Wow...thank you all for your replies and the warm welcome. It's always nice finding a solid community of helpful people who aren't always trying to rip the "newbs" or tell people to search more. Kudos to you.
Anyway, I think it was helpful to sit down and write everything out in my original...
To narrow things down a bit, this thread will be about troubleshooting a few issues with my new home theater setup.
Tech specs:
TV: Samsung PN51E530
Receiver: Sony STRDH720
Speakers: Onkyo SKS-HT540
BluRay: Sony BDP-S570
Media: DirecTV HD receiver
HDMI Cables: Amazon Basics
Speaker Wire...