I don't have much use for synthesized DSP music modes either, but some basic user-controlled DSP funcionality is important for those of us who listen to acoustic music recorded in a live environment and want to approximate a concert hall experience. To do that from a two-channel recording, you must be able to control the delay and high frequency contouring of the surrounds, not just the volume. More delay: bigger hall; bigger hall: more high frequency rolloff required. Read Lexicon's white papers on the subject.

I've noticed the 990 is "upgradeable." Does this mean it will be able to decode any new processing that may come out in the next few years (ie. HD-DVD, blu-ray, etc). Is this simply a software upgrade or is a hardware upgrade needed for these future enhancements? If this requires a hardware upgrade, is the 990 hardware upgradeable?

That's my biggest issue. I don't see how the unit can be outfitted with HDMI or iLink to process audio in the future if either becomes a standard. And an HDMI - DVI adapter is useless for audio.

The 990's RS-232/USB port does allow for software updates to address issues like programming bugs (rare, but always a risk with something this complex) and to add newer features that are compatible with the hardware. Outlaw's 990 FAQ hints at the potential for a future software upgrade that would add auto EQ to the automatic setup system, for example. Processing modes that are likely to appear with whatever HD optical disc format we end up with are almost certainly a different matter. There's been a great deal of discussion about this issue in other threads, but here's a brief recap. HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, or whatever unified standard might crop up soon will use HDMI for video and audio. Outlaw used DVI instead of HDMI because the video standard shared by the two is well established, whereas the audio standard for HDMI is a very moving target - hardware off the shelf today (HDMI 1.1) has a very great risk of not being compatible with the audio standard used by future HDMI versions (the versions that will support SACD, Dolby Digital Plus, and whatever other formats might crop up when HD optical disc arrives). Support for audio from HD optical disc players would most likely have to happen via the 7.1 direct input.

By "direct input" do you mean using analog inputs and allowing the DVD player decode the new format?

Exactly - the 990 includes a 7.1 channel analog input. HD optical disc players (when they arrive, and whatever name the format(s) happen to be) will share a general trait with the early DVD players - onboard decoding for the newly-developed audio format or formats. When DVD players appeared, very few people's receivers supported Dolby Digital and DTS was essentially unheard of. Most of those early DVD players included onboard Dolby Digital decodes so that receivers with six-channel analog inputs could give users access to the DD 5.1 soundtracks that were one of DVD's big selling points.

Not being an old-timer in the multi-channel world (but an old-timer in the real world) - how did these early DVD decoders perform? Once the processor/receiver world caught up to the new technologies, did they perform the task better? Or was it more of a cabling/switching advantage?

"Not being an old-timer in the multi-channel world (but an old-timer in the real world) - how did these early DVD decoders perform? Once the processor/receiver world caught up to the new technologies, did they perform the task better? Or was it more of a cabling/switching advantage?"

Normal budget DVD players, etc, that did DD DTS decoding never did as good of a job than outboard processor's.