I have read the manual a bit, but is there a way to not have to use the OSD?
I like having the front display cycle through a menu for changing things (like levels of surround speakers). Is there a way to do this?
(I loved my yamaha for this, and was quite dissapointed at the 990's lack of this feature.)

OR...
Can the next update of the 990 software add this as a feature?

The 990's setup menu cannot be accessed through the front panel display. As it has a single line of text, I don't know how user-friendly a front panel menu interface would be (previous Outlaw gear with front panel menu access have used the two-line displays to make this a pretty slick process, but the 990 inherits the P-965 front panel display and lacks the second line).

My Yamaha had only 1 line, and worked great!

It is actually quite intuitive...

There are direction arrows on the remote...

When you hit the "menu" button, it brought up the first option with a ">" next to it indicating that you could go into a sub menu, or you hit down for the next option. Left or right took you further into the options, or back out.

Or even direct access to the sound level of speakers would be great. Adjusting them durring the movie, not having to stop watching it first.

Hi taylodr,

You can access each channel's trim level by hitting "Test" and then "Enter" twice on the remote. By "Enter" I mean the center key of the directional arrows, which may be called "OK" or something like that (don't have the remote in front of me).

From there, you can go up/down to select which channel to adjust, and then hit "Enter" again to select the channel. Once selected, you can use the direction keys (I think it's up/down again) to adjust the level. When done, hit "Enter" to be able to scroll through the channels again.

After a few seconds, this "Test" menu will disappear, and you will be back to normal control.

Recently I revamped my HT. The manual states that you can use the component output for the display. I tried this, first with no video inputs and just the component output to my projector. Nothing
Tried with a component input. nothing.
Tried the 5 min power off. nothing
Did a manual reset. nothing and now all my settings are gone.

I had to use svideo. Fortunately I have a svideo input on my projector. Unfortunately there's no svideo cable routed to the projector. Any setup of the 990 now requires me to string up a temporary svideo cable across the HT.

Whatever model replaces the 990 shouldn't require svideo or composite. Everything is now HDMI or component. Betteryet, make everything configurable at the unit.

Bizarroterl, does your projector's component input accept 480i signals? That's the only likely explanation that I can think of for your problem, because the 990 does overlay its OSD setup menu onto the component outputs. Like the transcoding of composite and s-video signals, however, that menu OSD is output at 480i. For some reason that I've never understood, a number of HD displays have been built with component inputs that only accept 480p or higher resolutions. If your projector will accept 480i at the component input, you might want to chat with Outlaw's support about the problem, because it should work.

A number of folks with front projectors and with equipment racks in remote locations have elected to get really inexpensive TV's (we're talking like a black & white 7" from Radio Shack) that can be tucked into someplace inconspicuous to allow easy access to the 990's setup menu. It's a little clunky, but I'll toss it out anyway.

i use all component video in my system.. from the DVD player to the 990 and from the 990 to the HDTV. and I get OSD.

You may need to go into the menu and select component instead of S-video.

My display is the Sanyo PLV-Z4. Normally I don't even use the component video and just happened to have a component cable run.

I'm looking at this for my OSD for the 990 -
Directron - 2.5" display

I still find it odd that you can't at least see the OSD with your Z4 - the manual that I found online indicates that the component inputs will accept 480i. You could always move one of the component connections over to composite on both the projector and 990 to see what happens, if you are interested. Of course, the little 2.5" display you linked is a pretty cool approach to getting access to the OSD...

The 2.5" display just sounded too small. I did some looking around and bought this off ebay:
Copenhagen portable monitor

If it works well I'll have a wireless monitor for my 990 and my Oppo.

That's pretty cool!

I'll post back after I get to play with it a while.

The Copenhagen portable monitor works really well. The 5" screen is large enough to easily see the menu. Range is about 40' if I take it upstairs.

Video (IE DVD) won't win any awards, but it is fully usable as a OSD without firing up the projector. It will also do sound but I'm not transferring that to the base station. The speaker is small (similar to a PC speaker).

The big thing is it is fully wireless. It isn't too heavy, but it isn't a Palm either. It comes with separate power supply for charging (charger built into the unit).

It is quite convenient for DVDA/SACD playback as I can see the player's OSD info by feeding it through the 990.

Not a bad toy for a 100 bucks. If anyone is interested there is another one on Ebay. Just search on Copenhagen and LCD.