WMAPro?

Are there any plans to add WMAPro to the 990? Here are the feature sets which I am currently looking for in a pre-processor, which are greatly limiting my selection.

1. DVI or HDMI + HDCP switching.
2. WMAPro over digital support.
3. Auto Parametric EQ.

And of course, excellent quality. But those three items are what I'm waiting for before I will buy a new processor. I'm guessing the 990 already has #1 (since it's just a signal pass through), and there are maybe plans to incorporate good #3 Auto-PEQ. But I don't know of any separates in my price range supporting #2. Finding all three of these appears to be impossible.

You are correct that the 990's DVI switching supports HDCP video over both DVI and HDMI. The 990's older cousin (the Sherwood P-965) recently added a Cirrus-based EQ, but Outlaw has not elected to follow suit in the 990 because they apparently aren't satisfied with the performance of that particular solution and don't want to do anything unless it is good enough that they'd be willing to use it themselves.

What source would you be using to feed the unit WMA files? If it were something like a DVD transport, most players that would allow for playback of the file would be outputting PCM anyway. If it were a PC sound card, you would again most likely be getting PCM as the digital output. In both scenarios, the 990 will work fine. If it were a network storage device or a shared folder on a PC, you'd need to have a surround processor that was network-capable and had the codecs for WMA, which I don't see happening with the 990 - that's probably going to best be handled with a standalone media server of some sort.

WMA and WMAPro will be coming out from HD-DVD sources.

In other words, I'd rather the pre-processor be handling the digital to analog conversion, rather than the source transport.

If it's for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, you'll be hard pressed to find anything today that could be expected to support it (the Anthem D2 and the hardware updates for the D1 and AVM-30 might since they'll have HDMI 1.1 support, but I'm not even sure for them).

One question that I would still ask about WMAPro (since it's tied to HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) is how the source is handling output of the signal - the best indications I've been able to find for DTS-HD, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby TrueHD are that those will be decoded inside the transport from the original digital bitstream to either a digital PCM signal that is fed to the HDMI output or a multichannel analog output (7.1) for the vast majority of users relying on today's receivers and processors. Unless something changes (which is always possible), the original bitstreams for DTS-HD, DD+, and Dolby TrueHD will not be allowed to leave the transport through any interface. Will WMAPro likewise be converted from a bitstream to PCM before hitting the HDMI output? If so, will that PCM also be available at coaxial and optical outputs?

My source(s) indicate that WMA/WMAPro will not always be converted to multichannel PCM before going out over HDMI. Additionally, because Windows Media DRM allows for differing output protection levels different movies may result in different behavior.

But that's a good point that you'll need to receive the audio over HDMI+HDCP anyway, if the audio must remain protected, which means you need an HDMI pre-processor.

I think HD content may actually make me stop watching domestic stuff all together; I've already stopped watching television. I'll just buy imports only.

I don't waste time on TV either. The kids watch it and I'll occasionally watch 24 or Battlestar Galactica (thank you, bittorrent) episodes from the net.

As for movies, I'm not about to upgrade all my equipment just to satisfy the paranoia of the movie/record studios. I just won't buy or rent content that is "broken." Hopefully, enough people will do this and HDCP will be the betamax of the coming decade...dying a slow/agonizing/irrelevant death. Hope springs eternal.

Cheers,