Will there be new audio formats? Will the 990 be unit have firmware upgrades or do you thin they will come out with a brand new unit.


What's your opinion?

There are three new audio formats available with Blu-ray and HD-DVD: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD. All three require either HDMI v1.1 or multichannel analog connections. My HDMI FAQ goes into some greater detail on the different versions of HDMI and how they relate to these new formats - it's entirely too complicated, due to the fact that HDMI was brought to the market before it was really done baking. The 990 will not be able to support the HDMI - the hardware changes required to add HDMI would be massive, which is actually why Outlaw elected to stick with the much more stable DVI format when they set out to design the 990 a couple years ago. The 990 can accept all three of these new formats via its 7.1 Direct analog input, however.

Gonk, by using the 7.1 audio in on the 990 arent you bypassing the procesing of the 990. Isn't the 990's processing what makes the 990 sound so great.
When using a 7.1 analog in setup would all pre/pros sound the same. What Im trying to say is would the pre/pros characteristics still come through or would the sound be colored more by the processor in the hd-dvd or bluray player.

You are bypassing the processing, but (unless all speakers are set to large in the 990) you still get bass management.

With an analog input, differences tend to be less (and the player becomes more important), but analog design in the pre/pro is still important too - and one of the 990's strengths is how clean and transparent the 990's analog half keeps things.

I am under the impression that none of the preamp processors made today will be able to offer the DVDHD surround modes. From what I hear, these will not be avaialable thru a digital connection outside of HDMI. This is not fact as I am not on the inside but it is what people in the industry are saying.

That's not entirely true, although it is true that the trusty SPDIF (coaxial or optical) connection can't carry the new formats due to bandwidth limitations. Here's the deal (with greater detail in my HDMI FAQ if you want it):

• If players decode the new formats to multichannel PCM (which should be the standard approach, although the early Blu-ray players are being a bit inconsistent about this), then HDMI v1.1 or v1.2 can carry the audio to a processor or receiver (assuming the processor or receiver supports HDMI v1.1 or higher).
• Once hardware with HDMI v1.3 arrives on the market, it will be possible for the original digital bitstream to be sent from the player to the processor or receiver.
• Backward compatible Dolby Digital or DTS signals can be provided by the players over SPDIF (coaxial or optical), depending on which format and which player. This is not the new formats, but it many cases it is still a nice step up from what we're used to with DVD's (high-bitrate DD and DTS that the DVD bit budgets have prevented us from having access to before).
• Assuming the player supports decoding of the formats (which is essential for you to hear the formats as long as we don't have HDMI v1.3) and the player has multichannel analog output, the millions of existing Dolby Digital/DTS receivers and processors that lack HDMI v1.1+ support but have a 5.1 or 7.1 analog input can still get the new audio formats. Granted that's not digital, but it's still a connection.

So far, only about three or four surround processors offer HDMI v1.1 inputs (meaning that the HDMI inputs can handle both audio and video), although it's more common in receivers. Those four processors are pretty pricey - the Anthem AVM50 runs around $4700, Arcam FMJ AV9 is $5500, the Anthem Statement D2 runs $6700, and the Lexicon MC-12HD is somewhere around $13000 I believe. Now that the HDMI spec has stopped changing (version 1.3 was finalized back in June or July), companies like Outlaw, Rotel, Parasound, and others can start developing products that incorporate HDMI, although the actual HDMI chips needed for that are apparently still being finalized and put into production. Most of the focus is on the HDMI v1.3 output chip needed for the PS3, so input chips needed by surround processors may not be as ready for inclusion in new products as some folks would like.

Hold the phones, hdmi to be obsolete in 2008. A new format is already in the works called hdwf. I don't know the exact initials but it is a clabless system which operates on a 60 hz frequency. it allows pure digital uncompressed audio and video to be sent between your componets. Just when we thought hdmi was the be all end all they start working on this. Although if it works well, cabless would be awsome.

I have a toshiba hda1, and using the 7.1 analog inputs sounds much better than any of the other connections. Just wish the 990 could apply dpliix to it's 7.1 inputs (since the hda1 only has 5.1 analog out), but I am going to get a couple of y connections and see how that works for simulated 7.1 with the new audio formats. Also, the toshiba sounds excellent as a CD player when using the 990's 2 input analogs.....I use bypass mode and am really astounded at how good it sounds. The reported great CD play of the toshiba
here is what finally pushed me over the edge with hddvd. That and a price just over $350. Anyway, I feel the 990 is a great pre for the toshiba.

Where did you find the hda1 for $300?

did'nt....updated the typo to just over $350, using 100 continental airlines miles, their shopping program had it listed at $349, with shipping it was $362. I found the details from here