Sound cuts out periodically

Is this happening with the TV's speakers, your AV Surround System speakers, or both?

Note that most TVs do not properly pass DD5.1 audio from external devices, like your HD DVR, to an AV Receiver via their digital audio output. They only pass DD5.1 digital audio from channels tuned with their built-in off-air (ATSC) tuner.  

Try connecting the HR24's digital audio output directly to your AV Surround Receiver.  

Thanks for your response.

Probably have never used the TV's speakers, always have it going through the AV Receiver.

I will try try the connection directly to the AV Receiver like you suggest. Hopefully that solves the problem.

Inasmuch as the audio digital signal is an integral part of the overall audio/video data stream, I've found that there is an occasional wrinkle in the stream from whatever cause and this can result in burps in the heard signal.

The correction in your configuration that Litzdog recommended may not correct the "misses" but it will deliver true Dolby (when available) to your sound system as the current setup is only delivering stereo.

Ha!  I am also close to Denver, 80110 and having the same problem.  However, I am directly connecting my HR24-200 to my surround sound/blu-ray player via digital optical.  I am not going from TV to surround sound, so I think I have implemented the correct connection above?  I get the 2-3 second sound dropout as well and am connecting the DirecTV receive directly to my surround sound via optical out.

Interestingly, I get the same sound dropout when the surround sound system is OFF and the audio is just coming in from the receiver to the TV.  BUT...I do not get this dropout when watching a DVD from the bluray player(i.e....no signal coming through the DirecTV receiver). 

This seems to smack of an issue with the receiver.  Thoughts?

As suggested, I now have the digital optical cable running directly from HR24 to my surround sound system (a Harmon-Kardon AVR230).

Although I think the sound has improved overall, I still have sound breaking up on some channels. Notably, Versus 603, Sportsman 605, NickHD 299, and Buzz 243. Sometimes it's a constant in and out of the sound, other times there is no sound at all. Sometimes after changing channels and coming back the sound is better.

But it does seem to be OK when listening through the TV's speakers and not the surround system. So perhaps the surround sound receiver is having trouble with the signal.

To all of the posters to this thread.  Here are some things to think about.  All HDMI connections go through a process referred to as a "handshake" where the two devices look at each other and agree to communicate.  If for some reason they don't agree, all output from the Directv box is terminated.  As a test, I would disconnect the HDMI cable from the Directv receiver and use a set of component cables in conjunction with the optical audio cable and see if the problem was alleviated.

My thought is that small temporary wrinkles in the handshake may be causing the interruptions in the audio stream.  Component cables have no handshake so have no way of interrupting the audio stream.

Thanks, dcd. I will try that as a troubleshooting exercise.

But won't component cables sacrifice picture quality as compared to an HDMI connection?

In theory the picture quality should be equal although the TV may need some minor adjustments in order that each picture is of equal quality.

I switched to a component video connection but it made no difference with the sound. Thanks for the suggestion though, I thought it sounded like a good idea.

The breaking up of the sound seems to go away connecting via digital coax directly to the AV receiver. At least on the channels I watch, the wife will be the true test.

Everyone's wife is the true test of most things.  In my case I rely on her totally as I've learned the hard way it's unpleasant not to.

If the sound breakup continues with component cables (making sure the HDMI is unplugged at both ends) that proves that the problem is not handshake but more likely in the signal itself assuming of course there is no faulty connection or component anywhere.

I'm having a similar problem (see recent post) - but my receiver has no component out.  I'm wondering about HDMI cables possible causing the issue.

Possible.  

Best to start your own new thread using the "Create New Post" button on the main forum page.  Your problem may very well be different from the original poster's.    With a new thread you can provide more information about your equipment, location, and troubleshooting you've tried so far.  And this forum software makes it difficult to track or respond to folks that add onto someone else's thread. 

I get the same sound clips when my the is directly connected to the system. But when I watch it through my roku box there are no skips.