Ok, sorry it took so long to report back. As to the video switching problem, if I turn off the DirecTV receiver and turn it back on I will get a picture. A bit of a pain, but the problem seems to come and go so I can live with that. The left surround problem was solved by going from the SL out to the SBL out and activating the back surrounds in the settings. So, for now I'm happy and a big thanks to everyone for their ideas. It's great to have this resource available.