My thanks to gonk, BloggingITGuy,lawtalker and RITZ. Your comments helped me. I bought the 971 Oppo and found that it is superior in both video and audio. It makes my nice Sony seem better, though admittedly standard DVDs are HD yet, so I'm realistic in my expectations.
The audio seems even better. It seems that the 990 recognizes what surround mode the Oppo is sending it. I say this because I am seeing Dolby D designation, for example, which I have never seen displayed via the 990.
So again...thanks fellas.
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Living Room:
5.1 Surround and 4channel inline room
990/7700/6-KEF-107s/LFM1 x 2/ SMS Awaiting Trinnov
Millenium dts decoder;Digital Director
Players: Tascam CD01U/SonyCX455 x 3/DV955/BDP83
Old Sony 60" SXRD TV
Zone 2 (also liv-Room: listening to music while Mrs watches TV): Crown SL2 preamp/D40 Amp/Stax Headphones
My "Man-cave":
4 channel-only inline room. No TV (thank heaven)!!!
990/755/4-KEF 107s
Tascam CD01U/dts decoder/digital director
Alesis 16x4x2 mixer
Recorders Alesis HD24/ML9600/Crown CX844s/SonyDAT/Tascam DA38
Ham Radio Shack (KB1STH) ICOM/Yaesu/Drakes x 3