DVD-Audio will work over HDMI with any HDMI v1.1 receiver or processor, so that's a big "yes" for the new Sherwood products (and the next gen Outlaw gear, no matter what platform they use). SACD will work over HDMI in two ways: DSD gets decoded to multichannel PCM in the player (assuming the player supports this), which will work with any HDMI v1.1 receiver or processor; or DSD stays as a bitstream, which requires at least HDMI v1.2 and a receiver or processor with DSD decoding support. The new Sherwoods are HDMI v1.3, so they can handle the DSD bitstream, and I'm pretty sure that they will be able to decode DSD. Likewise, I suspect that we'll see DSD support from Outlaw no matter what platform they use.

The other caveat here, though, is that you need a player that will support these. DVD-Audio is fairly straightforward, as an HDMI-equipped player with DVD-A support should be fine. SACD gets a bit more tricky, as HDMI-equipped players that actually offer DSD bitstream output are still a bit scarce. Pioneer has a few and OPPO has one. I think there are now a fair number of others that can output SACD as multichannel PCM, but I'd be sure to check before buying if the feature is of interest to you...

Thanks, Gonk, especially the caveats explanation.

Since we're talking so much about HDMI inputs, this article may make for an interesting read. Basically, custom installers and folks doing things like video distribution and installations that require long cable runs for a living are very resistant to installing HDMI for their customers. Many of them refuse to use HDMI because of the call-backs for HDCP-induced problems, the hassle of pulling terminated HDMI cables through walls, the inherent weaknesses of the connector, and the difficulty of finding reliable methods for running HDMI more than about 40 feet.

It's an interesting article from the perspective of describing another case where HDMI has been a pain in people's behinds. My limited experience (using HDMI with a DVI display and DVI-switching processor) suggests that for systems where the equipment rack and display are next to each other, many of the problems encountered by custom installers (cable length, multiple displays receiving signals from a centeral point) go away, making it less of a pain - but there can and will still be problems, primarily due to HDCP.

End-April - still no production CS 497xx chip...

Actually they've been telling people the chip is done and is awaiting DTS and Dolby approval. I first heard that a few weeks ago. Most people in the industry I know are saying July sometime for the first units with the chip.

This is just bad business by Cirrus. TI may have a solution out before them.

"Bad" would seem to be an understatement. As for TI, they've had some sort of solution that's been shipping in production hardware for the better part of a year now - there could potentially be second-gen hardware in production from Onkyo by the time Cirrus can see hardware based on their 49700 on shelves...

TI's chip isn't designed to handle all the new codecs. Their NEW chip however looks to be better on paper slightly than the 49700. Don't know when that chip will be in production.

The TI Aureus chips that have been decoding DD+, TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio since last year weren't designed for those formats? I hadn't heard that before. Didn't seem to stop them from making it work, which gives TI an advantage in having first-hand experience that would certainly seem likely to be useful in developing their next chip...

Just another little tidbit of information to chew on...the upcoming H/K AVR line is using the Cirrus CS 49700 in their lower-end models and "dual TI DA 710" chips for their higher-end models, all of which decode DD+, TrueHD and DTS-HD MA.
From:
http://www.hifi.nl/brochures/harman-brochure-feb08.pdf
(go to page 62)
-John

I see that the Sherwood Newcastle R-772 ( http://www.sherwoodusa.com/prod_r772.html ) is shipping from a few e-tailers, anybody know if it has the new Cirrus CS 49700 chip in it as this link indicates:
http://www.prillaman.net/sn2007avr/NC_2007_HDMI_Receivers.pdf

-John