Hi,

I am setting up a new HT and would like to go the separate route, so I am considering some pre/pro's. The 990 is high on my list but I have a concern. If I want to have 2 HD players, a Blu-Ray and an HD DVD, along with my satellite how would I hook these up to get the HD audio? I know I can take one in through the multi-channel in, but DVI only supports video so the other can't go through there (like for instance if it was HDMI 1.2). By the way the Emotiva stuff seems to have the same dilemma. Does this mean I have to get a cheaper receiver and use it as a pre/pro until the next generation of pre/pros, or is there a switcher type thing I can get?

Thanks.

There are a couple possible options. One is to use a switcher to connect the multichannel analog outputs from two players (one Blu-ray, one HD-DVD) to the 990. This box will let you connect up to three 5.1 sources to the 990 (it's not marketed for this purpose, but it'll work).

This will require you to get two players with multichannel analog outputs, though - which means that you'll be looking at an HD-XA2 or XA3 for HD-DVD as well as a standalone Blu-ray player. That's going to get pricey. I was going to suggest that you consider LG's upcoming combo player (the BH200) which will cost $1000, but it's not going to have multichannel analog output. At the moment, pre/pros haven't yet picked up fill HDMI support, but the players are still getting up to speed (particularly Blu-ray, which is still offering just profile 1.0 rather than profile 1.1 or profile 2.0). If you plan to buy into both formats right now, you might get an HD-A2 or HD-A3 and a Blu-ray player with multichannel analog outputs. The HD-A2/3 would decode TrueHD and then re-encode as high-bitrate DTS (which actually sounds quite good), and the Blu-ray could use the multichannel analog input. Then once a good combo player that supports profile 1.1 or 2.0 and has multichannel analog output arrives, you could replace both players with that.

Thanks.

One follow on quick question. If I run the multi-channel input do I still get the DSP processing (like Bass Management), or is it a purely analog path? And I guess should I care?

The 990's multichannel analog input will not provide surround processing (Pro Logic IIx), but it will provide bass management, channel delay, and channel trim control.

I'll follow up on what Gonk had to say. I'm using the 990 and have both a HD-DVD (HD-XA2) and Blu-Ray (BDP-S1) but the switch I'm using is quit a bit more expensive. I'm using the Zektor MAS7.1 switch that allows not only 7.1 analog switching but it also allows HDMI switching. Here is a link to the switch I have http://www.zektor.com/mas71/index.html

Keep in mind also that you can pretty much get the same thing as I have by going with the switch Gonk showed you as well as a Monoprice HDMI switch for probaly 1/3 of the cost as the Zektor, you'll just have two switches. If you using a universal remote both switches should be programmed pretty easy into macros.

How about the 970? I read in the other 970 thread that it could supply DSP functions (surround processing for example) when using the analog inputs. But was that just for a normal DVD player, or could it also do it on PCM from a Blu-Ray or HD DVD player?

The 970 cannot provide DSP modes with the multichannel analog input, but it can provide bass management (either analog or digital).