Looking for a Surround Sound System

[drfsupercenter]

Yeah I know it only has 5.1... but there's a setup feature that lets you test each speaker - it sends a static-like sound to it so you can tell if it's working properly. And the left and right were reversed. My receiver doesn't seem to have that setting, I might have to check the PS3.

And my setup looks pretty much like that picture, the only difference is the left surround is a bit farther away, due to the way the room is I couldn't put it any closer. But both rear speakers are about 5 feet behind the couch, the front ones are right by the TV, and the surround ones are about parallel to the couch.
Not quite sure about the angles though. There's only so much I could do, our room is quite cluttered LOL

But it seems like the 3 front speakers are a lot louder than the rear ones - I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that way or if something's wrong with it.

Any idea how to use the component and RCA inputs? I might sit down and read the manual front to back later, so far I can't figure much out.

[drfsupercenter]

Oh, another thing I noticed though, that I'm quite happy about... I'm able to fake VieraLink with the Onkyo. It has a setting to auto power on and off and whatnot with HDMI... and apparently since I now have the receiver hooked up to my TV using HDMI, my TV thinks it has VieraLink. So I disabled the internal TV speakers, set the default ones to surround, and now when I use the volume control on the TV (as well as the mute), it will adjust it for the receiver! And if I turn the TV off, the receiver turns off, and when I turn the TV on, the receiver turns back on.
The only thing that doesn't work is the reverse - if I turn the receiver on or off, it doesn't affect the TV, it would be nice if it could.

[UncasMS]

And the left and right were reversed. My receiver doesn't seem to have that setting, I might have to check the PS3.

That's a known flaw with certain receivers and "Multichannel PCM Mode"

Contact Onkyo service!

[drfsupercenter]

Ah, OK... well I'd hate to have to send this in to fix it, we JUST got it. Maybe I should just swap the left and right in the PS3? As that doesn't seem to happen with my cable box, etc.

Or can I switch it to something other than multichannel PCM?

[drfsupercenter]

Argh, the manual isn't helping me here... I can't seem to figure out how to use things such as my Wii which are hooked up via component... all I can see is the HDMI stuff... why?

--EDIT--

OK, this is kinda dumb... apparently in order to use component stuff, the receiver has to be connected via component, and same goes with composite. I was told this unit did upscaling - but I guess that's not true? I'd really wish to be able to just use one input on the TV so I don't even need to USE the TV remote at all, and use the receiver for everything...

--EDIT 2--

Thanks to my sister's accidental putzing around with the TV, I figured it out. Thanks to the fact that I have an optical cable going from the TV's optical out to the receiver's optical in, and I'm faking VieraLink... if the TV is on anything but HDMI, it will resort to that optical audio. So when they used the TV's internal tuner, it was still using the surround speakers (I basically turned off the built in ones, and told it to always use the surround speakers), with it on TV Input mode. And thanks to VieraLink, or my take on it, using the volume controls on the TV's remote will adjust the volume of the receiver.

And the surround sound turns itself on and off with the TV, too... so it's almost perfect! The most button-pressing is just changing the TV to HDMI if it's on something else than selecting DVD, Cable, or Game from the receiver remote. Everything else works as it has before.

So what I have is PS3, cable box, and Xbox 360 connected to my reciever via HDMI - then the Wii and GameCube hooked up via component as they were before. If I flip to one of the two component inputs, the receiver uses the optical connection and I can hear the Wii in surround. I think that's about the best I'll get it... wouldn't you guys agree?
I have my receiver set on Pro Logic IIx or whatever, that seems to work the best - and with my Wii set on surround (It must be using Dolby Pro Logic anyway since it's only composite audio connections), it sounds pretty nice. Same with my 5.1 HD cable being turned into 7.1.
The only thing I have to play around with now is the PS3 - to fix that dumb LPCM problem etc.


Also, apparently the only Blu-Ray disc I have with a 7.1 audio track is Dark City. The other 20 or so of mine are 5.1 master audio only. I might try that one out at one point and see how it sounds.
Anybody have any other movies they recommend for testing home theater systems? Or any DVD/BD image files I can download that have some home theater optimization and whatnot? (I know places like Best Buy have some proprietary discs they use for that purpose)