This is why I still have my circa 1980's "boom box" with a simply analog switch, round analog dials and Non-digital!

Jay

I talked to Outlaw about this today and didn't really get anywhere. They said that first of all, very few people reported having this problem. Next, if the problem is on a sat or cable input, it's most likely that device, not the 970. I tried to argue this as my Motorola DVR worked fine with my Yamaha reciever. He still claimed that unless I'm experiencing problems on the DVD input where you have a steady audio stream, the DVR is at fault.

Then I brought up the possibility of upgrading to a 990 since this problem hasn't be reported with it. He said that would be fine and should work OK. If that's the case, that means the 970 still has issues.

At his suggestion, I reset the 970 back to factory defaults and while setting it back up with my calibration DVD, I still get audio drops when switching from DTS discrete to Dolby Digital for example. While I'm not happy about rewarding a company with a defective product with $400 more, I don't really have much choice as I'm passed my 30 so a refund is out of the question. I'm thrilled with the 7125 and other processors cost considerable more so it looks like I'll have to get a 990 to fix this.

When it comes to source components, there's a huge range of variation, particularly with cable or satellite receivers (this is something that all receiver and processor manufacturers struggle with - I just saw a comment from another manufacturer along these same lines a day or so ago). The original problem that was relatively widely experienced with the 970 and 1070 was apparently addressed with the firmware update (based on the fact that nearly everyone found the problem to be resolved), but it is possible that a few people's satellite or cable boxes are just enough out of spec to throw a wrench in the works for the 970 or 1070. The variation from spec could be slight enough to only affect a handful of receivers or processors - it's even possible that an identical satellite or cable box would not exhibit the problem. Would the 990 be better able to cope with the deviation from spec better than the 970? Beats me, but there are a bunch of 990's out there and we haven't heard of anybody having these problems.

Having said all of that, I also want to add that none of it helps when it's your processor and your cable or satellite box that are fighting. I'm sorry, fellas.

***I don't have the upgrade yet***

Has anybody had the unit no-audio problem after the upgrade with the Tuner?? If Outlaw is claiming that it was your DVD player's fault, how do they explain turning the unit on with the Tuner selected, I've had this happen before. I've had it happen in my old software with DVD, CD, Tuner, basically ALL my sources.

Jay

Prior to the update, the problem was reported with all sources. Mick16 and Ruffles are seeing the problem solely with a cable/satellite receiver, and I'm not sure about whether iardon's been running into it on just one source or not.

I'm having the problem on both DVD and Video2. I don't use the tuner and video1 (vcr) very often so I don't know if it occurs on them.

Hrmmm... That one stumps me, Ruffles.

The update seems to have made my no-audio problems worse. The only 2 devices I have connected to the 970 is a Denon DVD player, & a Prismiq MediaPlayer that I use to stream Internet audio. I'd guess 3 out of 5 times when I play a DVD or stream web radio, all I get is silence. I can see the song counter progressing on the player, but nothing from the 970. The ONLY way for me to get audio is:

1. get up & turn 970 off then back on
2. switch to radio input then back to device input

While I'm impressed with the overall build quality of the 970, these software bugs have no place in a device of this price class.

Since I don't have a 970 to test myself, I'd suggest that anyone experiencing problems of this sort take detailed notes (as several of you seem to have done) and pass that information along to Outlaw. The 970 uses the same platform as the 1070, which has been "on the street" since late last summer I believe, so the problem is almost certainly either the result of previously-unseen equipment interactions or perhaps a bug introduced while fixing other problems (such as the video switching update from December) - after all, anytime you touch code you run the risk of messing something up elsewhere in the system. The RS-232 port is there to cope with issues like this, and if Outlaw has feedback such as we're seeing here it will let them root out the source and hopefully squash any pesky bugs.

(It may be that I'm just tired and need to go to bed, but this talk of annoying bugs caused me to think about a particular skunk about 110 miles from here that was sniffing around a construction dumpster - makes me wonder what the skunk would think about the assorted phone calls and e-mails that bounced around today because of its presence.)

FWIW, I'm still having the no audio issue 100% of the time from my Roku soundbridge over coax digital. I get it occasionally over DVD and never on TV (Video1).