No. You do NOT need HDMI inputs into the receiver.

Basically, if you have multiple items you'll be plugging into your TV, then it *can* be nice to use the reciever as the switch. However, it's not necessary, and in a lot of cases on the lower end receivers, you'll do more harm than good by using their HDMI switches...in a lot of cases, they bungle it up by decoding then re-encoding the signal before it gets sent to the TV. You don't want multiple things decoding/encoding the signal...

So run an HDMI cable from the Blu-Ray to the TV for your picture. Run a digital cable (either optical or coax) to the receiver for sound. You'll get the best quality audio and video doing it this way.

Plus, you don't end up spending a lot of money for a receiver that has HDMI switching when you don't really need it in the first place. It's a gimmick, unless you particularly need to plug in more HDMI sources than your TV has inputs for.

I don't run my video sources through my receiver. I don't like intermediate connections between components and the TV. All my sound goes directly to the receiver; all my video goes directly to the TV. And I have a nice Harmony 880 remote control so I hit 1 button for "TV" and everything turns on and switches to the right inputs. Same for "DVD" and for "Play Game".