I've seen related issues reported in the saloon but nothing exactly like what I'm experiencing - any help would be appreciated. I'm running the FiOS Motorola STB box through my Outlaw 1070 to my Panasonic 50" (720p) plasma TV. I experience two repeatable issues:

1) Video format resets: Everytime I turn on the 1070, the output video format of the STB reverts to 480p from 720p. I can go in to the FiOS menus to change the video setting as a work around. This is isolated to the 1070 - if I bypass the 1070, the video format does not reset when the TV & STB are power-cycled.

2) Audio drift: When I access any FiOS menu, the volume level on the Outlaw will start drifting in the direction of the last volume change. For example, if I increase the volume, press 'Menu' on the FiOS remote, the volume setting on the 1070 increases on the front display panel and it gets loud in a hurry. Conversely, if I decrease the volume, press 'Menu' on the FiOS remote, the volume setting of the 1070 will decrease.

I have had my 1070 since December, 2005 and am running the firmware it was shipped with. Might updating the firmware help either of these issues? Does anyone else have experience with something similar?

Thanks in advance.

Hey Daveo,

I haven't been to the Saloon in quite some time but I have to go through the password recovery process to help a fellow 1070 owner.

To be honest, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with my 1070, but despite how it pisses me off, I always find myself trying to work it into my gear somehow despite it's bad behavior and it's lacking the inputs I would need to really support my needs today. But, I digress.

Re: 1, I have never experienced that issue. I don't have FiOS' STB though. I run a couple Tivos. Regardless the 1070 in my house has never run a STB over an HDMI/DVI cable and I'm curious how yours is hooked up. I am pretty sure the DVI is a pure pass-thru design so you might try a different video connection if possible, as a simple shot-in-the-dark try at fixing it (my favorite, albeit less efficient method of fixing things.)

Re: 2, I have in fact experienced this, on numerous occasions. To me this is the worst 1070 issue of all, only followed by a somewhat close 2nd place finish of the "brutal and random white noise attack" I've had when switching sources. The runaway volume is indeed quite fast and I learned (when my Outlaw was in everyday use) how quickly I could go from couch potato to ottoman-hurdling-olympian to get to the unit and kill it before things got real ugly. This is a confidence killer. I have never resolved this and it started I believe after my warranty was up.

I did a firmware update a couple years ago and for whatever reason, it did not go well. The update process has to remove the firmware that's on the unit, before it does any updating. My update failed after that removal, leaving me with a really gorgeous paperweight. (I still love the aesthetics of the Outlaw 990/1070/970's.) I had to pay to ship it back for a reflash and when I got it back my original problems were addressed (I had suffered the "no volume" issue as had many 1070 owners.)

However, as it clear at this point, I've suffered other problems. Including the ones above, I also recently resolved a set of issues that sort of happened at once. I was getting sluggish response from the controls (both remote and panel controls, same functions). I would be missing audio (not sure if this is related to the original no-volume problem) after input switching, and volume control in general was very skitzy. (i.e. my input to the volume knob seemed to be ill-received and spotty, have some unpredictable and at times scary results.) This latest bout of unpredictability though, was fixed when I rememberd the RESET button on the back panel. I applied this yesterday and it's behaving again.

In general I would tell you that you should reset your system, and additionally, shut off "Auto-Polling" on whatever input is configured to talk to the STB in your setup. Auto-polling causes the 1070 to have to switch it's processing on the fly and I feel that the unit functions much better when it's not switching. Anything.

God knows why I still have love for it. A lot has to do with the Saloon people I used to "see" more often than now. The Saloon seems quiet and I wonder if Outlaw is doing ok. I hope they are. But the industry as a whole seems to be suffering due to the economy and the cheaper goods coming from China.

I wish the company and the people here the best. I know I have the "VW Phaeton" of 7.1 receivers from the early-mid 2000's, but I still love it's design despite it's apparent software issues.

EDIT: I should mention that it's POSSIBLE that the volume-out-of-control issue may have been related to the auto-polling toggle, or a reset. Only time will tell for me but if my memory serves me, something I did seemed to cut out or at least reduce the frequency of these occurences.

Good luck.

PS: If Scott/Outlaw reads this, are 1070's still coming through the fix pipeline? And if so, no warranty fixes, are they really pricey for software bugginess? I no longer have my box so I know I can get a shipping container for a decent price from you. Just wondering if the fix will really resolve all the issues. That's part of why I never sent it back, because it didn't quite go as planned last time. Nonetheless, still a supporter.

I experience the same problem as #1 above but with a Motorola HD box with RCN service. It's driving me nuts. I tried to have the box stay on all the time but it is obviously the Outlaw where I'm having the issue. No solution yet.