David,

If you still looking for an alternative, perhaps the Sherwood Newcastle R-872 is worth a try. It supports HDMI 1.3a and decodes TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. Personally, I wouldn't buy a new receiver at this stage of the game without HDMI 1.3a support and support for the new codecs. Sherwood Newcastle also has a decent reputation for audio sound quality. I believe it's listed around $1000.

If you re-configure your cable box/satellite box to use the analog outputs does this help at all with the lock-ups? Just wondering if you can get your system in a usable state until the next round of Outlaw products come out...who knows, maybe they'll offer some sort of a trade-up program.

Good luck,
-John