Although it looks like Outlaw has a huge hit on their hands with the 990, I thought we could use a thread to help the Outlaw's improve upon its already rich feature set. To take the idea from the "anything negative" thread but to make it, well, less negative I thought we could all list what we would like to see addressed/improved with the 990. I realize some of it may not be possible, but having everything in one thread should make it easier for them to find it.

In order to make it easier I am just going to periodically edit this post to bring all of the requests to the top. That way the Outlaws won't have to filter through some of the non related posts. The order will simply be in the order they were posted, not in order of importance.

UPDATED May 24th 2006

QUESTION FOR ALL: Does #11 qualify for the bass management update? I couldn't tell if I should cross that off the list or not.

1. Setup through the 990's front panel display like the 950.
2. Allow for the 7.1 direct input to not have to be assigned to a video output.
3. Allow renaming of Audio inputs. DONE 5/06
4. Leave the S-Video input active when the selected source is DVI or Component.
5. Have a surround setting for Dolby Digital 2/0 so that the unit will stay in either Dolby 5.1 or 2.0 as the input switches and will not go off to prologic.
6. Trim options available for multiple inputs, not just a global setting.
7. Allow a "bypass" to the 7.1 Inputs so analog audio doesn't get digitized and bass managed by the 990 without having to set speakers to large.
8. Disable the toggle on the 7.1 command. Make it only a discrete on command.
9. Make the OSD progressive scan so it can be displayed while viewing a component video progressive source. Currently the OSD is interlaced-only.
10. Second sub delay and trim.
11. Bass management enhancement: Add equivalent of ICBM L/R Recombine feature. This would allow routing of bass from center and surround channels to large front speakers, even if a subwoofer is in use.
12. Provide external vidio display information similar to 950, ie: current volume, current processing mode (as well as show if I am in Bybass mode, and wether I'm in 7.1 or stereo bypass), signal input type. DONE 5/06
13. Please make the items display with a a key press, and second key press or hold down causes actual function to happen.
14. Have a setup item that allows user to disable specific pop-ups (for people who don't know what uncompressed PCM 96k is) and allow/stop "first press display/second press action" (for those who really don't want it).
15. Provide a means to access 7.1 analog from frount panel input action. DONE 5/06
16. Allow pre-selection of decoding mode before appropiate signal arrives; for instance, I would like to select DTS+PL2 BEFORE I start the DVD, as we don't want to miss the opening score in proper mode. Mute and provide message stating "No DTS signal present" till data stream starts. Have this function menu selectable "allow/disallow pre-selection".
17. Add the ability to lock out certain modes according to source, ie no cinema mode on the CD input.
18. In auto setup, provide a section for low efficency speakers like maganpans (86db 1 watt/1 meter) and perhaps a means to ignore 1st reflections for di/bipoles.
19. Provide a phase check, or at least polarity during autosetup, or better yet as a second step.
20. A little auto EQ on the low end.
21. A setup selection for absolute level limiter (to prevent fragile driver damage).
22. Make the DVI not look like the end device, just a signal transfer port.
23. Maybe a "vertual extra side" mode that helps the side image that suffers from side speakers not being dead on the side (staggered rearward for better resuls on SACD).
24. A "Rear=Side" mode for 7.1 direct input, with rear trims available just for this special mode.
25. a means to direct the height info on channel 6 to the rears/and/or 2nd sub out(which would be connected to a dedicated height driver) when needed.
26. Provide capability to adjust lip sync via front panel display instead of OSD only, as is currently the case. DONE 5/06
27. Allow 2 channel D/A converter upsample mode line level out via record out.
28. Allow support of just one rear surround speaker like the 950 does.
29. Discrete mute on and off
30. UPSAMPLE Soundfield applied to ALL (Rear and Back as well as Front) Speakers.
31. Discrete back speakers on and off.
32. Discrete selection of each Dolby soundfield.
33. Discrete selection of each DTS soundfield.
34. Inclusion of THX soundfield.
35. Room EQ auto-adjustment.
36. A "lock out" key sequence so the 990 can't be adjusted/harmed by children or visitors. DONE 5/06
37. The ability to route digital inputs to Zone 2 analog outputs.
38. The ability to designate one of the digital outputs as Zone 2.

4. I want Rack Mount Ears.

Second that, on the OSD.
If you use DVI you won't see anything of the setup.

I am not sure how rack mount ears are a software upgrade, but I do agree on the ears..

Perhaps a firmware update to make it smaller?

How about a master volume control like the 950?

1) Leave the S-Video input active when the selected source is DVI or Component.
2) Have a surround setting for Dolby Digital 2/0 so that the unit will stay in either Dolby 5.1 or 2.0 as the input switches and will not go off to prologic. This is an issue with HD-TV inputs when every channel has a different format and the unit keep overriding your selection. This would allow the 990 to be compatiable with the 950 in this regard.

HDTV Terrestrial & HD Radio Tuning

I just got my 990 but from what I can tell, trim levels are global and it's a one for all setting. This needs to be fixed! I love being able to trim channels for different inputs and having the pre remember my settings.

I echo many of the sentiments listed above, and also add:

1. Allow a "bypass" to the 7.1 Inputs so analog audio doesn't get digitized and bass managed by the 990. The only way to do this now is to set the 990's speaker size to LARGE, which one might not want for other inputs in their setup.

2. If I press 7.1 Input once, it goes to my 7.1 input setup. If I press it again, it reverts to the previous input that was active. I don't like this. It should only try to select whatever I have configured for 7.1 Input whenever that button is pressed, not revert to the previous input used.

3. Make the OSD progressive scan so it can be displayed while viewing a component video progressive source. Currently the OSD is interlaced-only.

Rick