I'm bummed and excited at the same time. I have posted before that, given the AVS Forum's reports on the R-972, I was very reticent to buy the 997 until the bugs had been worked out. It sounds like Outlaw has full control over this one and it sounds like the engineering/development process is moving along. I'm curious when the 998 will actually be released. The email says they will "introduce" the 998 this year.

Other things that come to mind for me: what DACs will be used? Will the DACs in the BDP-83SE be a model for the 998 (not that I'm a DAC expert)? What video processor will be used? Sounds like they weren't too pumped about the Reon chip. Will there be a Trinnov mic input on the front of the unit? And last but not least, how much more than the 997 will we have to fork over for all this pleasure?

As a side note, it is time to update the web site and the forum. Can't wait to see the 997 forum move to the archives (I'd prefer to block it from my memory ) and the 998 forum move to the top of the list!