I have the hts9241/12 and the 37pfl6777h/12 - I live in France.
When the vendor installed the system he connected it to my sat rcvr via htmi - OK, then he connected the sound system and the TV via an htmi lead AND an optical cable.

Whilst this worked OK the optical lead kept falling out of the TV connection and losing the sound to the sound system. The Philips technician came to change out the printed circuit board that held the optical socket. In doing so - after three tries - he got a picture but the definition was terrible. He came back with another PCB but in changing that out he buggered the ribbon cable!! The TV is now back at his workshop. We have enjoyed a grand total of 2 hours of Philips TV since we bought both systems almost three weeks ago!!

I know this sounds a bit like the Flanders & Swan song "On a Monday morning the gas man came to call ...................." but my real question is why do I need an optical cable if I have a full hdmi connection?

Your comments would be appreciated.