It's no trouble get my Oppo 981 to work through my Onkyo receiver connected to TV via HDMI. But just for giggles, I thought I'd see if the PQ changed (improved) if I connected the Oppo directly to the TV (Pio 5080). I could NOT get the TV to make sound. I got so frustrated with that I totally forgot to look at the PQ. And I tried adding optical cable plus the HDMI cable (knowing that I shouldn't need to). I tried everything I could think of in the TV set-up menu and the Oppo menu. It should have been easy - HDMI the Oppo DVD player to Pio 5080 and press Play.

What'd I do wrong?

It's no trouble get my Oppo 981 to work through my Onkyo receiver connected to TV via HDMI. But just for giggles, I thought I'd see if the PQ changed (improved) if I connected the Oppo directly to the TV (Pio 5080). I could NOT get the TV to make sound. I got so frustrated with that I totally forgot to look at the PQ. And I tried adding optical cable plus the HDMI cable (knowing that I shouldn't need to). I tried everything I could think of in the TV set-up menu and the Oppo menu. It should have been easy - HDMI the Oppo DVD player to Pio 5080 and press Play.

What'd I do wrong?

Can't say for sure but your TV may not be able to do audio through HDMI, verify that first. Also, can it accept audio via the digital optical cable? It might only accept an analog feed for audio input. Just some thoughts

I'm not familiar with your TV, but you probably have to set your player on PCM. Your TV may not accept a bitstream signal for audio. That being said, there should be no difference in PQ between hooking up HDMI directly to the receiver or TV. HDMI carries a digital signal, the picture is either there or it isn't.