The more I look at the front panel, the more I like it. That being said...

Is it just me or does the back panel of the 978 look just as sparse as the front?
There are five analog video inputs (three component + two composite)(not including the mandatory but arbitrary front panel composite+stereo RCA in), but only three analog stereo audio inputs. How exactly will I connect five analog AV devices, if such a need were to appear?
I have an antenna connected to my TV as well as a U-verse box connected to my receiver (sorry, NFL games still look better OTA here); the TV analog stereo outs use one set of ins on my current receiver. If I were to use this setup with the 978, I'm down to two legacy devices (presuming the 7.1 analog ins cannot be mapped to regular stereo ins). After AirTunes and Wii, I'm fresh out of analog ins. What about my DreamCast? I know that such a setup may be a bit of a stretch, but why include legacy inputs at all in that case?

Further, I have no devices that have 7.1 analog output that don't also have HDMI; I know some of you old fogeys have SACD or DVD-A players, but just sell them and get an OPPO already, I need more back panel space for additional HDMIs and more balanced outs!

Five HDMI inputs seems less than optimal or expected in a contemporary pre amp, although It seems that most of us would be hard pressed to really need more than five.

To the outputs: needless to say, most of us were at least hoping for, if not expecting, 9.x output; maybe the rec1 and/or rec2 can act as heights and/or wides? Wishful thinking here, boss.

While the back panel looks easy to navigate, I'd imagine that people buying Outlaw products have a pretty good sense of how to connect their devices; if you buy Outlaw, you're not also shopping WalMart or BestBuy for preamps or receivers. Outlaws buyers know the score and can likely handle a complex rear panel, no?

Maybe it's just me, but I've been wanting to move to separates, and have been waiting for the 978 to drop, hoping that it would leave a trail of 9.x breadcrumbs to the 998. If the 998 has the same feature set as the 978, excepting Trinnov, I'll be more than a little disappointed in the lack of 9.x or 11.x; the strange input issues aside, the output may be a deal breaker for me.

Even with all the goofy iterations of HDMI, it looks to me like the promise of HDMI is evident on the back panel of the 978. Comparing the back panels of the 990 and the 978 reveals rather striking differences. Gone is the column of S-Video and composite connections as well as their corresponding stereo inputs on the 990 replaced by a few, but adequate number, of these inputs (no S-Video) on the 978. Eliminating those connections freed up a lot of space.

I was a bit surprised by the lack of two things on the 978. There is no component video output or USB on the back panel. It wasn't all that long ago that flat panel TVs only had component inputs so some may miss that output on the 978. I imagine this has to do with the video processing in the 978. Lastly, I have a USB cable plugged in to my 990 for the occasions when I hook my laptop up to my HT for iTunes playback. It would be nice to not see the cable draped across the front of the 978. Regardless, I don't think these omissions are deal killers.

Now that we have a working sample of the 978 in for initial testing, can we get dimensions of the new model? This seems pretty knowable for Outlaw at this point.

Six digital audio inputs, which can be paired with some or all of those analog video sources. I have a couple analog video sources without digital audio output, but most offer coaxial, optical, or both.


Consider optical out from your TV. What device do you use for AirTunes? If it's the Airport Express, it also has an optical output. In both cases, optical allows you to benefit from the 978's DAC without a cheap (literally pennies in parts cost, probably) analog section upstream of it. That means you just have the Wii and DreamCast that still need to use stereo analog inputs.


My OPPO still uses 7.1 analog connections, although I also use HDMI for testing at times.


What happened with a lot of Model 950 and Model 990 owners was that those processors represented people's first move from stereo to multichannel. There were Outlaw customers who knew a good bit about the stereo days, but nothing about surround. There's also the KISS principle - build a product that works well, sounds good, and gets the primary job done, and it doesn't need to have a bunch of clutter just for the sake of clutter.

Maybe they'll a) go 9.2/11.2 with the 998, b) forget the Trinnov and stick with Audyssey and c) make it Audyssey Pro-ready ...

Jeff

I made no reference to digital inputs. I couldn't be happier with 6 digital ins, but that's outside the scope of my original post.



Why didn't I think of that? Oh that's right no digital out on my TV, hence my post about 'analog stereo ins'.



I would use the digital optical with AirPort Extpress, but Zone 2 is analog only in my receiver, and according to the answer you gave to my question about digital in zone 2, the chances of that happening in the 978/998 are nil.



Nope, as noted, digital inputs don't fit into this equation, thus omitted from my original post. To be fair though, I don't even have a Dreamcast, it was just an example to show that I may want/need a fourth.



Why not just use the HDMI, I would ask. I know my tone to this point may seem a bit sharp, but I would sincerely like an answer to that.



I wouldn't call matching five stereo ins to five analog video ins "clutter for the sake of clutter"; if these omissions were made in order to include a couple of extra balanced outs, or another hdmi or two, I'd be silent and happy. That's not the case.

Jeff, while your post above hints at an answer, have you indeed heard yet from Audyssey whether the installer kit can interface with an AVR/pre-pro through a USB port?

The ability to perform a MultEq Pro calibration is not nearly as important to me as it obviously is to you but it's something I might consider in the future with the 978, if the option exists.

Gonk, thank you for being so helpful AND polite. Some days it just doesn't pay to respond.

If my wry sense of humor comes across as less than polite, I'll apologize, immediately and sincerely. I always write the same way I speak, and often forget that my tone of voice and ludicrous facial expressions that allow for some interpretation don't translate at all on message boards. I guess that what the emoticons are for, but I find them daft looking.
I do appreciate any responses to any comments I make, including XenonMans (presumably) tongue in cheek response. I remembered Gonk's quick and insightful response to my question about digital 2nd zone, and even sourced him in my response.
No harm I hope.

Unusual, but not unheard of. That does limit your options.


This brings up an interesting question. If they've reduced the number of stereo inputs but retained the second zone, might they have provided a separate stereo DAC for the second zone? It would be a first for Outlaw, which is why I (and probably others) wouldn't expect it, but times are changing. I've been wrong before, after all - I could be wrong here again.


For most players, I recommend HDMI. It gives you access to room correction, bass management, AV sync adjustment, and lots of other useful DSP functions. It's also convenient - after all, you're likely using HDMI for video anyway, so the cabling is the height of simplicity and you've already been saddled with HDCP. For some players, though, the analog section may justify using an analog signal path all the way to the speakers. The BDP-95 is such a player. Heck, the BDP-83 (a generation older, half the price, and using Cirrus DACs instead of the BDP-95's ESS DACs) sounded at least as good via analog through the Onkyo PR-SC885 as via HDMI through the 885 - even though the HDMI path included Audyssey.