Since the 990 has dvi only inputs for video, how do you use the 990 as a switcher?I was thinking about getting a blu-ray & already have HD dvd. Would I get a adapter(hdmi to dvi )or buy a hdmi switcher? thanks

You can get an HDMI-to-DVI adapter or an HDMI-to-DVI cable (such as this one ) to connect HDMI sources to the 990's DVI switching. Keep in mind that HDMI borrows its digital video format from DVI, so the two are pin-compatible (see the HDMI FAQ in my sig if you are interested in more information about HDMI).

You can use the dvi inputs with a hdmi to dvi cable connected from your players to the dvi inputs on the 990. If you have a hdmi display then a dvi to hdmi cable will work from the outlaw to the display. I think my hd-a1 included a hdmi to dvi cable...but the ps3 did not. Up until the beginning of the month I used the outlaw to switch a Direct TV HD tivo, and a Toshiba HD-A1 to a ceiling mounted Pansonic AE900. Since I ran a dvi cable from the rack location to the projector when the house was being built, I use a dvi to hdmi adapter at the AE900 instead of a dvi to hdmi cable. I don't particularly like the stress the adapter puts on the hdmi connection of the projector....but since I won't be running a hdmi cable through the wall and ceiling, no other choice. I guess adapters could be used on the 990's inputs/out or on the players, but you would probably see the same stress on the player connections that I have with the adapter on the AE900....and unless you have a huge rack, there might be an issue of fitting the adapters at the back of the 990, at least in my rack there is barely enough room back there for the regular dvi connectors...the 990 sure is a big sucker I picked up a Sony PS3 a few weeks ago for Blu Ray playback, and with the two inputs on the outlaw already used, needed to pick up a hdmi switcher. Found a cheap two port manual hdmi switcher at monoprice that does the trick nicely...also picked up two hdmi to dvi cables from them, the total for switcher and cables was $42 shipped. Adding the manual switcher had a surprising side effect...it also provided a more elegant solution to a problem I was having getting the HD-A1 to eject CD's....I used to have to unplug the toshiba's hdmi cable or CD's would not eject...with the switcher I just have the PS3 selected and the HD-A1 ejects cd's without removing the hdmi cable.

Gonk,

This is a few times now where I have posted a reply similar to yours...but each time we must have started our response around the same time, cause there was no reply when I started....darn you Despardo's are "quick draws"....thank goodness in this Hideout us Outlaws are all friends...would not want to go up against you in a gunfight :p

Doesn't this remind you of USB when it first appeared? There were one or two USB ports. Now a few years later there's USB 2.0 and every new PC has at least 5 USB ports.
I expect the new version of the 990 will have half a dozen HDMI ports. What are we gonna do with all the DVI to HDMI cables we've accumulated?

thanks everyone! Is the pq good using the dvi ins? I also have the Pany ae900

The 990's DVI switching has been completely transparent for me - it's as good as the source and display.

I don't see any difference when using the 990 to switch the video to the AE900 as compared to directly connecting to the AE900. Now I have not sat down and used test patterns to verify they look the same, just that with my eyes the PQ looked the same. Since I run a dvi cable to the projector, I have never compared dvi to the AE900 vs using hdmi. If you are currently using a hdmi cable to connect to the AE900, and decide to use the outlaw as a video switch, I would be interested to know how it compares to your direct hdmi connection. My guess is it would look the same, but I had read some things about how hdmi could pass more bits, but that nothing used the extra capacity of hdmi yet.

The 990's DVI switching is bit-transparent for HDMI as well as DVI: it does no processing or manipulation. DVI actually can handle more bandwidth than HDMI for video, if you use dual link. Most of us use single link since that's sufficient for resolutions up to 1080p, and it is DVI single link that HDMI used as the basis for their video signal. There were problems with some earlier HDMI chipsets that didn't play well with DVI (losing whiter-than-white and blacker-than-black), but that has been resolved in newer products and the 990 never played a role in those cases anyway - you could connect an HDMI source to an HDMI display through the 990 and lose no data.

For what it's worth, last night I ran the Avia test disc on the Oppo 981 with the Oppo connected to the 990 via HDMI-DVI and then ran the Avia DVD again with the Oppo connected directly to the TV via HDMI. My eyes perceived no difference. I tried the same thing with DVD's and either way looked exactly the same to me. True, I wasn't quickly switching back and forth to do a true A-B comparison. On a Sony 60" SXRD I saw no reason at all for not running the signal thru the 990's DVI switching. Perhaps a HD DVD would be more telling.

I read the bits thing a year or so ago, and maybe it was comparing DVI single link to the then future hdmi version 1.3. Is dual link DVI limited to 24 bit color depth? I see that hdmi version 1.3 also added support for 30, 36, and 48 bit color depths. And at least one PC reviewer said the added color depth can be noticed by human eyes, and would greatly increase the overall color quality displayed. Don't know if this is hdmi fud or not....maybe the hdmi group is just trying to get some good PR to help mask the state of hdmi audio.

DVI is only 24-bit color as far as I'm aware. HDMI v1.3 will support higher color depths, assuming that source components and displays both follow suit. Since HD-DVD and Blu-ray weren't developed with that in mind, I don't know how soon we'll see hardware that makes good use of that. The PC world is a bit different, as video card drivers and monitors have supported color depths beyond 24-bit for some time. In the meanwhile, HDMI v1.2a and below is still 24-bit just like DVI - and all of our source components and displays.