The Oppo BDP-95 obviously has a better video processor in the Marvell Qdeo over the 978's Anchor Bay processor (similar to the Oppo BDP-83). That aspect doesn't bother me as I have an Oppo BDP-83 ... When you're playing Blu-ray material, video processing becomes much less of a factor as it's a format that essentially plays the same on all BD players, unlike DVD with all its video processing requirements (de-interlacing, DNR, upconverting to 1080P, etc.)
Actually both of the Oppo's have the same Marvell Qdeo video processor which I have read was picked because it does a better job of processing streamed video. I am also not clear that the Outlaw is using the same Anchor Bay processor (of which there are/were several) as the 83. As you pointed out the issue so much isn't Blu-Ray as it is all of the other video sources (e.g. cable, satellite, streaming) where it appears that the Outlaw will be relatively lacking.
As for the DACs, Outlaw hasn't explicitly mentioned which model number from the ESS Sabre DAC family they're using. I hope it's the ES9018 from ESS' Reference line (the Oppo BDP-95 uses two of those - one for stereo and a second for multi-channel), otherwise as you said, I'll be disappointed.
My desire was always to have the best DACs and video processing possible in the prepro so that corners could be cut elsewhere.
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