What the current situation (with Outlaw, SN and, honestly, the rest of the consumer audio industry at present) tells me is that these pre/pros and receivers are becoming profoundly complicated pieces of digital circuity.
This is a very true statement. I think it's very telling that both Lexicon and Anthem have elected to basically refine, rehash, and revise a single platform in an effort to stay current with the changes. It's also telling that both companies have raised the price of their processors by 50% to 100% along the way.
Perhaps the consumer HT industry needs to start rethinking it's "planned obsolescence" strategy of introducing new formats, circuits, processing modes, and connectors to motivate buyers to replace their equipment. If they don't, it will become impossible for anyone to get out hardware in a timely way. (Note that the video console industry is starting to think this way. It appears that the PS3 and Xbox 360 may have extended lifespans, compared to the five-year cycle that has been the norm.)
I've been thinking about this lately, too. We've reached a point where the level of complexity (both setup and even just reading the feature list) is almost a limiting factor for the average consumer. The industry
needs to pause and evaluate where it is. I don't have much faith that it actually will (the push for 3D certainly shows no signs of that), but I think both manufacturers and consumers could benefit from a little thoughtful assessment of the situation...
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