Tim Allen remote, or sexy, but a bit skinny remote...

Yea, I have some comments on what could be better on the 990...

1) This thing is a bit too large, almost silly large. Personally I am of the opinion that they should have ignored the DVI/HDMI situation alltogether and left it out. Seriously, if you want the best video, the fewer variables between the source and the TV the better.

2) No EQ. Bass and Treble is it, and it takes effect on all channels the same. I don't understand the thinking on this. You mean to tell me they could not implement a EQ in this? My 3 year old receiver has an EQ for each speaker zone, and that will be missed! I am really hoping that they implement a more detailed EQ through a software upgrade down the line.

3) Bass and Trebel tone goes from -6 to +6. Uhhh, you could not go -10 to +10?

4) In order to make setting changes, chances are that you will need to bring up the setting menu on the TV. They should have had the display on the unit show where you are in the menu, so you can make a change while watching something.

My 2 cents. Jury is out for me at this time... I just don't know...

I sgree with Jester about EQ-Bass-Treble.
My solution will be to place EQ between 990 & amp.
While it shouldn't be necessary the 990 (IMHO) is so good that I don't really mind.

Can't have everything

Hopefully upgrades will happen.

Jester:

Are you sure you aren't confusing "EQ" with bass management? Three years ago there were NO receivers from ANYONE with automated setup and room EQ, as the processors available at the time were not capable of handling that sort of MIPS overhead. The 990 does appear to have extensive bass management capabilities per each of the FOUR speaker groups. I know for certain that NO recevier had that three years ago.

As to the value of the various automated EQ systems, yes, it would be nice to have, but according to many, the jury is still out on that.

PodBoy,

"The 990 does appear to have extensive bass management capabilities per each of the FOUR speaker groups."

All you can do for a speaker group is set the size and crossover. That's not extensive unless I'm missing something. The other receiver that I have is a Sony 4ES. Your right, it did not do automated setup, but that was not too difficult to do.

Also, just to add to my list:

5) Manipulating Lipsync works a bit poorly and really should be fixed to work with less button pushes. Right now you have to do the following:

Sync-> up or down for delay time-> select (to hear the results.

What I think it should be is as it is in the input config:

Sync-> up or down for the delay time and you hear the results.

6) There is no Hi Crossover setting that you can adjust for the Subwoofer. I will have to use the one on the Sub unless there is a hard coded high limit in the 990, but the manual has no mention.

Question: With the 990 (Sub set to LFE), when you set the crossover for a front speaker to say 80Hz, what does it do with the signal below that level, send it to the sub? The Sony did, but this does not mention that either. If it does, then what does L/R + LFE do?

Jester:

TO be honest, you ARE missing something. First, of course, you did miss the fact that the receiver you have doens't have auto EQ.

Next, you are missing the fact that there are very few receivers and even fewer processors (name as many as you please) that offer the 4-way crossover. Thus, what the 990 has IS better than most everything out there if you exclude auto-EQ.

CHeck me on this, but I believe that when you go up or down to change the sync delay, it IS changing, and that the "Select" is to enter the setting to memory and exit the function. If that is the case, then you already have what you are looking for.

These are all rather minor issues in the way a feature is implemented, not in the presence or absence of the feature. One would hope that you could live with it and perhaps it could be changed later. In the mean time, it still looks as though you are complaining about things that other similarly priced products don't even have.

By the way, how does it SOUND?

PodBoy,

The Sony 4ES had five way crossover. 4ES Manual

I don't understand your point with the Auto-EQ statement. The 990 has none, where the Sony 4ES did for each speaker zone.

Lipsync does not change, each time you want to try a setting, you have to hit select and if that does not do it, then you have to repeat the process. It would not be painful if you could see the setting on the 990 screen, instead of the TV attached. I am fortunate that I have PIP that will allow me to see the other input while I watch in the source, but not all people do.

I think people should expect more from the software that is being given, so yes, I feel that there are some features that have been out there for years and are not in this unit, and some of the ones that are, are not as accessable when you need them as they should be.

Still have this Question: With the 990 (Sub set to LFE), when you set the crossover for a front speaker to say 80Hz, what does it do with the signal below that level, send it to the sub? The Sony did, but this does not mention that either. If it does, then what does L/R + LFE do?

i see both points .. but to the fellow wanting eq ... on home theater you have few choices .. rane or audio control .. i am a audiocontrol fan .. and i use a bijou 7 channel thx .. used to use a realto.. know these retail and sell for bijou 1000 retail and 800 true cost .. realto 700 and 400 to 500 real cost .. because constant q tech and other good things .. now if you want eq me i would rather have a quality external eq than a cheap internal in a high end prepro .. one other option is just eq you mains .. this will make a big diff in whole HT sound .. you center can sound clearer by trimming off some of the same freqs in the mains .. your vocal range .. mostly mids .. and most folks wanting to eq have much larger mains than center and surrounds .. when 5 6 or 7 of the same speaker is being used they tend to not overtake one another .. oh one trick to eq ing 101 .. always try to trim down... most folks thing example ..i want more bass .. so they take 60 80 100 up .. try goin down on the others .. many eq companies explain this in their lit.. good luck .. jester .. i have eq in my alpine in my car and yes it is nice .. buts it s my car .. yes in a reciever for my game room (xbox etc ..) it would be nice internal .. but when i'm using a $2000 dollar ATI amp and a say $1100 outlaw 990 i'm going for the audio control $800 bijou.. at this level of HT and already using seperates go for the good stuff .. oh the big deal of constant Q is one you move one freq band it does not effect any other band .. internals do not have this .. at least none ive seen or that are afordable ..

Jester:

Don't want to parse this out, but I stand corrected in that you are right, the 4ES does have EQ, but not the "Auto EQ" that I am referring to here. So to some extent we're both right. To have Auto EQ you need to have an external mic, etc.

As to the delay, you HAVE to see it on the screen, as opposed to the front panel display. Otherwise, how else would you know when the picture and sound are in sync?

Hey, it's a ball game and you can pick the side you want. No product can please everyone, every time. On the other hand, the top-level feature package of the 990: DVI switching, LipSync delay, auto setup of output level and delay times, 4-way crossover, USB and RS-232 upgradeability, playback from computer to USB in, balanced outputs, etc., for $1,099 AND the fact that as far as all reports indicate, IT SOUNDS GREAT, seem to make it a great bargain.

You're hung on implementation of a feature that, while perhaps less convenient than you might like, you only set once. Your right to do that. But you haven't told us HOW DOES IT SOUND?

PodBoy,

Yea your right, you DO HAVE to see what your doing when using Sync (though you could assume that when you press a button it does something on faith). But I don't put my two HDMI sources nor my two HD Component sources trough anything except directly to the TV (I want to make sure I get every ounce of video quality with a 70" display), so I will never see the sync delay unless I use the PIP. I would think that most would/should go directly to the TV if that were an option to them. I understand that many TVs do not have enough connections...

The thread is about the negatives of the 990, and I thought that these should be pointed out.