It seems as though there are many HDMI issues rite now with the technology still being so new esepcially with receivers, so when you buy any given HDMI receiver you won't be sure it will work properly with the equipment you have at home until you try it out. And what if you add a new component down the road and you have an HDMI glitch? Most of these devices at least accept firmware upgrades, which is nice, so at least theres a much better chance that down the road all the devices should work like they were designed to.
Is it better to get a good, interim receiver with adequate power and sound quality, rather than going for full HDMI capabilities at the moment? Probably so yes.
You should pick up an HD dvd player, shit looks AMAZING.