I just got my 1050 after using a Denon AVR 1800 for two years. My questions is this; I was watching a DTS movie last night, my settings were; surround, dts, 5.1. The sound was great, full bodied and clear with good seperation. When I hit the 6.1 button on the remote the DTS light went off on the reciever window and Direct came on along with the 6.1 surround light. The back channel was giving sound but the overall sound volume decreased and I didn't feel the quality was as good as when it was 5.1 DTS. Am I missing something here? I have had a longer learning curve with this than the Denon, which I found to be more user friendly. From a sound quality standpoint the 1050 is a better sounding reciever on music and equal to the Denon on movies. Any help on understanding the proper use of 6.1 would be great.

Using the Direct mode you bypass the DACs of the Outlaw receiver and use the DACs in your DVD player. The DACS in the DVD player may not be as good as the DACs in the receiver (I find the Outlaws AKM DACs quite good, better than most). As for the volume output yes there is about about a 4 notch decrease in volume in Direct mode (ie: 46 on the dial in regular needs to be elevated to 50 in Direct to get the same db level).
Hope that helps.

The 1050's "Surround 6.1" mode is not compatible with DTS. I think it has to do with processing power.

The 1050's remote can be a little confusing with the "6 channel button" to toggle the direct inputs and the "surround 6.1" button to toggle that mode. (I think that it what it says. I don't have mine in front of me right now.) It is nice, however, to be able to toggle the direct mode from the remote.