So I noticed in the manual (some people do actually read it) that all of the composite and svideo input signals are automatically sent to the composite, svideo monitor and rec out jacks and the component video monitor output. Any signal from the component in is only sent to the component out. So far so good.

How about all of the audio inputs? What happens to the L R audio inputs and the coax and optical digital in? Are all of these sent to the coax and optical out and the zone2 and rec out? Or are the digital inputs only sent to the digital out and L R audio only sent to the rec out jacks?

Also let's say I have a HD cable box that I connect to my 990 via component in and optical in. And I connect to my TV via component out. I understand that I can view my picture via the tv and hear the sound via my speakers. What do I do if I want to see the picture and hear the sound via my tv? I can't seem to find a L R audio out except for the rec out and zone 2 out.

How do I get component in and audio in from the 990 to my tv?

I can see a couple of ways of doing this. Not being a 990 owner, I can't speak directly to how these ideas would work, but...

On my 1050, if I select an audio only source, like CD, whatever video I was previously watching is still being fed to my TV. So you could try hooking up the analog audio out from your cable box to an unused audio only input and then take that to your TV via the REC OUT. So you could be watching your cable normally, then switch to say, the tape input, and the video is still being passed to your TV, but the audio has now switched over to analog stereo being fed out from the REC OUT jacks to your TV.

Alternatively, you could feed the analog audio outputs directly to the TV. Of course, then they will always be feeding to the TV so you'll have to mute the TV when you're listening to the speakers and mute the speakers when you're listening to the TV.

Somebody else may have a better idea, perhaps someone who actually owns a 990, but those are the ways I would try it.

just tonight i hooked up a optical digital cable from my HDTV to the 990 Opt 1 input.. so whenever i view an over the air HDTV broadcast, I can hear it in Dolby Digital, if it's being broadcast in DD.

Otherwise the signal defaults to DPLII

ON a side note. I had my CD player hooked up with RCA analog cables. I hooked up a optical cable from the CDP and left the analog RCA's connected too. I switched back and for between the two. Both connections sound really good, but the optical's volume level drops way down when i use it in Bypass mode.

I also didn't like that when listening in stereo or bypass mode the 990 defaulted to DPLII every time i'd switch back and forth between the optical or RCA connection. Kind of a PITA.

Regarding the original question, there are some options. First, if you want to watch TV without the 990 in the picture you're going to want to either bypass the 990 entirely or use the second zone to feed a signal to the TV because presumably you're going to be doing this when the 990 is off. If you use zone 2, you will need to run analog audio and a composite or s-video cable to the 990 (the second zone is essentially independent from the rest of the processor, and it doesn't transcode between composite or s-video or convert digital audio inputs to analog. Personally, if I wanted to watch TV without the 990 I'd run from my source straight to the TV.

In my house I am the only one who understands my AV system. That figures: I hooked it up. Wife is totally in favor of it but doesn't understand it. Neither does son. So I feed the TV's Video-1 input from the 990, which gets the SAT signal and everything else. I feed the SAT signal (splitters AKA "Y-connectors" to TV's Video-2 input. So there is AV from SAT at TV's Video-2 with everything else turned off.

nfaguys, if the family likes to run the system, but doesn't get how, I'd recommend spending the money on a good universal programmable remote. I bought the Home Theater Master MX-700, based on comments from many here in the forum, and my wife had never been happier with the system. Now she could operate it herself! Even my mom can run the system now when she comes over. I realize y'all don't know my mom, but trust me, that's saying something. This is a woman who watched an entire dvd in French simply because she finally had picture AND sound.

You can get some good deals if you look around online and the computer software programming interface that came with mine is simple to use.

And because you can program macros and such, you could hook your sources direct to the display, or any number of strange ways via the 990, and program all of the necessary steps to switch between the various methods of use with the touch of a button.

I thought about running from my source to my tv. The problem is I have only one cable box with only one set of component outputs. I can't have it going into the 990 and my tv unless I split the signal which I assume will degrade the picture quality.

I don't completely understand the zone 2. How does that work if the 990 is off? How does it determine which source (video and audio) to send out the zone 2 jacks?

I assume that your cable box also has an s-video or composite video output as well as an unused stereo analog audio output - the idea here being that when bypassing the 990, you'll be willing to live with the lesser video quality. When using a receiver or processor's video switching, you are basically establishing the receiver or processor as the focal point for your system, and it's hard to live without it at that point. This is why I haven't used my TV's speakers in a decade or so - I just use the TV as a monitor, and the audio is always handled by the processor and the speakers that it feeds.

Zone 2 can be operated independently of the 990. You'd still have to turn zone 2 on (or leave it on all the time) and select the desired zone 2 input using the 990's "extra" remote.

Point taken. I personally do not see the point in turning on the preamp and the amp just to watch some low volume late night rerun of gilligan's island.

because Gilligan sounds better in DPLIIx :p

I guess if it's audio or video related, I want it all to go thur the 990 pre and handle the switching.