Any chance that the 997 will have a USB option to connect a hard drive directly to the unit. I have a 1TB hard with all my music in original WAVE files. This would be a real nice option. Eliminates the need for a media player . . .

We're still in the "guesswork" phase, but my guess would be "no" - it'd require basically building in a media player (which is no small task), and I think that would have been mentioned somewhere along the way in the Sherwood thread at AVS or the Outlaw announcement.

For what it's worth, My Oppo 970HD has a USB connection that allows me to connect my external USB hard drive and play music AND video. I am sure some of Oppo's more recent universal models offer the same.
My player doesn't recognize every codec (a problem I am sure the 997 would encounter if it offered the same), but it deals with most of them.

The 980H and 983H share this, but with some limitations: USB device must be FAT or FAT32, only the first 700 files are recognized, and several formats can not be used (WAV, FLAC, and any other lossless format I know of being the notable omissions). This ability is a handy side-effect of the Mediatek chip's standard abilities (available on the 971H and 981HD as well for media burned to CD or DVD) combined with the addition of a USB interface.

Yeah, the FAT file system is a drag on the Oppo because you cannot get long filenames on the display. You do get long filenames when you are playing off a memory card (which the player can also do). I believe the file listing limitation is on a per-directory basis - I haven't run into this. Frankly, I didn't even know that limitation existed. However, I am actually now serving the music from my HTPC to the 990 via USB, which I find a much better option.

Sorry for straying off topic, let me get back to the discussion.

It would shock me (not to mention dissapoint me) if the 997 did not offer USB audio input like the 990 does. In my opinion, USB mass storage device support is not worth pursuing because the 997 would have to provide some form of display interface plus keep up with the audio codecs. But if Outlaw decides to go that route, I would hope that they do it as an additional USB connection, preferably on the front of the unit, and leave the audio USB input alone.

The 980H and 983H do provide long filename support, but they also use a customized version of the Mediatek chip. As I understand it, the file listing limitation is global, but my USB drive mostly has .VOB files on it (handy way to store kid's DVD's) so I don't have enough on there to hit that point.

Get Popcorn Hour or similar media player.

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/

IMHO, resources should be spend on _sound quality_ - every penny spent on stuff like media player functionality detracts from the main purpose of the device.

+1