I’ve been using the HDS-12 for about 6 days. I have a Directv HD DVR receiver (HR21-100) and Panasonic TCP65GT30 tv hooked up to an Onkyo TXNR709. I’m using only HDMI cable between the three. My speakers are Emotiva ERM6.3 for my L/C/R, Emotiva ERD-1 surrounds and Monoprice in-ceilings for the rear. Cheap Polk sub (for now), can’t remember the model.

The tv and receiver are only about 6 weeks old and ever since I set it up I was having audio drop-outs several times and hour. The drops out happened on all HD channels I watched, and lasted from 1-3 seconds. I was fairly certain the drop-outs were caused by a handshake issue between the Onkyo and HD receiver. Before I bought the Onkyo (sometime in mid November) I had it hooked up to a cheap Pioneer receiver and never had any drop-out issues. Since getting the new setup, we’ve watched about 6 movies, both blu-ray (Panasonic BDT110) and DVD, and have never had an audio drop-out while watching movies. Plus, when searching online for the issue, I found this to be a common problem on various forums with Directv receivers. So, again, I was certain it was an issue between the receivers. Onkyo customer support had no idea what to do and just said to reset the receiver. I did, it didn’t help.

Getting back to the HDS-12. I hooked it up last Friday between my DVR receiver and the Onkyo and, although it has not completely eliminated the issue, it has lessened the occurrence substantially. In fact, if I wasn’t aware of the problem, I probably wouldn’t even notice there was a problem. Over the weekend I watched a lot of tv, mostly sports. I watched more tv in 2 days than I normally watch in a week! Although I didn’t keep track, I only had a handful of drop-outs over the entire weekend.

I’m going to do more testing over the next week or so, removing the device for a couple days and counting the number of drop-outs and I’ll report back. So far I think the HDS-12 is working very well for me.