I have been experiencing audio lag from some HD sources (local HD channels - some worse than others, TNT, and a few others). NBC and ABC are awful but FOX is ok. Some HD channels like HBO HD are synced great. I am new to HDTV and signed up for Dish Network to go with my new Toshiba 46LX177. I called Dish and after some troubleshooting they suggested using component audio. That worked! However, the picture isn't nearly as nice without HDMI.

Could a newer/better HDMI cable solve my problem? I also notice that the audio on HD channels through HDMI is a lot softer, smaller and seems to have less of a stereo spread compared to SD channels through HDMI. Is that normal? I am using Dish Network's HD receiver/DVR and the HDMI cable they provided.

Some shows are just unwatchable for me with the audio lag.

It has nothing to do with the cable. It may have something to do with using the HDMI interface between components wrt video and audio processing.

larry

What am I losing by going component video and audio as opposed to HDMI? Should I be doing S-video and optical?

Component should look very close or identical to HDMI. They both can carry HD signals, the only difference is that HDMI carries a digital signal. You definitely should not be using S-Video since it will only carry a 480i signal. As for optical, it should be identical to HDMI when it comes to HD channels since the best audio you'll get is Dolby Digital.