I get the sound blips too, but only when I record HD shows from my local ABC station...via Dish, not OTA. It was so bad last week during the recording of Boston Legal that I though my wife was going to scream. Dish needs to address this issue, or my wife will insist we move back to Directv when our contract is up. We NEVER had this issue with them!
HDMI may be the problem, like it was for me between my LG HDTV and a Samsung DVD/sound system. Hooked up using component cables for the video and optical for the audio and all is well. I think it was just a handshake thing between the source and load, HDMI being a computer interlink and all. Even $$$ best quality HDMI cables, differant cable lengths or routing away from everything didn't help.
sooooo..... survey: how many of you have called Dish and filed a TPR?
I recorded Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix from Cinemax HD a while ago and I watched it last night. There were some momentary audio dropouts with no accompanying video breakup. This is the first time I've noticed them. I don't have HD locals, and the problem was nowhere near as bad as what people are describing on their HD locals.