Don't forget that HBO has gotten all "picky" about HDMI. The set needs to be capable of handling the security measures in HDMI, or you will have a problem. I had a neighbor with a similar issue, and I believe the set was putting up a message that you needed to switch to Component, as the set didn't handle certain security issues correctly, but the message was only output in 1080p, even though the input was only 1080i, so you couldn't see the message "insert face palm here! - DirecTV firmware engineers, WAKE UP". Switched them to a component cable, and no more issues.