I have recently purchased the Toshiba HD-AX2 HD-DVD player and the Onkyo TS-XR605 receiver, both of which are HDMI 1.3 equipped, and both of which support the HD audio formats of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master. When I went to hook up the DVD player to the receiver via an HDMI cable, I was dismayed to find that the receiver would not pick up the HDMI signal from the player, nor would the DVD player recognize that an HDMI connection had been established. Thinking that it might be a faulty cable, I purchased a different cable, only to get the same results. I then attempted to connect my HD DVR to the receiver via HDMI, but sadly, it would not recognize that, either.

I have narrowed it down to a couple of different factors, and if anyone has had any experience with these pieces of equipment, I would appreciate any information you can offer.

For starters, I do not have the receiver hooked up to an HDTV yet, as I will be getting the TV later this month. It doesn't say anything in the manual about not being able to play audio through the receiver using HDMI while using other means of displaying video, but could this be the reason for my troubles?

I was also under the impression that all HDMI cables would carry both audio and video, but have since heard otherwise. Is it true that some cables only carry video?

Could it be that I need to update the firmware in my HD-DVD player?

I am very excited about the hi-def home theater experience, but I have encountered nothing but frustration in trying to achieve it. If anyone has anything they could offer in the way of help, I would be very greatful.

A few things:

1) The XA2 does not pass advanced audio over HDMI. You have to set the audio to PCM output, which decodes the audio internally and sends it uncompressed to the receiver. Even so, it will only send the lossy DTS core, and not the DTS HD MA.

2) Why on earth do you think there is a problem with the HD DVD player when you can't get picture with your cable box either?

Your problem lies with your setup of the Onkyo. Read through the manual and set up accordingly.

Will it still send the lossless Dolby TrueHD audio without downconverting it into a lossy format?

You can set your HD DVD player to decode the TrueHD to PCM, and you can pass the PCM over HDMI. This is just a straight decoding -- nothing is lost or downconverted.

All HDMI cables can transmit video and audio. Whether the source device sends both types of signal (the XA2 does) and whether your receiving device processes both types of signal are separate matters.