Sony STR-DA5300ES Audio Problem

Bottom line: 2008 July 25
I purchased a brand new SONY STR-DA5300ES – their “top of the line”/”flagship” A/V – for the specific purpose of enjoying multiple HDMI inputs (allowing me to simplify cabling, achieve better video and audio, etc.). Imagine my dismay when I found that I couldn’t get audio from ANY HDMI connected components no matter which of the six HDMI inputs I used. Video – yes. Audio – NONE. Moreover, this problem is also experienced even when using brand new top of the line HDMI cables and brand new top of the line SONY HDMI components (including a brand new PS3). Yet, when using non-HDMI connections for the very same components, there are no problems with audio and video; everything works as it should.
Executive Summary:
This is NOT a “new” problem and it is NOT an isolated incident. See SONY “official” (admitted) problem notification at : http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-item.pl?mdl=STRDA5300ES&news_id=252. REALITY: THE SONY STR-DA5300ES CONTINUES TO HAVE HDMI “ISSUES” EVEN FOR NEWER STR-DA5300ES WITH HIGHER SERIAL NUMBERS THAN THE “OFFICIAL” PROBLEM PRODUCTION RANGE AND EVEN WHEN CONNECTED VIA TOP GRADE HDMI CABLING TO TOP OF THE LINE SONY HDMI COMPONENTS.
SONY is deliberately allowing STR-DA5300ES receivers to continue to be sold, knowing problems are continuing to occur, and deliberately choosing to saddle consumers with the expense, time and frustration of dealing with known problems. Rather than deal honestly and pro-actively with the problem, SONY has decided it will ignore the facts and simply declare defective units as not eligible for exchange. This deliberate decision by SONY is obviously beneficial to their bottom line as it avoids an official recall, allows SONY and retailers to clear problem inventory at the consumer’s expense, restricts consumer options for the unlucky soul who receives a problem unit, forces consumers to pay for the return shipping to fix the defective equipment, and avoids the lost profit and adverse consequences of flooding the market with refurbished units.
Me:
I am an avid “early adopter” for consumer electronics, software, etc., a chemical engineer and a long-time consumer and user of SONY top of the line gear. I have owned LOTS of SONY ES gear – receivers, DVD players, CD players, etc., and ditto for top of the line TVs.
In other words, I am not someone with an ax to grind. I am a SONY fan that has dumped tens of thousands of dollars into their corporate coffers over the years.

I got a new Toshiba HD-A30 DVD (not a Blue Ray) player and hooked it up to the Sony STR-DG510. I could get video through the TV, but no surround sound.
I did read your explaination about the HDMI sending video and no audio. Your exactly correct, Sony botched the HDMI set up. When I ran my HDMI cable to Video 2 as you suggested and used the fibre optic cable, it fixed my problem.
Thanks for your site.

Just bought this receiver brand new. get video thru to plasma set , but no audio. The unit also produces no sound to speaker. Much worse, I cannot get the gui interface (the reason for the 5300 recommendations) to come up on the tv screen although I can get the Blu disc player's video without audio. THe remotes are working (lighting up) but I cannot get them to do anything including shutting the unit on or off.

I have EXACTLY the same problem! I bought the 5300 brand new. I hooked up only HDMI cables to my Sony DSP-S500 Blu Ray player. NO SOUND! I spent hours on the phone with Sony support and they have no solution. I did not have green dot anywhere on the unit.

Eventually they told me to try and exchange it from my vendor. My vendor will not pay for the return shipping!!!

I cannot believe that Sony could ship out a $1,600.00 receiver with these issues!!!! I will NEVER buy Sony again!