Now that I have my new 990 set up, I'm thinking about making one more significant change.......beyond using a composite connection to access the on screen menu, I am currently using only the 990 audio inputs, and it sounds great, but I'm wondering what benefits I would get if I use it for video as well.

All of my video sources are being connected directly to the back of my Pioneer plasma. I don't have or need a cable or satellite box, but I do have an outoor RF connection from my roof top antenna and a direct RF analogue cable feed going to the back of the TV with an audio optical out going to the 990. The Pioneer Plasma has a very good upconverting TV tuner for analogue, so I'm reasonably satisfied with its standard def image, and It's hard to imagine its HD performance being any better. My Denon upconverting 2910 universal player is hooked up via an HDMi to the plasma for video and coax digital and six analogue connectors to the 990 for audio. I also have a stand alone HD digital recorder and tuner that receives a direct RF feed that is connected to the TV via component and the 990 via optical for audio.

All of these devices are being nicely managed by my Harmony 880 remote, and since everything is in an entertainment center that conceals the wires, I'm not concerned about having just one cable (HDMI) going to the back of the plasma.

I realize with this configuration I am giving up the lip sync function.....beyond that, is there anything else I'm missing by not using the 990 video inputs?

Actually, you are not losing the lip sync function - the 990 does that to the audio internally, even if you don't use it for video switching. And for your application, I don't see the 990's switching doing you any good: you have a single analog video source (the HD recorder) and a single digital video source (the 2910), so you would end up changing inputs on the TV anyway. If the HD recorder had a DVI or HDMI output, you could use the 990's DVI switching, but you'll still end up switching between the TV's HDMI input and the TV's internal tuner.

Interesting....thanks for your quick reply.....so, if I understand correctly......I can follow the manual instructions to apply the lip sync functions? If so, that's great news.....I really appreciate your help Gonk.

You understand correctly, John - the way that lipsync delay works is by "pausing" the audio signal by a specific number of milliseconds to compensate for delays in the video signal introduced anywhere in the overall signal path by video processing. You can use the "SYNC" button on the remote or the SYNC setting in each input's setup menu to adjust any video input's audio sync delay. The only case where this doesn't work is on any inputs that are classified as audio only (CD, Aux, Tape, Phono), as the sync control on those is not available.

I just tried it, and I'm not getting a response....I have the OSD MSG set to ON per the manual instructions for video 1 using the optical 1 input....but no "LIP SYNC DELAY" message appears on the 990 when I hit the sync button on the romote. My monitor out connection to the TV is via a composite to a separate input...would that be part of the problem?

So....I made adjustments from the menu screen without being able to watch the images simultaneously ......maybe that's the only way i can do it.....going back and forth till i get it right?.....if so, that's ok....just not the way i thought it would work.

If you aren't using the 990's monitor output, there's no way for the 990 to display the SYNC - there's no video signal path, and thus no way to deliver a video signal. Even if you were using the 990's switching, though, component and DVI inputs don't get pop-ups overlayed - which is why v3.10 and 3.11 of the 990's firmware display the sync setting on the front panel when the SYNC button on the remote is used. That way, you can use the SYNC button, the up/down navigation buttons (or is it left/right?), and the SELECT button to adjust sync for the active input without using the OSD menu.

That makes sense.....how do I determine what firmware version I have?....I would assume it's the latest....since a just bought the 990 a couple weeks ago. If I don't have one of those versions, do you know if it's difficult to download the firmware using an Apple computer?

Pressing "SELECT" and "INPUT" on the front panel at the same time while the unit is in standby displays the version number, but be careful because "SELECT" and "MENU" will reset the unit to factory defaults. The version number is displayed as "Version x.xx xx" with the first set of numbers ("x.xx") representing the firmware version. My firmware update notes offer more details.