Wow I guess I got lucky my upgrade went perfect the first time without a hitch. After reading all the problems people were having I was about to take the unit to a friends house because my laptop only has USB and no RS232 ports. I followed the directions using usb, I did see why it could be confusing about the outlaw.inf file that kgt refered to, but once I opened the folder it was easy. I had no problems at all, but maybe the instructions should be rewritten or at least an XP version would be in order since that seems to be were most are having trouble.

Finally took the firmware plunge - 3 frustrating hours later it worked! The turning on/off of the 990 multiple times combines with one more on/off power cycle after yet another "Device Restart!" message is what it took. This after trying 2 different laptops and even RS232 mode. The Outlaws have got to make this easier for future releases.

Nothing - the instructions are not very accurate. The folder is fine. If it contains the inf file the "OK" button in the selection window will work. Also note that I ALWAYS had to also click the "Update" button to begin th upload process. That too is NOT mentioned at step 13. It IS mentioned at step 14 in the "Important Note" section that mentions the error message many of us received. The key for me was several rapid turn on/off cycles of the Main power switch after first clicking "OK" to the "Device Restart!" error. Good luck with the update - hopefully yours goes smoothly.

Gonk:

When I enter the menu, there is no bass management option for the 7.1 input. Where would it be ?

It's not an option there. The 990 automatically applies the same settings to the 7.1 input as to every other source.

About SAME SETTINGS:

I suggested to outlaw that since the level settings (speaker cal.) for one surround or stereo setup might differ from another NEO vs. 5 ch vs. 2 ch stereo, vs DD, for example, that it would be preferable if one's setting would be remembered, as are the surround settings per input.

7.1's could differ also.
Any thoughts?

Great.

Thanks

hell yeah. i was talking about this shortly after i got my 990 in March this year. I was surprised that the 990 didn't remember different settings for DD, DTS, PLIIx, etc. it applies the same settings for all different decode modes.

My old Marantz 5.1 receiver would remember the different settings for each decoded format. Some folks don't understand how useful this feature would be.

I use a set up DVD and a SPL meter.. and the settings are different when i set it up for DD over DTS.

Finally got the upgrade installed. Actually, my biggest error was user error. I used USB and skipped down too far in the directions (where I thought they only pertained to serial). Turns out I skipped down way too far.

Once I realized what happened, I got 1 Device Restart error before it went through.

Wasn't too painful, but wasn't too intuitive either.

I didn't really use the 990 at all before the upgrade, so I can't really comment on the performance enhancement. Everything seems to work fine now.

I still am confused by the subwoofer settings. What is LFE Only? I have large floor standing f/l/c and large bookshelf rears (which I set to small in the 990), but I don't know what to choose for the sub.

Still trying to understand all of the different surround options...dialogue sounds quite soft through my center channel compared to the rest of the system, even though I turned it up about 10db (I've been using primarily PLII Movie, I believe - maybe this is wrong as it looks like that is for 2 channel source material??). The speaker is in a cabinet (Axis 8024) and even though I pulled it out as far as I could, I think the cabinet and the strange design of the tweeter - speaker is B&W HTM3S - might be the culprits. Any ideas?

Cheers.

If the mains are set to large, the default is for the sub to be set to LFE (at which point it'll get the LFE track on 5.1 sources as well as bass redirected from small speakers in the system). The other option for the sub is L/R+Sub, which does the same thing except it sends a copy of the left and right channels below the left/right crossover to the sub (so you get that bass signal twice).