I haven't had a chance to verify Cliff's conclusion, but I will try to find time tonight to check it out (assuming I can get away from work, which is a bit tricky these days). It's very likely that he's found the problem, though, and the issue of switching surround modes that seems to be at the heart of the problem reminds me a bit of the trick I've been using for a while now for DVD-Audio and CD listening through the DVD player (which some regulars may have seen me mention once too often, so met me apologize for the broken turntable effect...).

If you use your DVD player to listen to CD's in stereo mode or with discs that you want played back in stereo (such as mono tracks that you may prefer to have routed to your mains rather than to the center only), you can do so without ever changing the surround mode setting for the DVD input. Get the DVD input set to provide surround processing to all input formats and leave it that way (I use PL2 for DD 2.0 tracks on the DVD input and CES for surround processing all the time, although I do sometimes switch between CES and DD-EX for Dolby EX movies or CES and DTS-ES for DTS-ES movies). Assign the DVD player's digital audio input (I use optical1 for my DVD player) to one of the AUX inputs (which is audio only, which will be useful shortly) and set it to default to stereo mode. Create a macro on the 950's remote that switches to that auxiliary input (MX-500/MX-700/Pronto users can simply create a button on their DVD player controls - mine is labeled "AUXCD" and is just below the "6CH" button that switches to the six channel analog input). Then, when you select "DVD" on the remote you begin controlling the DVD player and you switch to the DVD input on the 950. Select your macro button, and the 950 will switch to that AUX input without changing the device being controlled by the remote. Since you switched to an audio-only input, the video switching stayed with the DVD input, so you can still see whatever video is coming from the DVD player (on-screen navigation display for CD's, a movie, ...). Because this input is always on stereo mode, there is no need to switch from surround to stereo (or vice versa).

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