I recently bought the BD50, thinking that its internal HD audio decoding would allow me to use it with my trusty (but 10 year old) Sony TA-E9000ES. Of course, I soon learned that HD audio can't be carried over coax or fiber optic, so I need a new preamp after all. The 990 at a closeout price of $700 and free shipping seems really attractive. Of course, the price has been slashed because something even more appealing is in the pipeline. So I'm interested in hearing if you think this "obsolete" preamp is a good choice for me. Here are some details of my setup: the bluray is cabled directly to the TV with HDMI and to the 9000ES with coax; the DVD player is cabled directly with component cables; I would output the HD audio from the BD50 with 5.1 analog out (no plans to go 7.1); I could (try to) sell my Yamaha tuner, Creek phono pre-amp, and the 9000ES, even further offsetting the cost. The 990 seems like an excellent solution, but there must be a downside. Please let me know what I'm overlooking.

I’ve read one source that indicates that the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio people are just as concerned with copy-protection as HD video people are. As a result, just as 720p, 1080i or 1080p are ‘dumbed-down’ to 480i if the proper HDCP confirmation is not recognized by the source, you’re not going to get full TrueHD or DTS-HD audio from a player or media computer unless you are using a HDMI 1.3 output that can recognize the appropriate HDCP compliant confirmation.

Likely even mildly ‘reduced resolution’ analog audio outputs that originated with one of the HD audio formats will still be an improvement over the previous more highly compressed audio formats.

If the above is true, one will need a pre/pro with HDMI 1.3 audio capabilities to take true advantage of either TrueHD or DTS-HD.

Anyone have more specific information?

You are right, there is speculation that a new Outlaw Pre/Pro will be released sometime in the future. We don't know when that will be though??

The new processor is said to have HDMI switching (opposed to DVI). The new processor will also likely have decoding for HD audio, but doesn't appear to be an issue for you with outputting 5.1 analog from the player. they also hinted to some other surprise, but that is yet to be confirmed. Very likely some sort of room correction such as Trinnov or improved Audyssey , as well as Dolby Dynamic / volume / etc???

Unless the newer room correction technology and HDMI switching is important to you, I'm guessing you won't be missing much.

I am in the market for a new pre/pro as well, I'm curious on what we will hear from new products that may emerge at the CEDIA expo next week......

Be advised that you've got a bit longer to wait. CEDIA Expo is in September, with the exhibits starting on the 4th. Unless, of course, you're going down to Australia, where their CEDIA Expo starts on Thursday.

gotcha - guess I'm a month off....

S hawk, i have an outlaw 990 and just recently bought the BD50. I run HDMI from the BD50 to the TV and use the 5.1 analog out to the 990 to take advantage of the TruHD. Only had the player a week, watched 10,000BC in bluray and the sound through the outlaw was simply amazing.

I also did watch a regular DVD through the player and the sound was not that great (worse than my DVD player). If only going to use the BD50 for bluray discs, it would be a great choice. I'll be using my other DVD player and the outlaw to process, so the setup works for me.

As has been mentioned, the BD50 and 990 combo will provide full TrueHD andDTS-HD support via multichannel analog. You can also get HD resolution via HDMI or component (although DVD won't upscale via component and Blu-ray will max out at 1080i). I use a BD30 with my 990's DVI switching.

I'm going from memory here so I may not be correct, but I believe I read a review of the BD50 in Stereophile a couple of months ago that reported better results with the 5.1 analog ouputs than with the HDMI to a matched Sony receiver. I wasn't planning on replacing my 990 anyway, but this added to my feeling good about that decesion.
The major problem to me with this approach is having to choose between using the 7.1 inputs for SACD or for True HD. I'm still hoping OPPO will solve this problem for me in the next few months.

I just picked up the Pioneer BDP-51FD blu-ray last weekend; player running 5.1 analog audio into the 990. Watched Spiderman 3 with Dolby TrueHD..It was like Spiderman was fighting in the family room. A complete notch up from dolby digital. The component video on my Pioneer CRT 1080i TV was real sharp too..

Vince