Let me elaborate on my suggest. I would suggest using HDMI as the normal hookup - cable box to receiver to TV. Also use HDMI from Blu Ray/CD to receiver to the TV. That allows you to take full advantage of the 1080p/24 signal from a Blu Ray. That would be your normal setup. For the special case of watching football and listening to another source, also run component video cables to TV. For the football game, simply flip the TV input to component rather than HDMI. The audio source is then played as normal through the receiver. With this setup, the normal receiver settings are used the majority of the time, which should simplfy the setup for the rest of the family. This setup also minimizes the number of cables. The football lover then just has to learn the special trick of changing the TV input for games with alternate sound.
Mds - I am not too concerned about mixing the audio and video signals on hdmi for cable or blu ray. Cable audio is not that good anyway and the only way to get 1080p/24 and the high def audio signals from blu ray is through HDMI.
Noble100 - one reason for developing HDMI was to provide the bandwith for the new 7.1 high def audio formats. Existing digial formats just could not handle it. In general I like the one cable solution. It usually simplifies the hookup and means you have to buy fewer cables. My biggest complaint is that they did not provide any easy way to secure the cable to the box. It seems that most of the early compatibility issues have been worked out. New blu ray players do not even have component video out.
One final note - for short runs, there is no reason to pay high prices for HDMI cables. You can get 6' category 2 certified cables for less than $10.
Mds - I am not too concerned about mixing the audio and video signals on hdmi for cable or blu ray. Cable audio is not that good anyway and the only way to get 1080p/24 and the high def audio signals from blu ray is through HDMI.
Noble100 - one reason for developing HDMI was to provide the bandwith for the new 7.1 high def audio formats. Existing digial formats just could not handle it. In general I like the one cable solution. It usually simplifies the hookup and means you have to buy fewer cables. My biggest complaint is that they did not provide any easy way to secure the cable to the box. It seems that most of the early compatibility issues have been worked out. New blu ray players do not even have component video out.
One final note - for short runs, there is no reason to pay high prices for HDMI cables. You can get 6' category 2 certified cables for less than $10.