I have a Yamaha HTR-5440 receiver and I want to connect it to my Directtv Plus HD DVR satilite receiver what do I need

mostly such behaviors are caused after the preamp of is faulty or the output section might have developed a problem after ...maybe the cable shorted or the amp fell and the board is broken. need a technician to confirm.

may be dry joints on electronic components, consult a technicia for resoldering the pre amp or amp unit,

Anything that has a headphone output can be adapted to feed an RCA cable pair for standard stereo to any audio device with a standard RCA input (except PHONO). Get a cable like the one described here:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.aspc_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=665&seq=1&format=2

and connect it into any available analog input EXCEPT "Phono". Turn the PC's volume control for the headphone volume up. Of course, if you have a sound card with the usual green front speaker outputs that would work, too.

From all speakers?

How is the audio connected to the TV (be specific)?

Keep in mind that a TV is not generally an audio source as its programming always comes from something higher up the audio food chain than itself. Get the audio to your receiver from whatever THAT is, not the TV.

Your receiver probably doesn't support audio over HDMI - according to specs, it has just hdmi switching, but not hdmi repeating.
You have to connect PS3 via optical spdif cable to the receiver.

Let me make this clear to you that your Yamaha does not support Microphone but the trick is you can still do it. All you need is a stereo jack to a RCA connector cable.Check this out http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/connection/jack-stereo-rca-2.html It is easily available in the market. The stereo jack will fit into your microphone and the RCA to your Amplifier/Reciever. Plug the RCA into CD/Tape input but not in the Phono n do your thing. Let me know if this works,coz I'm really curious.

No it can't be done. The input level is automatically controled to give a fixed output at a predetermined level..........................sodeep

are you running your speakers at 8 ohms?

dvd and dish tv optical inputs from both dvd and tv if tv has opticl out or give optical out from hd receiver. or rc pins from hd or tv to dtv/cable input of yamaha

I am wondering if it a preprogrammed remote controller or not. If not, you have to reprogram it.