what kind of speakers are you using? (model, brand, sensitivity rating, how many ohms)
how big is your room?
is your receiver ventilated? (doing this one will help you a lot)
Boston Acoustics VR-40. The amp is in an open glass rack. I never had a problem with my old Yamaha 690. Generally, the new amp has been great but when watching a DVD and using the full potential of the amp, it gets very hot.
I did not mean ear shattering, but there are a few movies that sound good if you crank it up. The fan was running when it shut down. I don't have quite 4 inches between the top of the receiver and the top shelf. Maybe I shoud try a different shelf.
Make sure the back of the glass cabinet is open, and consider installing a quiet pc type fan blowing across the top of the receiver. I can show you how to make one for under $20. You can plug it into the switched socket on the back of the receiver, that way it turns on when the unit turns on. Also make sure there are no other components on that shelf. It should have its own rack.
The same way. Just take a low voltage ac adaptor, splice off the end, and solder/wing nut in a mini fan. I have a bunch of these small ac adaptors from old cordless phones, toys, etc... You can also buy them at Radio Shack and Walmart.
My RX-V2600 Yam does the same thing. I can barely turn it up over half way and it shuts down every time I watch a DVD. Verrrrry annoying. It also gets extremely hot to the point of not being able to touch it. Like on fire. I have it sitting by itself on a board in my living room because there was no way I could put anything on it or in the rack. I am worried about it burning the house down! I thought I just had a lemon. Sounds like a real problem. I am running mine thru an Acoustimass-10 Bose system. I had an older JVC that cost half of the Yamaha unit and sounded much better, but lightning took care of that problem.