Congrats, fellas! I look forward to reading your impressions.

I received an invitation also.
I can't wait to test drive this baby!!!!!

I doubt this is a delay that actually impacts the buying plans for many of us here in the saloon, but Denon has delayed their universal player to October (from an earlier target of February). The list price has also drifted up from $3800 to $4500 somewhere over the last few months.

I guess they aren't going to get to call it the "world's first universal Blu-ray player" much longer, as it looks like the BDP-83 is going to beat them to market by several months.

I had been considering the 997 and the Oppo Blu-Ray player.
First I am interested in the Oppo since I do have a Sony 550 Blu Ray but had to use the seven channel analog from my Sony777 that has SACD capability. That leves me without the use of the 777sacd format. I was thinking about a switcher however for the price of the switcher I thought the Oppo would be a better option.
With that being said how could I connect the Oppo audio to my 990 having the Sony 777 and the Sony 550.
Second The idea of the 997 had my mouth watering. However and I have to honest here the 990 is terrific. Love what it has done to my Home Theater. Even without the updated firmware.
Which I am thinking about doing in the near future.
Having a Infocus 7205 projector I do not think that I will see a signifcant upgrade in the performace in video with the 997. Audio perhaps will have an improvement, however the sound is awesome right now.
I feel that the addition of the 997 would be a mistake since I am satisfied with the 990 and comparing to the Integra 9.8 I am very much satisfied.
I would like to hear anyones thoughts on this post.

thanks

The OPPO would replace both the Sony 777 and the Sony 550. That's one of the really big benefits of the BDP-83: it can do Blu-ray (decoding for all formats), SACD, DVD-Audio (once it launches, although the EAP doesn't have that yet), and kick-ass with standard DVD. You connect the BDP-83's 7.1 analog output to the 990 along with a coaxial or optical so you can use that with DVD's and CD's if you like, feed the HDMI video to your projector (either directly or through the 990's switching if you have a DVI/HDMI cable or satellite receiver), and let the 83 handle all of your optical disc needs. Sell the 777 and 550, and you'd end up spending very little overall.

If SACD performance is a high priority, I don't think I'd sell the 777 (ES ?) until I've heard what the OPPO will do with SACDs. I have tremendous regard for OPPO, but matching the 777 is a pretty tall order. I agree with Gonk on the 555, the OPPO should give you better performance.
There are solutions for sharing the 7.1 inputs between devices thougt they are either pricey (VECTOR) or in-elagant( 3 Radio Shack AV switchers , my gastly solution ). If a 2-channel set-up is anywhere in your future, the 777 would be great for that , It's hard to beat for 2 channel SACDs.

In the last few weeks I have purchased both an Integra 9.9 and an Outlaw 990. They are both excellent quality pieces. I have them each set up in high end systems, the integra in my main home theater room, and the 990 in my living room system mainly used for audio.

I really like the way the 9.9 handles the video. It transcodes all video inputs and will output them through the hdmi including upconverting to whatever resolotion you prefer...up to 1080p. I have my Toshiba 9200 DVD player hooked to the 9.9 through component video cables as well as optical digital audio and 5.1 analogue for my DVD-Audio discs. I have not had an unconverting DVD player before, PLUS I am now upconverting the video from my u verse set top box to 1080p. On already very good quality HD programing or a good quality DVD, that shows a noticable improvment. The images have a more 3 dimensional look. The 997 will have that capability.


If you don't have a real need for your processor to do upconverting , transcoding to HDMI or handling audio through the hdmi, the 990 will be everything you need and more. The audio through the 990 is impecable...both two channel and surround.

Scott

And going with the BDP-83 will give you standard DVD video performance that will match or beat the Integra 9.9 (based on what I've found with the Onkyo 885, which has nearly identical video processing). It won't help with cable, but depending on the cable or satellite box it may be difficult to fully use the receiver's scaling for cable anyway (my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD is a mess in this regard, and between its foibles and the 885's very slow video signal acquisition time I've not been able to use the Reon much for SDTV).

Yes..I am almost certainly going to order a BDP 83 when they are finalized and offered for sale to the general public. From everything I have read from your review and others, the video will be about as good as it gets from a home system.

I've never used an 885 but my 9.9 has never exhibited any video or audio acquisition troubles at all. I have my motorola set top box connected through a 50 foot HDMI cable to my 9.9, and another 50 foot hdmi cable going from the output of my 9.9 to the samsung 61 inch dlp led TV. The combination works great for video and audio.

The only fly in the ointment with that at present is the inability of the software in the motorola stb to output dolby digital over the hdmi. Supposedly AT&T is working on a software update to correct that, but right now all I can get from it is PCM two channel. It has the pro logic II encoding if the program has it, and the 9.9 does a marvelous job with that, but it's not true dolby digital. I need to use a toslink connection to get that.

Right now though, I am thoroughly enjoying my new toys. I haven't noticed any discernable diffference in the audio quality between the 9.9 and the 990. They are both as good as I have ever heard, and a large improvement over the sound of the HK signatures that they both replaced.

The 990 does have some pro logic II adjustments that are lacking in the 9.9....the panorama, center width and dimension. I have found them to be very helpful in getting the sound just as a like it when listening to music with PL II-music decoding.

That's good to hear, as both have been significant issues with the 885 (which is the same as the 905 receiver and Integra 9.8). Audio acquisition routinely takes a couple of seconds, on par with what my Model 950 did back in 2002 and much worse than the ~0.5 seconds my 990 could do. Video takes a similar amount of time whenever the input signal changes.
Curious... Now I need to see what options the 885 has for PLII adjustment...