Desperately need help!!

Fred:

Welcome to the HTF! 

I'm sure some folks will be by soon to help you out with your question.

I'm afraid I, personally, don't have too much knowledge about older pieces like the Onkyo and Sony you mentioned in your OP.  But what exactly changed when you swapped out your display to raise questions about how to hook up your surround sound?  Or did you not have it hooked up with the Mits?

Fred,

I am not the smartest guy in the world but if you post some pictures of the back of your equipment I think the guys on here will be able to help you out.

Fred,

I used to have an older Onkyo model (the 828) which was similar to the 919 in that it utilized an outboard surround sound decoder as well.  I can probably offer some general guidelines, but before I get to that....

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but if the 919 is at all like my old 828 (in that it does not natively decode digital 5.1, doesn't have component video connections - let alone HDMI) I REALLY think you ought to consider getting a new receiver ESPECIALLY if you're considering Blu-Ray.  You can get full-featured receivers for a few hundred dollars that will actually simplify your connectivity and allow you to fully realize both the audio and video improvement of Blu-Ray over DVD.  You have a nice TV, you should maximize it's capabilities - right now the receiver is more of a bottleneck than benefit, IMO.

OK, with that out of the way, here are some thoughts on hooking things up...

I'm assuming you're only concerned about the audio connections, and that you have all the video connections working correctly - is that the case?

For the audio connections:

Any sources that output digital surround sound (Cable/Satellite/DVD, etc.) will need to have their digital audio signal sent directly into the Sony Digital Surround Processor.  I'm not sure how many inputs it will have - it may be as few as two, so you will be limited in how many devices you can hook up this way.

The Sony DSP will be connected to the Onkyo - possibly by a computer-style printer cable (that's how my outboard decoder connected to the 828).  The audio stream that is fed to the Onkyo is preset to a specific video input (check your manual to see which one that is).  You will have to set the receiver to this input in order to hear the surround sound stream.

In addition, if your DSP has only one output, you'll need to switch sources on the DSP if you have more than one source connected to it.

If you have more sources than inputs on the DSP unit, the remaining sources will have to have their analog red/white RCA plugs connected to inputs on the back of the receiver.  Make sure you don't use the connections that are associated with the DSP audio connection (again - check your manual to find out which input is associated with the digital surround connection).

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I hope that helps and isn't just more confusing.  If you can post pictures of the back of the TV, receiver, and DSP, that would be a tremendous help and may refute some of the assumptions I've made...

Good luck.

Fred:

I'll let Jason (an others) give specific recommendations on receivers, etc.

But if you upgrade to a new receiver with HDMI capability, you'll find that hooking up HTs have gotten a lot simpler than it used to be. 

Since HDMI cables carry both digital video AND audio, you won't have to worry about the various digital audio connections you are asking about--optical and coaxial (that's the term used for the single RCA jack connectivity you describe on the back of your cable box).  Since the 8300 has an HDMI out, you'd be all set there, too.

It will be as simple as this.  All sources will be run into the new receiver via HDMI (assuming all your sources are HDMI compatible) and then a single HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV will take care of your video...with your audio running out to your surround sound speakers.

The TV will likely only need to use one of its HDMI inputs to accept the signal from the receiver...because receivers these days take care of most of the work.  Just be sure any new receiver has enough inputs to take care of your current (and any projected future) needs.

There's a whole lot less cabling than there used to be in the old days.

Yes, that's called digital coaxial (coax) and it works just as well as the digital optical .   Better in some ways as it's not as fragile and works with just and RCA conenctor.

Personally, I like Yamaha, and the specs look good for the HTR-6240. My only concern is which version of HDMI is used on the receiver (the specs do not say). This is last year's model, so it may only be v1.3, which is OK, as long as you do not plan to upgrade to 3D, which requires v1.4. You may want to also look at the RX-V467, this year's model that is v1.4.

Panasonic makes really good Blu-ray players, and the BD85 is one of their more popular units here on HTF. I have the older BD60, and love it.