There is a unfortunate limitation of the 975 that prevents me from utilizing all 4 HDMI inputs.

I have two devices connected to the two coax digital inputs on the 975. However the 975 only has five logical inputs. By logical input I am referring to (TV, DISC, VIDEO, GAME and AUX). Since I have to allocate two logical inputs to the coax connected devices, I only have three logical inputs left to allocate to HDMI devices. So I am unable to utilize all 4 HDMI inputs. This is frustrating since I assume the number of logical inputs is merely a software limitation not the hardware.

As a result I have had to add an outboard HDMI switch in order to connect all of my devices.

I do hope Outlaw fixes this in the upcoming 976 so I will be able to use all of its HDMI inputs.

Any pre-pro or AV receiver has a set # of inputs. It would be a hardware issue, depending on the switching chip set used.
More inputs = more-$

I don't understand why more hardware is needed - the hardware has to already be there to switch all of the physical inputs. Adding a logical input does not change that. I don't need any more physical inputs - I just need to be able to use the inputs that are available. Adding another logical input just tells the software which physical input to enable.

It is the same as if I went into setup and changed the physical input associated with one of the current logical inputs. For example: If I changed the logical input GAME from using the physical input COAX1 to use physical input HDMI4 - there is no change in the hardware when that association is changed.

I was referring to the set # of inputs that you can associate with either of the 5 logical inputs. Each available input has choices yes, as does the Aux input which defaults to analog. So, I guess you're right, they could've had more, but what would the other ones have a default for? Coax, Optical, other analog? The point I was thinking about was the inputs they have all have some set default available that can be assigned something else. Extra input choices wouldn't have anything specific for that input for default. The unit's that do have more, cost more.

Due to the limitations of copy protection and the desire of most people to be able to connect their vintage analog equipment and tie them to the HDMI copy protected inputs the usable number of inputs is generally limited to the number of HDMI ports. The target of the industry is to allow analog as long as it stays analog but once it goes digital it can't go back to analog unless it is controlled via hardware.

I have to disagree. First off all of my inputs are digital. Also I have two Yamaha receivers with *many* more logical inputs than HDMI inputs for exactly the purpose I have outlined. Some of those inputs default to using digital audio inputs (coax and toslink). I have no interest in converting analog to digital. Further the coax inputs I use are for audio only - no video at all. I just want to take advantage of the high quality DACs in the 975.

I don't understand your point about copy protection as the rules for converting analog video to HDMI signals are very well defined. Further most high end AV receivers and processors provide for analog video (component or composite) to HDMI conversion following these rules.

It isn't analog to digital that the copy protection is meant to prevent. It tries to prevent the conversion of digital to analog signal as a source signal. For instance if you want to tape record a CD from a player you can't do it through HDMI but you can do it via a CD player with analog output through a tape loo on some receivers.

I am not trying to get a line level output of a digital source. My situation remains that I am trying to use the processor exactly as designed - to convert a standard digital signal (coax or toslink) to analog for output to amplifiers then speakers. This is how I have the 975 configured - just at the cost of using up a logical input. Any copy protection rules will be enforced across all logical inputs, so I don't see how providing additional logical inputs compromises copy protection in any way. If the 975 had AUX2 and AUX3 logical inputs that provided configuration options just like AUX then I would have no problem at all.

I understand your situation but the 975 is what it is, a quality processor at a fair price. There are many processors out there with many more digital inputs and some of them can be used as separates.

Otter, Xenon is right. Accepting fewer logical inputs is part of the trade off of using the 975. It's a low priced option and that's one of the reasons. It looks like the upcoming 976 is going to offer more. I think there's like a dozen input buttons near the top of the remote but we'll have to wait and see what the specs are on that. If you need more, you'll get a discount on the price for owning the 975 and then you could probably sell your 975 to help recoup some of the cost of the upgrade.

I'm mulling over doing that for the 976's big brother in another year or two. Right now the main issue I have is the same as you, I'd like to have a couple more logical inputs available. I accepted that limitation when I bought the 975, though. At the time I really didn't need any more but I have a couple of additions to our cache of devices and would like to be able to assign them all their own inputs. We don't have a 4k TV yet and there's not much likelihood of us putting in Atmos in the immediate future so upgrading isn't a requirement for me yet. It's definitely on my wish list, though!