I've picked through the Pioneer Elite 84 manual at some length and haven't seen anything there regarding 7.1 processing that isn't already implemented in the 990 and 1070/970 (excluding THX modes and HDMI audio input, of course).

The Model 990 is built by Etronics and based on an Etronics platform (the Sherwood P-965). It is possible that next generation of Outlaw gear could be built by Etronics as well, in which case it's likely that the platform being developed for the Sherwood receiver would be used by Outlaw. That still doesn't change the fact that I doubt Sherwood can get their receiver onto shelves by August. Outlaw also has a long-standing relationship with Eastech (their partner for the 1070/970), so it's impossible to say that Outlaw's eventual HDMI v1.3 offerings will come from Etronics' assembly line.