in my current setup i run a dvi to hdmi cable from my htpc directly to my tv, and send the audio separately to my audio system with a toslink cable.

does anyone know if there is a way to run an hdmi cable to the 997 and send audio separatley to a different assignable input perhaps?

i think i may need a new video card with hdmi out (sending both audio and video). in that case, does anyone have suggestions?

thanks in advance.

We won't know how input configuration is done until we get actual hardware in hand (or at least a manual). Having said that, I think that they will need to offer a way to support DVI sources (there are still some DVI cable boxes floating around, plus DVI HTPC's like yours and even some quite good DVI players like the old OPPO 971H) and that having separate video and audio input assignments similar to what is done on the 990 would be the easiest approach.