I a have a 7.1 channel system and I am not sure I have the 990 setup correctly. I have optical cables 1 and 2 for my dvd and tv audio. When I use th input button on the 990 and select 7.1 direct, I get no sound. Is this right?
thanks.

When your using optical/digital, just select DVD.

Some DVD and DVD-A players have 7.1 outputs and it's transmitted through analog cables and passes through the 990 without processing. This is 7.1 direct. The optical or digital cables are processed and are not 7.1 direct.

Miscanthus,
Retep is on the money.

Basically, if you are running a DVD w/ DVD-a or SACD capability you need:
1. Digital Cable (optical or RCA)
- This is used for movies/TV/SAT(where applicable)
-The 990 will process this signal.
-This is one cable.
-DVD-A can be played thru this cable.

2. Analog cables (....more cables)
-6x cables required for 5.1
-8x cables required for 7.1
-the DVD player is processing the signal.
-this is 7.1 direct on the 990
-this is used for SACD/DVD-A

Hope this helps….
Later

With a 7.1 system, you will want to experiment a bit with some of the surround processing modes (using the "Dolby" and "DTS" buttons on the remote) to bring the rear surrounds into play. You might want to check out the "Surround Processing" portion of this page for a crash course on the different modes that exist. The Model 990 offers most of the modes on that list, with only THX modes, the proprietary Logic7 processing, and the new HD audio formats (Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, and DTS-HD) not available. Personally, I use Pro Logic IIx-Movie on top of Dolby Digital and DTS typically in my 7.1 system (unless it's a DVD with Dolby EX or DTS-ES and the 990 is required to apply those modes).