Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Help with picking a receiver

For now I will be connecting Fios to the receiver. Eventually I will be hooking up a blue ray player.

Question. Do I really need a receiver to do up conversion or pass through HDMI? For a blue ray and cable box can't I just do an HDMI connection from those to the TV and do a digital audio connection from blue ray and cable box to the receiver.