Then you should be dead on - that's exactly how the Oppo should be set up. Must be one of two things: per gonk, your 990's source isn't set to the correct digital input, or you're looking at the 990's available surround formats before you play a DVD. I have the same thing happen sometimes when I load a DVD and the menu comes up - and my processor only allows PLII/Neo6. A lot of DVDs encode the menu-related audio in 2 ch, so you'd only be able to choose from the matrixed surround modes until you play the movie, which comes through in its encoded DD/DTS.

Hope this helps...

Now I've got it. You both are correct, the digital signal needs to be on AND being output by the source (not just selected) when you enter the menu to change the audio mode. I solved my other issue with variable channel levels (what is ideal bass level for Dishnetwork and my SACD/DVDa player is not ideal for my Oppo that I use for movies) with the following work around. Since my system has two subs, 1) I decoupled the one in the front of the room from the 990 and now send signal directly from LFE/sub output of Oppo to it; 2) I left the other sub at the back of the room hooked to the 990 and this now supports LFE + bass management x-over from the other speakers coming out of the 990. This works great since I don't need to do any volume adjusting when switching between TV/music (where I like normal bass levels) and movies (where I JACK-UP just the LFE with the second sub placed right under the screen). Sweet- thanks for the help getting this done right.

Glad to hear you've got things dialed in!