I have been thinking about what I may do when 7.1 tracks begin to appear on hd-dvd and or blu ray titles, with respect to my 990. I really enjoy my 990, but have a feeling once 7.1 becomes more of a standard on hd-dvd and blu ray titles, will be really missing the hdmi audio connectivity. For video the dvi switcher is fine, but audio... I thought the outlaw may have been safe with 7.1 analog inputs, but my gut is telling me the High Definition player manufacturers (toshiba, sony, etc..) are not too concerned about including 7.1 analog outs for older pres/rcvrs....and if they do it probably will only be in the high end models. I was wondering if it is technically possible to create a device that could accept a signal on a hdmi cable, grab the audio, and then pass it as 7.1 analog outputs. My guess is there are technical hurdles to such a device...copy write issues being one of them, but thought I would ask anyway. If there was some way to get 7.1 audio to the outlaw, I could probably be happy for quite a while longer and to borrow a line from Gonk, just "run screaming from the room" and ignore the entire hdmi mess.

john

A device like that has been suggested before, I think, but the problems are significant. First and foremost, it has to be HDCP compliant, and that's going to be difficult (if such a device can be HDCP compliant). Second, the device would be essentially a surround pre-amp: digital input(s), DSP, DACs, analog output section.

It's very possible that Toshiba and Sony may start limiting multichannel analog outputs to their high-end players, but there are too many pre-HDMI receivers for other manufacturers to pass up the potential sales - companies like Denon, LG, OPPO, and others will not want to pass up those sales. These are also going to be the likely sources for combo players, which works out well. It'll be a more cost-effective way to support pre-HDMI receivers and processors, plus it avoids the HDCP problems.

HDMI to analog is an interesting idea to make the 990 more compatible in the future. I agree that there are probably copywrite issues to get past for such a device. But an add-on like that might delay shelling out much bigger bucks for a new pre/pro sooner than necessary.

I must admit I'm wondering if the new 7.1 audio formats from HD-DVD and BluRay will be a significant improvement over 5.1 manipulated to 7.1 by Dolby and DTS. The sound from the 990 now is pretty amazing. The new formats are tied to HDMI v1.3 which won't really be implemented by anyone for 6 months to a year and them probably by the big manufacturers. I expect Outlaw's next pre/pro that would include v1.3 is some time beyond that.

I wonder if the discussion around the new audio formats will be similar to the current 1080p debate. 1080p appears to have real benefits for those with large screens (projectors) and the seating distance is pretty close. For most folks 1080p has no real benefit because they sit too far back from the screen to see a difference. Will the benefits of the new audio formats be heavily dependent upon how the surrounds are located and set up? Will they sound better in our homes?

My crystal ball is pretty cloudy, but I'm yawning over 1080p because of what I can afford and how my room can be set up. Only time will tell if I yawn over the new audio formats.

I'm dumbfounded by how many people keep talking about HDMI for audio. You have a great amp - just buy the Panasonic BD10 BluRay player and use the 7.1 analog outs. Even if you bought a new A/V receiver, it still wouldn't decode the latest audio formats. Let the player do it and enjoy your killer amp.

From what I have read, the BD10 does not [yet] decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD to its 7.1 output, which I believe is what the original poster was looking for.
The BD10 retails for $1,300.

Exactly what I was looking for, and the costs of the BD10 and hd-ax2(only 5.1 analog) are why I used "high end" to describe the High Definition players that might get 7.1 analogs. I guess it is probably too early in the High Definition players life cycle to know how 7.1 analogs are going to be handeled...once the number of CE manufacturers providing High Definition players starts to increase, one of them may provide 7.1 analogs on their entry level players. Guess I am just surprised and disappointed that all of the initial crop of g1 players with analog, went 5.1 (except the $$$BD10)...especially since the current standard of rcvr/pre is 7.1.

The only reason that HDMI has effectively replaced DVI (which had a more robust connector and supported digital video just as well as HDMI does) was to add digital audio support - we've all been (and continue to be) put through the interface wringer because of this capability. It's very true that multichannel analog outputs will grant the user access to these new audio formats just as well as HDMI can. Currently, nothing can decode DTS-HD - no players, and no receivers or processors. It's a software format in search of hardware, and Panasonic's promised firmware is the closest we have to hardware that will support it. TrueHD support is a bit more feasible, but only in players. Again, there are no HDMI v1.3 receivers yet, so the only way to get TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus is either multichannel analog or multichannel PCM via HDMI v1.1, and in both cases we're leaving the player to do the decoding. Later this year, we'll start to see some receivers that can decode the new formats internally - if you have an HDMI v1.3 player to give them the appropriate bitstream (which currently just means a PS3). I think part of mm_half3's original point was that none of the hardware's in place yet - a "black box" that closed the gaping and uneven gap is a tempting idea, even though practical design issues probably make it impractical.