Before I send my 990 in. I have had the problem with not being able to get my menu up on the screen of my samsung plasma. I have tried every connection,I think, and still no menu. I even had the Samsung service people in my home to check out the tv. No problem with the tv. The guys at Outlaw have said that they have never had a menu funciton not work. It could be that I am still not making the right connection. Could you describe a few different connection scenarios that I could try before I send this unit back. I have used the Svideo input on the front of the 990 as well as the back Svideo "monitor" input. Nothing works. I have used component and composite. the funny thing is I was using component when I first set it up and it worked, then one day it just stopped working. I feel like there is something I am not doing right. I have reset the system and even upgraed the firmware. Would a monster surge protector have anything to do with it? Probably not. Would the screen resolution of the tv have anything to do with it? I will try anything! Understand that I am no ectronic whiz. I can build the space shuttle from a good set of instructions, but I cannot trouble shoot the problems. I just wanted to try one more time with you guys before I send it in.
Thanks

Look at page 8 of the 990's manual. Look for Video Monitor Out and use either the composite (8) or S-Video (9) connection. Then make sure your television is on the correct input for said connection.

To run through all the scenarios, look at the image below and we'll go from left to right...

• Component: You can connect this output to the HDTV, but if the HDTV can't accept 480i on the component input then you will not see the 990's menu, transcoded composite video inputs, transcoded s-video inputs, or any 480i component video sources. Therefore, if you make this connection, set the HDTV to the appropriate component input, switch the 990 to a video input (DVD or Video1 through Video5), and don't get an onscreen menu when you press the MENU button to the right of the zero on the 990's remote, we should move on to our other two options...
• Composite: You can connect the composite monitor output to a composite video input on the display, but you will only get the onscreen menu and any composite or s-video inputs through this connection. If the component didn't work, you can try this one to see if there's an issue with 480i to your TV's component input. Make the connection (from the marked monitor output in the middle of the picture above to a composite input in the TV), switch the TV to that input, switch the 990 to a video input (let's use Video5 just to get one that should be clear of any higher video connections), and press the MENU button next to zero on the remote. Two things should have happened. First, the 990 should have popped up a little message when you changed inputs to Video5 (assuming you haven't disabled OSD on that input) saying "Video5" and a few other things. Second, the MENU command should pull up the on-screen menu.
• S-Video: For what we're doing, s-video and composite are going to be treated exactly the same way - and if one works, so should the other.

Cvinfig makes a good point at the end of his post. You need to make sure the TV is set up to actually use the inputs you are connecting to - if you've disabled the composite or s-video so you don't have to skip through them when changing inputs, you would need to re-enable them for this test at least.

Sorry, Gonk, I have tried all of the above. The tv displays a message that it is "searching or signal...no signal". Apparently no signal is coming from the 990.

While we're in "try it all" mode... Does it do the "no signal" thing all the time with all analog outputs (component, composite, and s-video)? Can you feed a composite video signal into one of the inputs (like the front input) and get something out from any of the monitor outputs?

check your component cables.. it's easy to mix up one of the three cables.

so you get video on your display thru the 990 just not the on screen menu?

Not to be a smart a$$, just that I did the same thing. I have a samsung plasma and it does show the "searching for signal" message until I push the button on the remote for the menu to come up. My first few times I pushed the wrong button on the remote (I think it's labeled "setup") until I figured out that was not how you bring up the menu. The menu was also set to shut off at something like 10 seconds, so while I turned my head and looked back I would be staring at the "searching for signal" message and wondering what the heck was going on. Just some thoughts since we are trying everything...

It does it all the time. I have HDMI cables to my dvd and HD cable box. At one point I had the Cble box hooked up with component cables and it worked fine. When I hook the same component cable to the Monitor inputs on the back of the 990 I get the "searching for signal" message. Last night I have tried composite as well as Svideo to the front and back of the 990 as well.

I am not sure what you mean. I watch tv through my cable box. I have not tried to hookup for instance a camcorder and watch it on the tv.

Well, I am pushing the right buttons, and believe me, my eyes are focused on the tv screen. This is just very frustrating. Outlaw has been trying to help, I just think they should send me a unit to use while they see what the problem is with this one.