I'm about to buy an hdmi amp, an upscaling dvd player and a blu-ray player, but my plasma only has 2 hdmi of which one hdmi is connected to sky hd. My question is do i need a hdmi switcher even though i have hdmi inputs on my amp? I guess i don't understand what the inputs and outputs do on an hdmi amp and just how many hdmi leads i need for all this set up. I just have 1 hdmi lead going from my plasma to sky hd. I intend to buy the Onkyo 876 amp.

I'm about to buy an hdmi amp an upscaling dvd player and a blu-ray player but my plasma only has 2 hdmi of which one hdmi is connected to sky hd my questions are do i need a hdmi switcher even though i have hdmi inputs on my amp i guess i don't understand what the inputs and outputs do on an hdmi amp and just how many hdmi leads do i need for all this set up at the moment i just have 1 hdmi lead going from my plasma to sky hd.Punctuation will help clarify your questions. Also, will your receiver process audio over HDMI or is it merely an HDMI video switcher?

If you are getting the 876, you shouldn't have any need for an additional switcher. In essence your receiver (which includes an amp, but technically is more than just an amp) will act as a switcher. You should be able to connect your SkyHD to the receiver (as well as any future HDMI components) and just run one HDMI cable to your TV, thus you will only need to use one input on your TV anyway. The 876 will also read the audio off of your HDMI components (assuming that your components will send the audio over HDMI). I hope that helps!

not sure if this is the right forum but here goes, after many years of saving an building up a home theatre system i have found that 1 or more componentes ane no longer fully compatible, ie i have a pioneer vsx 1100 dolby digital 7.1 amp with all the usual bells an whistles and a ps3 as the blu ray source,problem is the amp only provides hdmi switching not processing and the ps3 only outputs 7.1 throu the hdmi and 5.1 throu the toslink optical thus leaving me with a simulated rear channal surround (dolby digital ex)
solution? a hdmi audio splitter to coaxial which will carry the 7.1 audio to the amp if such a thing exists yet or a sound card for a pc with hdmi in an coaxial out i dont know so if any body has the answers they will be muched thanked
cheers

Sorry, but optical won't get you 7.1. It is limited to 5.1 DD and DTS (none of the new codecs) and to just two channels of PCM. You need HDMI audio processing, which would mean a new receiver, or multichannel analog outputs, which would mean a player other than the PS3. I do not know of any device that converts HDMI 7.1 PCM input for output as 7.1 analog. If there were such a box, I suspect it would cost more than a new BD player.

I had the same issue.
I ended up buying a Yamaha RX-V661, which can be had for below $300 and it's an excellent receiver. I just let the PS3 do the decoding and send 5.1 PCM to the receiver.

I'm about to buy an hdmi amp, an upscaling dvd player and a blu-ray player, but my plasma only has 2 hdmi of which one hdmi is connected to sky hd.

Are you sure that you will need both a BD player and a separate SDVD player?