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

I've been following the threads at AVS and AFAIK Jeff said many weeks ago that by now they would be shipping, which is very different than what you said.

I guess I've been following them more closely as what he said is not different from what I said.

Here's what Jeff said earlier this month:

"We have now shipped a small number of R-972's to our reps, distributors and a handful of dealers. The number shipped so far is minute. In total, it is barely more than one per state. From my memory, 6 dealers received units. I suspect they are all sold..."

That sounds like they are trickling into dealers. So what I said is correct.

If you want to claim that Jeff is lying you can go right ahead. I for one, believe him.

Now I suppose you could quibble and claim that that doesn't count because they are not shipping in enough quantity that someone could go into a store and buy one. First, that is like claiming a Christmas or two ago that Nintendo Wii's weren't really shipping because you couldn't find one in a store because they weren't shipping in enough volume. But seriously, I didn't claim Jeff said they were shipping in volume and were in wide distribution. I said Jeff said they were trickling in, which is the gist of what he said -- and is very different from what you suggested. Yup, it does sound smarmy to me. :p

No doubt SN won't claim the receiver has "launched" until they have thousands of them to ship. For the handful of people who were able to buy one, however, I doubt they think their new toy is imaginary.

Moreover, it sounds like the early adopters aren't going to have every feature available.

Noah, are you Noah Katz?

I guess I misinterpreted.

The trickling part is right, but when to me "are shipping" means I can order one from a dealer's stock, and that's not the case but is supposed to have been.

Peter Tribeman saying "we and Sherwood Newcastle continue to move ahead through the minefield of software/firmware challenges" sure doesn't sound encouraging.

Yes, I'm Noah Katz.

Sherwood's launch approach does seem curious to me, but since they go through a dealer network instead of internet-direct I guess there are some inevitably different pressures on Sherwood compared to what I'm more used to seeing from Outlaw, OPPO Digital, or other online distribution approaches.
Just my opinion, but I'll go out on a limb and say that Peter's not going to do anything to generate unrealistic expectations on a release date. I'd expect a healthy dose of caution because he knows how easy it is for little things (much less big things) to interfere with a planned roll-out. Better to under-promise (and, barring major intervention by Mr. Murphy, over-deliver) than to over-promise or otherwise feed the anticipation (which will grow suitably intense all by itself, I suspect) and get burned by a last-minute snag that you have to stop and fix.

Every time I think about this, I'm reminded of the current state of affairs at AV123, where they started mentioning the mantra "under-promise and over-deliver" some time last year but continue to repeatedly set and miss deadlines for new products, product fixes, and delivery of pre-purchased products. It has led them to shut down their online forum for the last six months and counting to try to manage the negative reactions.

Well Noah, it sounds like we really aren't that far apart on this. There was another thread where people were bashing SN pretty roughly -- and I agree they deserve it.

Two years of [fill in the blank] nothing and even now more promising than delivering -- or at least that's my interpretation.

Out of the gates with a limp and a whimper.

I have been very very close numerous times to just go in another direction altogether because it is so hard to have faith in SN after such a debacle.

Still, the Trinnov option strikes me -- and I admit, not having heard it this remains a leap of faith on my part -- as one of the few products to really differentiate itself.

IMO they've been penny wise and pound foolish. The money should have been spent on a top shelf software/firmware team and gotten this out over a year ago and possibly stood alone as an option for some.

The receiver option would have been fine for me, but I am crossing my fingers and taking another leap of faith that the Outlaw implementation will be a better choice.

I am standing by, cash in hand, albeit reluctantly.

Finally coming to market now, in this economy, where people are going to be tight, is bound to be an uphill struggle. I hope this doesn't turn into a Pioneer plasma debacle for any party concerned.

Jeff from Sherwood posted yesterday at AVS: "We expect to have inventory available on the R-972 by the end of August, (2009)."

Just about every forum I've ever been on has a long running situation where at least one business is claiming "just two more weeks" for six to twelve months!

Jeff (assuming you mean Jeff Hipps, SN's SVP of Marketing) sent me an email in early March telling me that they'd have product in April. His past predictions haven't been particularly useful.

" His past predictions haven't been particularly useful. "

Yes, unless functioning units exist and it's just a transportation issue, it seems that we're back to square one.