i was thinking of hooking up my 970 so I wouldn't be able to use the On Screen Display from my 970. reason being, for wire asethics. am i giong to by losing a lot by not utilizing the 970 OSD feature?

It's certainly not necessary to have access to the OSD. You can operate the 970's menu through the front panel display, although having the menu on screen is a little more convenient.

I'd agree with Gonk. The OSD is not absolutely necessary but it is a bit more convenient. My DVD player and DVR both use HDMI so I connected the 'Video 1' monitor out to a spare composite video input on my TV. If I need to recalibrate or make adjustments, I just switch to Video 1.

when i change the volume or surround mode on the 970 would it show up on my plasma with the OSD?

You would only get the "pop-ups" (volume change, input change) when using composite or s-video inputs. That information is not overlayed onto component or DVI inputs.

would it say what the current volume is, or simple that it has changed? if i change surround mode, does it say what the current mode is, or simply that it has been changed?

I haven't used a 970, but I believe that it's very similar to the 950 that I used to own. Of course, I disabled the "pop-ups" as soon as the feature was added. If you are using a composite or s-video input, a message would appear on screen showing the current volume any time the volume was changed. Likewise, any time you change inputs or surround modes, there would be a duplicate of the front panel information shown on the bottom of the TV. There are some examples on page 12 of the manual to let you see what it would look like. This is all dependent on using a composite or s-video source, of course, and if you are running a plasma then the only such sources are likely to be older gear like VCR's and LD players, older game consoles, camcorders, and maybe something like the SMS-1. DVD players, HD cable/satellite boxes, and such devices are going to either use component or DVI/HDMI instead. In my case, the only video source currently hooked up to my system using composite or s-video is my SMS-1 (although my old Dreamcast would also be hooked up that way if I still had it in the system) - my old VCR goes straight to the DVD-R.

On the 970, the OSD works with no source. Like Gonk, all of my devices are HDMI/DVI except for my SMS-1, but my SMS-1 is currently hooked directly up to my TV (scrolling picture when fed through the 970).

I've got nothing going into Video 1 and the Video 1 monitor out attached to a spare input on my TV.

This is only useful for calibration and making adjustments to system settings, but I am an unrepentant tweaker so it works for me.