Using the full flexibility of the 990, while at the same time making it simple for my wife and kids to operate, is a key factor in deciding to purchase.

I've got a Denon 2910 universal player, and I play CDs, DVDs, HDCDs, SACDs, and DVD-As. My wife and kids will probably never touch the latter three, using only the CD and DVD capabilities.

I'd like to use the digital coax from the unit to the 990 for CD and DVD, and the 7.1 analogs for the HDCD, SACD, and DVDA. So here's the question:

I see I can assign the 7.1 inputs for HDCD, SACD, and DVDA use, but can the CD and DVD inputs be assigned to the same digital coax? That way, I tell my wife to choose CD to listen to CDs, and DVD to watch DVDs. That way I can have the CD input default to stereo (or 5ch. stereo, or upsampling, or bypass, or whatever), while the DVD input can default to 5.1). This could be a moot point if the DACs in the Denon are better, but I'm guessing the DACs in the 990 will be superior.

Also, can the 7.1 inputs be assigned the same S-video as the DVD input? There's only 1 S-video out on the Denon 2910, so if I want to see the menus on a DVD-A, I'd have to be able to have the S video coming from the DVD input, or use a composite video from the Denon just for that purpose.

Thanks for any help!

Mark

You can do what I've done with the 950 - set the CD input to use the same digital input as the DVD input, and just leave the CD input set to stereo (or perhaps upsample).

From what I can tell in the manual, the 7.1 input has its own separate s-video input. I assume that you aren't using component video at all. Since the Denon only has one s-video input, I'd probably recommend using the composite input for the 7.1 direct input and s-video for the DVD input.

I hoped I could "share" the cd and dvd audio coax input so that they both look to the same coax input for audio. So that's good.

But it occurred to me after I posted that if the 7.1 input has no video assigned, would it just leave the video that already was on still on? This happens in my current system (Yamaha RXV990 as pre/pro with Sunfire amp) when I have it set to TV and switch to CD, the video remains unless I choose a source that has a video. So I wondered if I could just set the 990 to DVD and then choose 7.1 input, leaving the video still coming from the DVD, in this case, an S video as I'm not using the DVI or HDMI from my player. That is, if it's not possible to assign the 7.1 input to use the S video from the DVD source.

Mark

I think this will probably have to be one of those test-it-and-see things, but that's how my 1050 behaves.

The way the manual reads to me, it may be possible to tell the 7.1 to use one of the three component inputs (or the two DVI inputs), but otherwise it will try to use its own s-video or composite video inputs. If the 990 matches the 950 and 1050, purely audio inputs (CD, tape, aux) will use whatever video input was previously active, but since the 7.1 direct input actually has its own video inputs it may not behave this way. We'll just have to get one in hand and find out!