I'm not sure if anyone is following this thread. I am sort of using it as my own 970 experience blog.

About 2 weeks ago I moved all my equipment to a rack located about 15' to the side of the viewing area in my home theatre. I have not experienced remote control problems since. I suspect the previously mentioned problems could be IR interference from my plasma display.

The new, extremely roomy 6-shelf rack and a complete cable replacement with professional hand-made interconnects fixed all hums and hisses.

That leaves me with the no-sound issue and balky dvi switching.