I foresee connectivity issues.

Convince her that there is no reason to not put the stereo on. Just give her a simple way to do it such as a Harmony remote.

Seriously, there is zero reason to ever use TV speakers when you've got a real system.

The Pioneer has audio pass through, and the Oppo has two hdmi outs, so couldn't you hook the HD box through the AVR, and use the second out from the Oppo straight to the TV?

I agree with Donoman, though, just put a Harmony remote into the system. using the activities button makes turning on all the right stuff, setting it to the right inputs and such is simple. My wife and son love ours. In fact, I have a Harmony for all our systems, as they make it so simple for non-techies to do what they want. Why spend the money on a theater system just to use the TV's speakers?

Talk them into a soundbar and a Panasonic BDP-220. Save them a *ton* of money and couldn't be simpler to operate. Of course, it won't sound nearly as nice.

Mike

What I would do is run a direct feed to the tv from the Oppo and HD receiver and use the Pioneer just for audio. The only drawback is you have to turn off the tv speakers when the Pioneer is being used.

Adding a Harmony is the correct choice. They are dead simple to set up, and the end result is that she pushes Play Movie or Watch TV to do the thing that she wants without having to think about it. Making the TV speakers usable makes things *more* complicated, not simpler.

The Harmony 650 is $60 and works great. The cheaper ones are far less functional, dropping the activity parts. Get any one with a LCD in it and you're good to go.

+1 on Harmony. The remote may be the single best piece of AV equipment we own. Our system has lots of pieces, including multiple disc and media players, along with an HDMI switch, and everyone in the family can run things because all they have to do is press one button and the remote takes it from there. It's also easy to configure the remote using the Harmony website. (We have two activities for watching TV, one using the sound system and the other using the TV speakers. But, no ever uses the TV speakers choice any more.)

As for HDMI pass through, yes, it means video and audio can be fed to a TV while the AVR is in standby mode. The feature uses HDMI control and can be flaky. A good remote is more reliable and functional.

^^ I'm curious. What's the objection to a remote? A Harmony remote simplifies everything. All of our device remotes are in a box and rarely get used.

The receiver has the HDMI standby pass thru feature, so why not connect everything to the Pioneer and one cable to the TV?

Pass thru will do exactly what you want. The receiver will be off (standby mode) and the kids will be able to watch TV, DVD, etc.

But I agree with the others, a Harmony remote makes everything very easy.

That's not all that unusual, I guess. But, I am curious about the reasons she gave, since there's all upside and no downside to a Harmony. It handles her requirement for audio from the AVR or the TV. And, without it, you pretty much have to use multiple remotes or push more buttons to select the device you want to control at any given moment.

Meanwhile, HDMI standby pass through is the simplest solution, provided it works. You will definitely need to engage HDMI control in both the AVR and the TV. Some non-Elite Pioneer AVRs also require the HDMI control in the source device, which can be a problem since cable/satellite set top boxes don't offer that feature. You'll need to read the AVR manual carefully, since there are lots of ways pass through can be implemented.

Why not just tell her it can't work that way...? A little white lie to get her to use the correct equipment... She probably does not understand how good the Harmony remote is. I set my grandfather up with it and finally stopped getting calls about the remote "not working".