video question

[acritzer]

I have virtually no experience with "real" A/V receivers so please excuse this basic question. I am wondering if I plug my cable box, Xbox 360, BD, etc. into a receiver via HDMI, do I always have to have the receiver on to change video sources?

Having to use the receiver all the time doesn't appeal to me since a lot of times my wife uses the TV for basic viewing and probably won't want to mess with another piece of equipment. On the other hand, being able to simplify cables and stuff does sound like a nice idea.

Right now I run all the video cables to the TV, since my receiver doesn't have HDMI. Then I usually run audio into both the TV and the receiver...if we're watching a movie and want lossless audio we'll turn on the receiver, if not, we can always just use the TV for simple viewing.