mstmorse et al., let me try this one more time.
(Can you tell I am a new user to forums?)

Anyway, I used to work for the company that makes the DSP that is in the 950, 970, 990 and 1070, so I have a little bit of insight as to what might be going on here.

I have yet to upgrade my unit which was purchased in early February and have only once experienced an audio drop out issue on the Scientific Atlanta Digital STB using the optical TOSLINK connector into Optical 1 on the 970. To correct this, I simply changed the HDTV channel and then changed back and audio came back. (Polling was enabled).

When you reloaded the FW, you say that the audio drop outs seem to have dissapeared, which is consistant with what the beta site testers have all reported. I assume that you have not changed any of the user adjustable initial factory DSP mode settings for each input and audio type, right?

To this I mean, you did not go into the menu and re-assign your preferred DSP modes per audio input type (e.g. when a stream is Dolby Digital 2/0.0, 2/0.1, 2/2.0, 2/2.1, 3/2.0, 3/2.1 (no EX encoding), the factory defaults should be Dolby Digital + Dolby Pro Logic IIx - Cinema) after the unit was upgraded.

I plan to upgrade my 970 this week and have a look at this issue in more detail.

Also, has anyone had this issue using solely analog inputs (which deliver Linear PCM to the DSP) when switching from one source to another source?

Next, has anyone had any issue changing from one source (which has a digital input) to another source (which has a digital input) where the audio data type is identical? This means, if you have a Roku Soundbridge (or some other type of digital audio source), it should be outputting linear PCM. If you have a DVD player and play a CD it will also be sending linear PCM to the 970. Do you experience and audio drop out in this scenario?

Next test is to change channels on a the digital STB (Cable or Satellite) which is sending out Dolby Digital 2/0.0 or Dolby Digital 3/2.1, staying with the same source and digital input (either Optical 1/2/3/4 or Coaxial 1/2/3/4). Do you experience and audio drop out in this scenario?

Lastly, please connect a DVD player that allows you to change the audio stream in real-time (some players allow this, some don't). What I mean by this, is put in a DVD that carries say two or three different audio types (a type is AC-3 (a.k.a Dolby Digital), DTS, or Linear PCM). Does not matter the channel config of the stream type or extension. Change the stream type on the DVD player so that it selects a Dolby Digital stream, then a DTS stream, then a Linear PCM stream. Not all DVDs offer all three (if fact it is rare), but most have at least 1 Dolby Digital track (DVD forum mandate) and DTS track (Steven Speilberg mandate...just kidding).

By changing these audio input types WITHOUT changing the source input, please let me know if you get an audio drop out.

To anyone on the forum wishing to help debug this issue:

Please indicate if you have the new FW or the old FW.

Please indicate if you have Auto Poll enabled or not.

Please indicate which source you are using and which digital input.

Please indicate the audio type and associated DSP mode that the unit was in when the "no-audio" issue happens.

Please indicate if you have changed ANY of the factory settings and if you have, please indicate which settings you changed.

With this detailed information, the Outlaws should be able to get to the bottom of this problem and issue a new FW fix in no time.

The main catch with these types of sticky FW issues is that for some people the repeatability of this problem is 100%, for others, it has taken them weeks to find this issue (in fact 8 people Beta tested this code for 3 weeks and no one found the issue, in addition to the extensive QA test that it went through at the factory).

The more repeatable the problem, the easier it is to find, replicate and repair. If the problem is not easily repeatable by all parties, reporting this kind of feedback is critical.

Thank you all for your feedback.