I have a few issues with the 970. Does anyone else's 970 occasionally not respond to the remote or front panel buttons (except the standby button)? I have had about 5 different occasions where the 970 would not respond to remote commands (the original remote or my MX-700) right after being turned on. This required that I hit the standby button on the front panel then turn it back on to reset it. Additionally, sometimes there is no audio from my OPPO DVD player (via optical 1), and I have to reset the Outlaw with the standby button. This usually happens right after I hit play on the a DVD menu. I never had this happen with the 950.

I miss my 950 sometimes. It just worked. It takes the 970 much too long to turn on, so I have had to program a 5 sec wait macro into my MX-700 remote in order to get my TV to see the video signal. (If it turns on before 5 sec, it will not see the video signal from the Outlaw. This requires that I cycle the inputs on the TV.) The 950 was practically instantaneous in this regard and I had no problems. Of course now I have to train my girlfriend to hold the remote aimed up for about 5 sec after the turn on button is hit. She doesn't doesn't understand why I bought a new processor and now she has to do this. This is a problem with my TV, but it was an unexpected frustration when I got the new processor. Is the 990 quicker to boot up? I may upgrade if that is the case, as this is frustrating. Also, I haven't been reading the 990 forum much. Are any users having the non-responsive problems like I described? I haven't flashed the firmware as I don't have the problem the new firmware fixed. (I use a Panny AE900 as well, but with DVI-HDMI.) Should I try this? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

BTW, The 970 sounds noticeable better to me than the 950. That all may be attributed to having delays now for the sub and rear surrounds. I use the unit for about 90% movies 10% music. Also, I like the look of the unit over the 950 with the exception that the display is harder to read and can't be dimmed. The processor is close to me
and the bright blue display is annoying while watching my front projector. Hopefully Outlaw will release a firmware upgrade soon that allows the display to be dimmed or turned off ... PLEASE! Also, renaming the inputs on the OSD would be nice too.

Mine suffers from the no audio problem. I will have to switch between sources to get the audio back. Happens once in a while. There have also been times when the unit appears not to respond to the remote, but I am not sure if it the 970, or something else.

The 970/990 and the Oppo are a great combination. I have a Motorola DVR with DVI, an Oppo with DVI, and a JVC SX21 with DVI. I have no desire for HDMI as everyone seems to have issues. I have had no problems with DVI.

Yep, mine also has the "no audio" problem and the remote issue.

This unit is buggy, from top to bottom.

I had the "no audio" problem, but only on my cable box. I turned on the Auto-Polling on that input and that has fixed it.

I have not had issues with the remote not responding.


Regards,

Charlie

I don't have a 970, but a 1070 and I have the same issue. I've noticed that it happens when I change between sources as well, i.e. going from a DVD (Dolby Digital/DTS) to a satellite program (one of the other Dolby Pro Logic modes).

I've also noticed that the unit will sometimes not recognize the "flag" of a different mode. That is, it will remain in a Pro Logic or some other mode when there is clearly a different source mode.

FYI-I have upgraded the firmware as well.

I had the remote issue as well, but it was very much solved by changing the batteries out to new ones!

So the 'no audio' problem is not just my unit... Hmm. Does anyone know if Outlaw is working on this issue? I'd be glad to help anyway I can to get us a firmware fix for this. BTW, the remote batteries have nothing to do with this problem. (It did not respond to my MX-700 as well, until it was turned off and back on.)

I have not upgraded the firmware. Will this help? I thought the new firmware only fixed the "white flash" issue.

I tried to give some friends a demo of "The Incredibles" DVD this past weekend and when I hit play the movie was playing but I had no audio. I had to cycle the power on the unit (I left the DVD player, playing) and when the Outlaw came on, my audio worked.

Brubacca's "no audio" problem was unrelated to any software problems in the 970 - it related to a shortcut in many digital cable boxes (analog channels not being converted to digital, leaving the digital output dead when on an analog channel). It does sound like John151 and iardon have seen the same behavior you are reporting. The 970 and 1070 are the same basic platform, so it seems unlikely that the "no audio" problem is common considering how many of the two units have shipped since late last summer - which means that it is possible Outlaw hasn't had many reports and hasn't been working on the issue long. By all means, give them a call or contact them online, as your experience can help them determine the cause.

Do you have any IR repeater hardware set up? I remember hearing that it is possible to confuse some components that get the same command from the IR receiver and from the rear IR input.

I am not using a repeater. I don't believe the unit locking up has anything to do with the it receiving IR because when it locked up once, it would not respond to the front panel buttons as I described in the original post. It seems to be just like a computer that froze and had to be restarted.

I will definitely be contacting Outlaw directly on this. And I will be glad to help them troubleshoot this. I just want to get some others input before I do. So if anyone is experiencing this, please chim in with your equipment and maybe we can find a pattern. Thanks!

Actually Gonk my cable box outputs everything over the digital connection. It is a setting in the box (SA3250) and worked on my previous pre-amp.