Cheap and easy way to downmix 5.1 to PCM?

You guys are right - it was hiding in a secret menu somewhere. LPCM over HDMI turned on.

See if under the settings menu under digital out you have hdmi, dolby digital, or other. If you have other, choose other. Sometimes they hide the settings under advanced.

I've got a comcast HDMI box that downmixes to PCM, controlled by the menu settings (its a Sci. Atlanta 8300HD?). I've also got one that doesn't downmix (8250HD?). Have you called Comcast to see if they have a box with both HDMI and PCM downmix in your market?

If not, you may be out of luck as far as cheap devices go. When I was in that boat, I was using a Theta Casablanca pre/pro to downmix, but that was cost-effective only because it was already sitting around. I did look at the time, and didn't find any "little black box" to do the trick. In part, its probably because: (i) the market for people downconverting from 5.1 to PCM is probably limited to a handful of A'gon contributors; and (ii) if you are going to build a downmixer, you might as well build a processor and make more money off it.

If you do find something, post where you found it... I'm settled for this gen. of boxes, but have a sneaking suspicion that I'll deal with this again in the future...