They've been doing that since day one. Quality of the video has never been what it's cracked up to be, and they know it. I guess I have low expectations. So far, I haven't been paying for the HD service anyway, just the hardware.

Good!

Small miracles do happen. Today a RCA 210 appeared on my doorstep. The software is amazingly similar to the Samsung, but a better remote and slightly more user-friendly settings.
Anyway, so far no drop-outs. But I still want to try VOOM. Damn those 1-year committments. Grrr.

The end.

OT:
I discovered a nifty trick that both these receivers will do. When you are watching HD programs with the receiver output set to DVI-16:9, the receiver outputs a 4:3 picture via the SVHS jack which is actually a 16:9 picture squeezed down to 4:3.
I can record this squeezed picture on my SVHS VCR, and when I play it back I set the monitor to "full-screen" mode. I get a pretty decent 16:9 picture this way, with no distortion or stretching.

Sort of a neat way to record 16:9 programs without the usual letterboxing.

I have the TS-360 receiver and have a somewhat different audio problem for the past 3 weeks. HD audio is and has been fine. OTA audio on one channel, and one channel only (during a HD show) has come across fluttery sounding the past 2 weeks. If I tell the receiver my zip code so it downlaods DirecTVs guide including the local channels it knocks out the audio from 2 of my local OTA digital stations - just complete silence. All else is normal. If I go back in and remove my local zip code and redownload the guice (which it does anyways) removing the local channels from the guide the audio from the above 2 stations returns to normal. Samsung says it's a problem in the program guide and DirecTV is working on it. I spoke to DirecTV and they have heard of the problem and wrote up and issue for the programmers to get involved with to try and solve the issue. My previous Mitsubishi receiver didn't have this issue, and my Samsung didn't exhibit this issue till the free viewing of local channels ended last month.

Bye, bye Voom.

I have a Zenith DTV1080 that still has some audio drop out even after 2 replacement units. However, they are rare now.