hmmm .... Gonk beta tested the IR-1000 and it didn't go into production eh? Cause and effect? :p

Heh-heh-heh... Maybe I took the concept of "test to destruction" a bit too far, killed the whole project? Oopsy.

The IR1000 was fairly different from the media players that have appeared since its development got tripped up by royalty changes from the librarian of congress back in 2002. I don't know if Outlaw would pursue a media player now - the market is much more cluttered with competition ranging from the Slim Devices Squeezebox and Roku Labs SoundBridge to the AppleTV to the XBox, whereas in 2002 there was just the Audiotron - but it would certainly not be similar to the IR1000.

By the way - glad to see you around again, Pat.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I was also involved in testing the IR-1000, so I guess it could have been partly my fault too. No, you are of course correct, it was the royalty changes that hit just prior to its release that really killed it. I have to be honest, I at times wonder how some of these newer streaming systems have dealt with that. Alas.

Not sure I'll be posting a lot, but I'll at least be lurking for a while. My 1050 (upstairs) & 950 (downstairs HT) are still doing journeyman service and therefore I really don't have an overwhelming urge to replace either. As I mentioned to you in private email Gonk, I'm likely going to be buying a new TV to replace my 36" 4:3 SDTV in the living room and the one I'm considering has three HDMI v1.3 ports, so I think I'll hold off until someone offers a receiver or, preferably, a prepro that supports switching them (hint, hint -- Scott, Peter & crew ). For the near term, I imagine I'll do any needed video switching at the TV and the audio switching at the 1050.