Not a deal breaker for me, either, but I probably would use it, especially for the things you mention, even if there are well-known alternatives for the first two. And over time, I think I would miss the option of bi-directional network control, for which the 978 offers no alternative (see the Emotiva XMC-1, for comparison).

Things have changed since the Model 978 was first announced; I suspect that the lack of a network connection will be a sore spot for many.

Agreed. And as this extended release delay drags on, their feature set is only going to look even more "stale" when compared to competing equipment in the same price range. Time is not Outlaw's friend in the fast moving world of home theater processors. By comparison, the 990 was a bit ahead of the curve at the time of its release, but it hasn't been able to remain feature competitive now that we're **SEVEN** years into its product life cycle pending the always over the horizon release of its successor.

It might turn out to be more financially prudent for them to simply concede the race and continue selling processors from other companies while they focus on gear where they can differentiate themselves.

Best,

Can't agree with this... network connections don't become obsolete. As new services become available, they can simply be implemented (or not) with firmware.

If the pre/pro manufacturer doesn't offer a network service you want, you are free to add an HDMI-connected device which does.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

In my way of thinking source components are a better natural home for the kinds of content oriented services that often change their terms / offerings.

While I certainly don't deny that certain amounts of convenience can be had by incorporating an Ethernet port for firmware updates, the overhead of having to build in circuitry and code to make these seldom used options a reality are not enough to make me say it is that much better than a USB connection.

Finally if your desire is to have some kind of "digital hub" it is my contention that such a product is fundamentally different than an audio- centric pre-pro. Beleive me I know that the range of products that purport to enable you to stream content to multiple zones in your home in relative fidelity / ease are far larger than the handful of products that actually fulfill this promise. I doubt those are waters the Outlaws would currently find profitable to dive into...

Originally Posted By: renov8r

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

In my way of thinking source components are a better natural home for the kinds of content oriented services that often change their terms / offerings.

While I certainly don't deny that certain amounts of convenience can be had by incorporating an Ethernet port for firmware updates, the overhead of having to build in circuitry and code to make these seldom used options a reality are not enough to make me say it is that much better than a USB connection.

Finally if your desire is to have some kind of "digital hub" it is my contention that such a product is fundamentally different than an audio- centric pre-pro. Beleive me I know that the range of products that purport to enable you to stream content to multiple zones in your home in relative fidelity / ease are far larger than the handful of products that actually fulfill this promise. I doubt those are waters the Outlaws would currently find profitable to dive into...

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I looked at source components as a streaming hub but they didn't seem to offer all the codecs I was interested in using. Many of them offered quite a few just not the ones I deemed best suited me. They are limited on input output ports

I also looked into very nice DAC's but LAN ports on these seem to be rare. Inputs are few and I need to stream audio and video and I am not sure they will, I gave up quickly when I had a hard time finding reasonable priced DAC's with LAN ports.

HTPC seemed to be the ticket but audio fidelity was always a question. After many hours of research and a great deal of discussion on audio forums I didn't feel comfortable with a motherboard, processor, sound card combination I felt would do the job. Everyone agreed that it really came down to the dac that was in the HTPC.
And if I was just passing digital data through the HTPC why would I need it?

Really the only component to stream digital data that makes sense in a relatively high end "home theater / audio system" is the brain of that system, the pre/pro or AVR. Fundamentally it is the perfect choice.


The pre/pro already has a high end DAC, It processes digital and analog information, it has a ton of inputs many digital and I can access my music with ease. The pre/pro is already playing in the DA playground how hard could it be to add LAN to it. I am not sure why my computer or my NAS would be any different then any other digital component other then the number of codec's they are capable of running.

I cant remember if I read or watched this on TV but the CEO of Samsung talked about his company. He said that in 5 to 10 years all digital media will be streamed through the internet.
If you buy it or rent it chances are you will stream it. There is already more music bought and downloaded on the internet then sold in stores.

Blockbusters, Hollywood Video, Hastings are all but gone around here. I really don't care about streaming directly from the internet. I am more concerned about streaming very high quality from my NAS or computer.

P.S these last several posts are a yes to my question right? "The 978 will not have a LAN port for sure." Sorry still willing to wait if there is a chance. lol

Tracy

Well I just found the post that said no network ports. Man I was really looking forward to this pre/pro.

I am sure it will be awesome, good luck Guys.

Tracy

Tracy: I am in complete agreement with your comments about having the ability to stream digital media in the pre/pro.

With streaming ability in many bluray players built in and also the ability to decode almost anything (OPPO) why duplicate that function in a processor? You are already going to pay a big chunk of moola for a processor

I don't have an OPPO. In any case, OPPO's players(along with many others) don't support iTunes. I have burned all of my CD's using iTunes and Apple Lossless Compression. My alternative with Outlaw is to spend around $225 for a second Logitech Squeezebox. On the other hand that functionality comes with many networked pre/pros and AVR (e.g. Marantz AV7005).

Originally Posted By:XenonMan

I agree with Renov8r!! Processors should attempt to become universal connections for support devices such as streaming.
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I couldn't agree with you more I think that is exactly what pre/pro's should be.

The only difference between us is I see the LAN as just another digital port to hook up my streaming devices, like my NAS or my computer.

The OPPO to me is a work around as far as digital steaming. It is very affective and it works fine but why have it in the source component when it really should be in the universal connection component the pre/pro.

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Originally Posted By:XenonMan

With streaming ability in many bluray players built in and also the ability to decode almost anything (OPPO) why duplicate that function in a processor? You are already going to pay a big chunk of moola for a processor
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I cant believe that the addition of a LAN port would increase the cost of a pre/pro very much.
The parts are cheap just look on some of the computer build it yourself sites and you will see. Now multiply that by 5, 10, 15 thousand units and you could probably pay pennies on the dollar.

Software might be spendy but I would think it is pretty simple. Now R&D is expensive but again 5 or 10 thousand units evens that out.

Others have done it at low price points like Marantz and maybe the new Emotive.

I also believe that adding this port to the 978 would only delay the release by 6 months and I for one am willing to wait...lol

Tracy