio expertise in this forum is scratching their heads over this issue - just imagine how the general consumer public is likely to react to it.

I wonder how much of an improvement the audio formats will be over the current ones. Should I be frustrated over the way audio is being implemented over HDMI or not? I don't have a reference point other than the audio formats (via coax and optical) used by my 990, but I like the way it sounds. Would an upgrade in other components (e.g. speakers, room treatments, SMS-1) provide a greater benefit to my enjoyment over the new audio formats? The answer is partially based upon objective info but subjective measures (does it sound better) too.

Is the audio improvement with the new formats comparable to a reference everyone already knows? For example, are the new formats better than the current ones like standard CDs are better than audio from mp3s?