I have had my 970 for almost 4 months, My conclusion is all the hype and reviews fail to mention one very important element of the 970. The 970 is not capable of running for more than 2 or 3 hours error free. Its just a fact of life that if you watch tv for several hours (hd chanels broadcasting in Dolby 5.1 especially) the sound will drop or start distorting. The only way to combat this is to have the outlaw remote close and scroll through dolby modes until sound returns or stops distorting. I think someone posted before its an audiofile equivelent to jiggling the handle.

I hope reviewers and customers spend a little more time with this product and really gain the true scope of everyday performance and make the appropriate adjustments. It needs some sort of magor update in it software that helps with the buffer of sound that "jiggles" the handle for you. Updating the software helps for a little while but it does not make the problem go away. On on a completly other thread, if the update is been a known requirment for over a year, why would you ship your product without the proper software? or at least post the most up to date version of your software somewhere on your website.

Im sure Im going to get scorched by everybody in this forum, but I'm open to all suggestions, comments, and thoughts on how to help this problem. It just sucks knowing you paid 130o bucks and it simply does not work for a strech of time with out tinkering with it just to make it work.

fustrated and ready for change,
Mike

I have lurked around this forum for some time now, and finally decided to register and post. I purchased the 970 new and have been experiencing the very same problems. I had hoped, like Mike, they would have been resolved by now. I just find it absolutely maddening that the issue has not yet been resolved.

Is there anyone who can point us in a direction to resolving this issue?

equally frustrated and ready for change,
dj

I haven't seen this degradation of the sound quality, and I've used the 970 for hours on end. I use it mainly for watching DVDs or listening to CDs, however, so I wonder if the problems you've experienced could be due to the auto-polling of your cable or satellite signal. Since you say that the Dolby mode must be "recycled", I'm wondering if for some reason the 970 loses its lock on the digital signal.

I'm having HD digital cable service installed tomorrow (finally), though, so maybe I'll see the answer for myself sooner than I'd like ...

I have had a general opinion that the weak link in this whole thing is actually the inferior quality of the cable boxes that are supplied. When I went to digital cable my existing Pre-Amp (B&K Ref10) could not lock onto the digital signal at all. Previously I had just been using the QAM tuner in my TV and feeding the Pre an optical with no problems. B&K had a "fix" for this in the Ref 30 product. It was $1,000 to upgrade the unit to the newest version. That was right about when the 970 was released. So I purchased a 970 instead and retired the B&K (It was flawless for over 7 years). I have had intermittant problems since.

So what I am saying is that yes there still is a problem, and good luck. Hopefully your new cable box will not cause you to have the "no audio" problem.

FYI- I have a Scientific Atlanta Cable Box.

Regards,

Charlie

In case anybody in this thread missed it (doubtful under the circumstances), this post has announced a firmware update for the "no audio" bug. From Scott's post, it sounds like they may have it beat.

Well shut my mouth and call me silly. I had not seen this yet. I even checked the thread before I posted!!!

Hoping that this resolves the issues. I'll load the update this weekend.

Regards,

Charlie

Edit- I just loaded the update... Went flawlessly. Will let everyone know if I have any issues.

^^^ I'll be waiting for your feedback on how it worked for you before I unpack mine. My 970 has been in its box for so long I almost forget I own one. I can already picture eyeballs rolling when my room mates see me unpacking it...

Lets hope for the best.

I have the 1070 and have not experienced any "no audio" problems with it since the firmware update. I am very interested in hearing from others who have performed the update.

I didn't know the 1070 suffered no-audio probs too.

The 1070 and 970 are the exact same platform - Outlaw developed the 1070 and then pulled the amps to create the 970.

Loaded the update last Wednesday evening (Jan 31). I have not had the "no audio" issue since. It was not something that I got very frequently, but so far so good.

Regards,

Charlie