I'm sure software issues have been the holdup. I think software has been becoming more and more the heart of AV gear for years and my guess is that the developers lacked a software engineer team strong enough to handle the issues that came up.

Regardless of my frustration, if Trinnov is really all that and a bag of Fritos, I'm buying two anyway.

"...my guess is that the developers lacked a software engineer team strong enough to handle the issues that came up."
+1
Every new electronic projector we develop is late beyond original schedule due to software/firmware being late. It's almost always the software that's the most difficult.

At this point, I would agree that's pretty typical. Heck, I've had a beta production sample OPPO Digital BDP-83 in my den since last September, with just one hardware change around November, but the firmware took until May to be ready for consumer use - and that's with a pretty darn strong team of programmers that were closely coordinating with their chip vendors. Likewise, the R-972's design has been sufficiently hardware-locked that they manufactured one or two runs of them a month or more ago.

The design of analog and digital audio and video components is comparatively straightforward (manufacturers have been refining those design processes for decades), but these things are purpose-built computers now - and that's a whole different deal.

Well, they don't call them preamp/ processors for noything. The more features you attempt to to build into a processor for the customer (Hi-Def video processing, HDMI switching, Dolby Volume, Audessy/Trinnov room eq/ signal processing, full 2 and 3 zone control, I-pod connectivity, Firewire, fancy OSD's, etc., etc...), the more processing power is required to pull it off. Gone are the days of descrite componentry and simple, robust design archetectures. You're essentially buying a computer so software/ firmware implementation & compatability are major techological hurtles to overcome. It's amazing that the engineers are still able to pull it off IMHO.

Well said Bonjovi.

It’s not your "father’s preamp” anymore. The software and hardwareOn these components are so interconnected that any changes, no matter how minor, require a complete re-check of the entire operating system.

Because of the complexity of the on-board technologies we are not aware of any company offering preamps that has not encountered numerous delays and glitches. To make matters even more difficult, there are often major compatibility problems between otherwise well-designed source components. You just never know what you will get in that HDMI handshake (Sometimes it’s a “joy buzzer” instead.)

In any event, we and Sherwood Newcastle continue to move ahead through the minefield of software/firmware challenges. For the record, the 990 was a relative piece of cake to refine compared to the 997.We are getting there, but we are being extra cautious.

Peter

Any word on whether or not the R-972 has been officially released or not? It sounds like it has been a very limited release so far. Does that count? Has the 60 day count down to when Outlaw could release the 997 begun or not? We've been told to watch the AVS Forums on S/N, but it is unclear if the 60 day count down has begun or not.

Ummm...

Read PeterT's post again.

Outlaw is "being extra cautious."

Given that, do you really think that the "60 day count down" is anything more than a guesstimate that was made some time ago?

Based on what I've been seeing ever since the original announcement last fall, the 60 day timeline is the contractually-defined minimum duration between launch of the R-972 and the launch of the 997. That means that if Sherwood officially launched the R-972 tomorrow, Outlaw would have the option of releasing no sooner than September 30 - but they would also be able to wait longer if the firmware still had some "joy buzzer" issue (to use Peter's great comment) that Sherwood had gone to market with but that Outlaw wasn't willing to tolerate on launch day.

I thought that on AVS Jeff from SN claimed that 972's were now shipping and were trickling into the retail channel?

I hadn't seen that post, but I was also out of town for a week and didn't keep a real close eye on the forums.