I agree, the auto setup is a bit naff. Yes the upper class Yamaha auto setups are good, but the 757 version is a very stripped down version.
Don't disregard it totally, it will tell you if you wired a speaker out of phase by accident, and is fairly effective and distances, it's just the size/corssover/levels, which it seems to struggle with. I know the concensus is to set speakers to small, i'm in the other camp and set mine to large, but the auto setup always sets mine to small, which the they are definately not, not the biggest but never small IMO. Anyway, run it once and then adjust the settings manually.
I'm not sold on PLII, i prefer DTS neo6, and the only times i have treid to use it it leaves everything coming from the centre. Prime example is the Red Dwarf boxsets i got for xmas, in PLII or DTS neo for that matter, everything came from the centre, i ended up just using stereo.
I guess it may have its uses, i use it for TV films which it does ok. Actually thinking back, i watched a copy of Chronicles Of Riddick when i first got mine in PLII and i was stunned that the rears had proper stereo and ships whizzing about, but thats the only time it impressed me.