There were two things that I liked about the XMC-1.

1) The specifications included a listing of at least some of the specific component chips.

2) The use of a Linux system for the ARC software. Of course Gonk will tell me that such a system would not be used for audio processing.

I am also worried that the 978 apparently is already running out of memory. It seems like my concern from March 2010 about memory and the 978 were valid. I won't be surprised if the 978 ends up losing some functionality as a result.
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Living Room 24x18 open 1/2 flight up to a raised dining room/hall 24x12
Outlaw 976 pre-pro running 5.1 system
Outlaw 750 for Artison Masterpiece LCR and 2 NHT SuperZeros rears
Velodyne Servo FX-1200
LG OLED65C8PUA via HDMI2 to/from 976 HDMI ARC
Roku Ultra
Samsung BD-D5500 BluRay
Amazon FireStick 4K to 976 Aux HDMI input for Amazon Music Ultra