Airport Express vs. Apple TV pricing is typical Apple. They make you feel like it is a good deal to get their new product based upon their own pricing of older ones. My whole family has migrated to Apple and now we have an iMac, three MacBooks, countless iPods (classic, nano, Touch) and I use an Airport Express to connect my 990 to iTunes on the iMac or MacBook. I'd use the Airport Express should I get a 998 if it isn't wifi capable. It seems to me a wifi connection in a pre/pro would be very handy for firmware/software updates but mostly to stream audio and video. If Apple charges $99 for an Apple TV the hardware for the 998 should cost a lot less. Then again the $99 could be based upon the end user purchasing content and therefore be artificially low. Arrrgghhh.

I think the pricing is also partly a result of pressure from other products in the marketplace (like Roku's player). I doubt Outlaw could match the feature set of an AppleTV for $100, even when integrating it into an existing chassis. Unlike Apple, they can't count on profits from people spending money in the iTunes store to help recoup R&D costs.

I'd rather pay for sound and video quality as opposed to the latest gimmicky feature which becomes obsolete in a year. For any kind of media nothing beats a good HTPC which you can always tweak and upgrade. Alternatively, you can always get a cheap box like Popcorn Hour, Apple TV or Boxee Box which you can always recycle in a couple of years and replace with a new one. No half-baked feature built into a receiver will ever come close.

The only thing that I like is what Pioneer did with their latest networked receivers - you can install an app on your iPhone to use your iPhone as a receiver remote control. However, a small outfit like Outlaw IMHO does not have the money to develop something like this which is nice but superfluous.

Is there an actual public list of the features that will really be in the box? Does anyone know if it will use the same serial (or IP?) protocol as the 990?

There is this post which includes some details.

Don't know yet. In the past, they're retained some basic IR commands even when they had processors or receivers built by different manufacturing partners, but I don't know if the same would be true of serial protocols. I'm not even sure if they've said either way whether it'll have an RS232 port. (They might have said, but I've never had a reason to implement serial controls so I don't keep close track of it.)

I do home automation systems so good serial and/or IP control is a virtual necessity. (hint to anyone in power...).

Regarding the 978, I've already made known my request for Audyssey MultEQ XT32 (with bundled Sub EQ HT... all current implementations of XT32 include this) on the "Christmas" thread.

I would also like to see finer "granularity" in the available crossover frequencies for bass redirected from the sats to the sub, i.e. every 10 Hz from 40 Hz to 120 Hz (rather than every 20 Hz). So, if I get my way, the available crossover frequencies might be 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 150 and 200 Hz.

Perhaps the main issue I have with the Trinnov implementation in the SN R-972 is that if one tries to tweak crossover frequencies after Trinnov calibration, the entire room EQ and spatial optimization suite is disabled. Audyssey at least lets you do minor tweaks without penalty.

For the typical HT enthusiast, Trinnov is a little over the top. The Audyssey suite is pretty incredible for the typical user. I can't see how the Trinnov system would improve my system but I really wanted to try it out.

Any chance the 978 will have a phono stage?

In addition to the feature "suggestions" I made above (and I am adamant about their inclusion in the 978), I hope to see shallower cases on the 978/998 relative to the 990, which apparently was forced to share its enclosure with the SN R/P-965. There's simply no need for all that bulk in a pre/pro, which restricts rear access and precludes many installation options. No more than 16" deep including all front and rear projections, please.

Thanks.