Hello Everybody. After reading Gonk's review of the BDP-93, I get the feeling what it must have felt like to be one of Pavlov's dogs.

But with recent early retirement decisions finally coming to fruition, my thoughts are the trusty BDP-83 works and suits us just fine. There is no need for the 93. And the same can be said about the 990. I've had it 4 years and to me it's in mid life. It's still struttin' it's stuff.

However, the Mrs. would love Netflix streaming to the theater. I got the video squared away using an upgraded video card on a Compaq Presario (old) but at this point, I don't know what to do about the sound. Shoot, I don't even know if Netflix's streaming offers surround sound. Truth be told, the surround won't matter to her. But it does to me. :-)

Any suggestions on getting sound out of the computer to the 990 using the stock sound card (for now) will be greatly appreciated. And any suggestions on a surround sound card for a future upgrade will also be appreciated.

Thanks,
Frank

That old Compaq probably has a USB port, which could be connected to the 990's USB input. It's limited to stereo since the 990's USB port only accepts PCM stereo, but it basically turns the 990 into your computer sound card. If the two are too far away for that to work, you could also get one of the new OAW3 wireless gadgets and use it as a wireless audio bridge between the output of the sound card and any free stereo input on the Model 990, but I'm guessing the PC is close enough to the theater to get video to the TV and therefore probably close enough for a USB cable to reach the 990.

As for surround, that's a little more limited to begin with. Prior to last October, surround wasn't available at all. The PS3 firmware update in late October that allowed Netflix support without a disc also added support for surround - if the program offered surround. Support for surround is said to be trickling down to other clients, but I haven't seen a particularly good guide to how that is progressing. The [url=http://www.roku.com/[Roku boxes[/url] may eventually start supporting surround for the Netflix streams that offer it, but I don't think it's happened yet. Once it did, you'd need to top model to get one with an optical output ($100). The AppleTV could do the same thing (and for the same price), but again you'd need AppleTV's Netflix client to get updated. Netflix hasn't given a time table for when they plan to expand 5.1 support beyond the PS3, and even then the number of titles that offer 5.1 is apparently pretty limited. Stereo (with PLIIx if you want) is pretty much it for Netflix streaming audio, and probably will be for some time to come.

Thanks for the information. Yes, the computer is right next to the set up. I could get it closer to the 990 if need be. I'll dig around and see what I can come up with in regard to a USB cable. There's a bag I've kept over the years which is cable purgatory. I don't throw anything away so there's bound to be one in there somewhere.

It's interesting what you said about surround sound and it's limits when it comes to streaming. She will be happy with whatever I come up with. Thanks again.

As a side note, I recently picked this up at Newegg,a FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player for $44.99 (it may be discontinued there, but should be other sites). It works perfectly with the 990 (thru optical input)...I go HDMI straight from media player to TV...and just do the sound thru 990. Player (for Netflix) is hooked up thru wireless router.