I guess this means that the 990 will be the last unit to incorperate a Cirrus Logic DSP.

What does this mean as far as the consumer is concerned?

Cirrus Logic DSP vs TI DSP?

Edit: on an unrelated note, in the article Outlaw mentions the great resale value of their products, but I don't think that really applies to 990 owners who paid $1100... Not necessarily complaining, just pointing this out.

I don't think it means we'll never see an Outlaw product with Cirrus DSP. There's still an opportunity for a 970 successor (especially with a projected $1400 price tag for the 990's successor), and something like that may work well with the 49700.

What does using TI versus Cirrus mean for the consumer? Either can do the necessary decoding for HDMI v1.3 platform. There's some mention of a "revolutionary new technology" that remains rather undefined, and that certainly could benefit from the dual TI chips (such as something that the 49700 by itself couldn't support due to processor resources) - which would be a benefit to consumers who had use for that new technology (whatever it may be). I think the real issue here is what Outlaw saw as the most expedient method of getting hardware developed and ready for the market, and the delays in arrival of the 49700 (which are now on the order of a year or more) must have at some point - probably some point several months ago - reached a tipping point that pushed them in a different direction. From that standpoint, what it means to the consumer more than anything else is that there will be an Outlaw HDMI v1.3 processor available for purchase sooner.

The one bit of info I get from this announcement is a whiff of a retail price for the 990’s successor. This gives us some kind of idea what we need to stash away. It sounds like their target price will be below the retail price for the Onkyo 885 and Integra 9.8.

The "revolutionary" new tech has to do with Room Correction (that actually works, unlike Audyssey that gives different settings when you run it multiple times...).

BTW, proper Room correction also requires massive computing power, so going with TWO chips is surely beneficial...

At that price ($1,400), I would expect it to have a good video processing solution - using probably either HQV Reon or ABT 2010.

And yes, I fully expect to see the CS 49700 in the 970 replacement (whenever it comes out).

Interesting thought.... Outlaw is releasing a new processor, but it still makes sense to purchase their old processor today. The current price is a steal (new). It will be interesting to see the used market on the 990's once the successor rolls around.

I can't wait! Just bought a new home. I have the perfect room for a HT. Currently running 2 channel, but it sounds like that will change later this year. My 7500 amp is taking it easy running on 2 channels at the moment.

The price on the 990 is definitely impressive - all we need is somebody to come up with a Blu-ray player with 7.1 analog output, decoding of all new audio formats, and support for DVD-A/SACD, and a combination of it and the 990 could be a great way to enjoy all the latest and greatest software without getting an HDMI v1.3 processor. Of course, a player like that isn't likely to arrive before the 990's replacement gets here, but at the 990's new price you could get a 990 and such a player for what the 990's successor will cost.

Room correction is certainly a likely candidate for the new technology. Another would be something like Dolby Volume. And I'll be curious to see just what video processing solution shows up, as I agree that the $1400 price point would almost guarantee some sort of video processor.

If Outlaw follows the trail they've already blazed they will offer great value for the buck. At $1400 the new processor should offer excellent audio processing (regardless of what chip is used) and flexible video processing. It is the latter I'll be following closely. There are displays at so many different video standards (720p, 768p, 1080i, 1080p, etc) that I hope Outlaw will accommodate. Other manufacturers have controlled their cost by limiting the video processing to optimally work with a select few displays. If Outlaw expands that list they will attract many folks that have "older" (i.e have not gone to 1080p) displays.

Another thought...I expect to need $800 to $1000 to get the new processor after the $200 savings for being an original 990 owner and what I can get for my 990.

From what I learned while beta testing OPPO's 983H (which uses an Anchor Bay solution for the video processing), supporting resolutions other than 720p, 1080i, and 1080p gets into some nasty issues with display timing that are very difficult to accommodate. Because there isn't a single standardized resolution, refresh rate, and such for "768p" (to name on example), it's messy to try to support output resolutions like these. I think that's part of the reason that we typically only see those standard resolutions supported.

Of course, I could be wrong, and it would certainly be cool to see support for that sort of control from Outlaw, but what I heard from OPPO (who were using chips pulled directly from a standalone video scaler) left me thinking that it's not something likely to show up outside of a $1,000+ video scaler component...

I'm hoping for a comprehensive HDMI, if not processing, then at least switching. With my current TV, I'm maxed at two HDMI inputs and having to fall back to component for everything else. I'd really like something that took *anything* IN and allowed anything to go OUT via a single HDMI. Then I could do all my switching from the Outlaw rather than having to switch the TV inputs too.