Anyone know whether or when the 976 will be available? My 950 stopped working late last year and I've been waiting for the 976 release.

The update on January 24th said it would be available late spring. We were supposed to stand by for more updates in February but...NADA. They were in the process of beta testing so maybe something came out of that. Outlaw has been very tight lipped about these processors but the promised update is 3 weeks late at this point.

Please remember that today is the first day of Spring. Currently we are awaiting the HDMI certification. As soon as that is complete, before the end of the month, production will begin. Pending no final issues, everything is still on track for the Model 976 to be ready by the end of Spring.

XenonMan must be on an accelerated calendar

I was referring to the promised UPDATE which has arrived as of today.

What is involved in the certification process?

Do units have to be sent to every entity who's name ends up silk screened on the front panel? If so I could see certifications being a drawn out PITA.

Probably not for previously proven technology but for new items like Atmos and DTS/x or for some room correction systems it is likely a requirement that those systems get certed to perform the way they are supposed to. It should actually pretty straight forward as long as the tech is being used within the bounds of what it is intended for.

With only a few items to certify before production I wonder if Outlaw would release the 976 manual.

I'd guess not. If something ends up needing to be changed or if, for some reason, the certification should fail, they don't want to have copies with bad information floating around out there if it can be avoided. There may also be legal ramifications of releasing material claiming certifications you don't actually have yet.

Give us a manual with "DRAFT - Subject to Change", or something similar on all pages. (Preferably in the background like a watermark.) Easy to do in WORD and Acrobat - done it many times for preliminary document releases. If we are still 2 - 3 months from product release, give us Outlaw junkies something to muse over as we anticipate the big day and warm-up our Visa cards. OK - how about an update on the specs with details (i.e., the manual specs pages) and maybe a dozen Hi-Rez pics inside and out. Something? (Yes, as all good gear-heads young and old, we are exceedingly impatient.)