Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased the 1040 directly from Sony but I felt obligated to pen a review of this receiver based on my experience and reading other reviews here as well. I should have read the reviews here before I bought. For those that want the cliff notes version, here it is: Do not buy this receiver. I, too, had incredible amount of video issues that centered around the receiver's inability to process correctly the HDMI signal between my cable box and my TV. This was self evident to at least me as the only way to restore "normal" TV viewing...even for a short time...was to hard reset the receiver. Unplugging cables, cable boxes, TVs all did not solve the issue. To top it all off, Sony did everything they could to blame anything they could on anything else except their product. First it was HDMI cable. Nope...I changed out the cable and still had issues. I used those cables on another set up upstairs and it works fine. Next it was the cable box. Nope. I switched out the cable box 3 times. Using the one upstairs as well as asking the cable company to switch. Still had problems. Next it was the firmware. Nope, mine's up to date. Then it was the TV's turn. Sorry, TV works fine and I brought down another TV from upstairs and the problem persisted. I would then connect the cable box directly into the TV and bypass this receiver and all would be fine with no issues. You know what Sony blamed next? the HDMI cables touching the power cables. This was the last straw really...an asinine reason for the problem. Now in *theory* is there interference? Sure but by this logic, ALL receivers should be having video issues not just this model and we all know that this is not widespread to every receiver owner regardless of the brand that they own. Are you sensing what the culprit of the issue is? Yep...its the Sony STR-DN1040. I got to a point where I purchased an Onkyo TX-NR727 here on Amazon because I couldn't take it anymore. (Yes, I will review the Onkyo) I took the Sony out and set up the Onkyo...guess what...the problems disappeared. This is now, in my eyes, the fault of this Sony receiver...100%...not a doubt in my mind. So if I were the only one to have this issue, one can chalk it up to me drawing the short straw and getting an inevitable rare lemon. The problem is I'm not alone. Sure there are happy owners of this receiver as well but there are enough owners here and on Sony's owner's boards with the same exact issue to know that this is no one off. So the question is are you willing to risk rolling the dice and buy this receiver? My advice is don't. There are plenty of good receivers out there with similar features at similar prices...save your money and your time...