Calling all home theater-savvy people—I have a few questions! (long but with details)

It’s PCM.

Judging from the phrasing, perhaps the HDMI audio out is functional? To me, that would be a very strange and illogical setup, but it’s the only thing that would explain what you’re seeing. I’m guessing there’s some option on your receiver you need to look at to disable the HDMI audio out and have the Denon play the audio rather than passing it through to the TV. Basically what you’ve already stated, but I’m just agreeing with you that there’s probably some setting you’ve accidentally changed.

I’m going to have to get back to this tonight, but I put in Casino Royale, which was playing beautifully in full surround just 3 days ago, and nothing—not even TV speaker audio (which is weird—that I was getting TV audio with Dark Knight and nothing with this). The speakers definitely have power (hence the “air” I can hear) just no volume (and yes, I checked the volume! :cool: )