To treat ourselves after moving back into our house after our earthquake repairs were completed, we upgraded from the old TelstraClear box to the new T-Box.

We'd done our homework beforehand so were well aware of the many issues it had had since launch, but the benefits of having a HDMI connection was a deciding factor along with the ability for HD, etc. (And the Jones channel!)

We had the T-Box installed soon after we moved back in, so didn't have our home theatre receiver unpacked (Yamaha HTR-3064) which through ARC/VieraLink controls everything that is attached to it, including turning eveything on/off, channel switching the TV (Sony KLV-32S400A) and audio management, etc.

Problem #1:
The TBox is only outputting a stereo audio signal via the HDMI, consequently, only the front speakers and it sounds, well, aweful.

Problem #2 & #3:
We've connected the audio to our receiver via a optical connection, which has established a Dolby Digital connection from the T-Box, but occassionally it will just randomly turn the mute on the receiver, and when turning the receiver on, or switching from another source, ie Tuner, XBox, DVR, etc - will switch over but not have any sound whatsoever.

We switched out to different HDMI cables, same problems, plugging the T-Box straight into one of the TV's HDMI inputs results in no audio being that it's audio signal isn't ARC friendly, and every other setup that eliminates the HDMI connection through the receiver results in massive image downscaling.

What are my options? Does the T-Box even support surround sound over the HDMI? We're testing our last possible solution now, which is to shift it to the end of the HDMI chain just in case there is a contention issue.

With the T-Box disconnected, we have absolutely zero issues with all the other components.

My wife called Customer Support, and was given the runaround, basically they have said that they won't provide any support unless it is connected directly to the TV, which means for us, plumbing multiple extra cables running through the wall and to the receiver where we'd have to play with multiple remotes to do anything at all.

Anyone else had similar issues? I'd be keen to at least establish whether it is capable of surround sound over the HDMI.