Hello. I recently purchased an Outlaw 970, one of the B-stock units (I only say this with the knowledge it could simply be "bad", and need replaced), and I have a few issues/questions. I've called tech support as well, left them a message, as they're not open on the weekend, so hopefully they'll get back to me as well on Monday.

The first issue/question I had was this, and again, keeping in mind the processor simply could be "bad", and this isn't normal behavior- I'm not quite sure, heh:

Our cable box provides digital audio out, via optical, for every channel. From public access to HDTV 5.1, there is *A* signal from the optical, be it 2.0 stereo or 5.1. To simplify things for myself and my family, I choose to connect the cable box via optical only. This way, hit Video 1, it switches to optical, switches the component video to the projector, and voila! TV w/ sound!

I've done this on other processors as well. I used a little piece of crap AEG unit for a long time, and it worked fine. "Basic" channels, it decoded the optical signal into a Dolby Surround system. In HDTV movie channels, it gave me full 5.1 for different channels. It did this all without complaint, without "wtf" moments, it just worked.

With the 970, it does this: I change to an HDTV movie channel, which should give me 5.1 dolby digital. The 970 pauses... thinks for a bit, switches "Dolby Modes" from Dolby Stereo, eventually landing on Dolby Digital. With each switch, the volume changes a bit, a bit of speaker crack. Sounds bad.

When I change to a "normal", stereo only channel... well, let's just say it got confused. The poor thing didn't seem to know what to do. It switched to Dolby Stereo, then to Dolby Surround, then back to Stereo, finally landing on Surround... each time, making awkward sounds with each switch.

And the bigger problem? It did this each time I changed the channel. From channel 2-3, both "normal" channels, no 5.1... it went through the same song and dance of input juggling.

Now then, what SHOULD it be doing? Assuming the unit is working perfectly, which I don't think mine is (more to come, I promise ) what SHOULD the unit do when I change channels? What SHOULD it do when I go from a "normal" to HDTV, 5.1 channel? How much thought, how much juggling, should it do? If it SHOULD juggle like that... well, that's just not going to work.

Secondly, and most "explainable", is what I believe may be the "No Audio" bug, with a twist! More exciting, I know, I know.

I was watching a DVD, the DTS version of Top Gun, a classic. It sounded great. I finished the DVD, hit stop on the DVD player, hit Video 1 (TV input, component from cablebox->out to projector), it switched to the correct inputs, and... well, it lost its mind again, this time a bit more violently.

It was loud. Quite loud. I had turned the volume down to about -30 after the DVD ended, and it was.... not -30. It was loud. So I scurry up, and turn it down via the remote... no change. It seemed to get a bit louder, even, as if it was gradually changing volume by itself. Eventually, it got loud/dangerous enough that I switched the amps off with the switch, killing the sound (obviously).

Power cycled the 970 with the standby button, it turned back on. Turned it down to -70db. Turned amps back on, while holding my ears. Nothing, okay, good. Turned it back up, gradually. Nothing. Turned it up a bit more. Nothing. Made sure cable box was on, changed the channel on it, just in case. Nothing. Changed input on the 970 back to DVD. Restarted DVD, fast forwarded a bit to a "louder" part. Turned it up gradually. Nothing.

Basically, no sound.

Tried the test tone. Nothing. Turned it up, tried test tone. Nothing. A pattern emerges.

Tried a few more things. Pressed buttons (as I have just gotten it, still not 100% familiar with everything: But I guarantee you this, I had it setup in a way it SHOULD have worked, heh), nothing happened. Went back into test tone, and in my fumbling, changed inputs back from DVD to Video 1 (cablebox). With the "Test Tone" thing still on the 970, I got cable sound, at a loud (but no THAT loud) volume. fumbled with remote, exited test tone (all the while, no test tone actually sounded), and turned volume down. No response. Turned volume up. No response. It gradually got louder, then shot up a bit, startling me, resulting in me turning off amps again.

Another pattern emerges.

At this point, I remembered "haha! No audio bug, to the interwebs!" and came online. "No audio bug" was easy to find, but the whole "lol no volume control and scares you enough to make you wet yourself" was not. So I posted on the forums.

So, I have hooked my AEG back up, and the 970 sits on the floor. I have no qualms with reconnecting it and trying it again, but I'm not going to risk my equipment with the random volume changes until I know a bit more. My belief is I simply got a bad unit: B Stock, it had problems, it needs fixed. But the whole "Changing channels=what response" thing still weighs heavily on me: If it takes too long to think between channel changes, this isn't going to work too well.

I'm sorry for the incredibly long message. Hopefully I can get something out of it, be it a "yeah, it's most likely busted" response, or a "do this to fix that" response.

Thanks for your time.

For the first issue, I'd suggest turning off "auto poll" on that input - see if that eliminates some of the confusion. In theory, the unit should take a moment (maybe a second or two) to acquire the new signal when changing formats (DD 2.0 to DD 5.1 to PCM), and during that process the unit should simply mute itself. I'm not sure about the other problem - it's not something I've heard about.

Alrighty, fair enough. I'll give that a shot and see if it works. I had read about the auto polling, and it looked like something I should try.

A bit of an update:

The beta firmware seems to have fixed my "change channel and totally lose sound" issue, but the other issue remains.

Set the cable box on a channel, watch it for a few minutes at a set volume. Then, change volume up or down: Volume spikes up or down, then becomes very quiet. Turning it up at this point, or down during the spike, have no effect.

I still hope to be able to talk to tech support tomorrow, so hopefully I can find something out.