Hello,

First, I never expected my question to start such heated, well maybe lukewarm, debate.

Some of the initial comments regarding the lack of the ability to rename inputs was ‘not an issue’, I can certainly appreciate your opinion. Everyone has their ‘desires’. I for one, have no desire for ATMOS, so the fact that the 976 doesn’t have it is ‘not an issue’ for me. However, being forced into the existing input naming options is.

Also, if I am about to spend close to $1000 for a new surround sound processor and it doesn’t have a feature that my 14 year old current processor does, it kind of feels like stepping backwards.

I certainly agree that audio and video quality is the most important, however based on my searching there seem to be many devices that have this, although they also seem to come with their own ‘warts’. Things like receivers that have amps I don’t want, tons more inputs I don’t need, or higher cost.

I have never owned a piece of Outlaw Audio equipment but was drawn to the brand, among others, based on favorable comments seen on the web. They do seem like a company that I would like to deal with, assuming they have a product that meets my needs/desires.

With regards to the comments that a programable input name would require a keyboard, I disagree. Changing the name of inputs is not something that would be done often (if ever again after the initial setup). It could be done with an up/down button that scrolled through the alphabet and numbers, a right/left button to go to the next/previous character, and an ‘ok’ button to select. This could be done on the front panel if it was too much trouble to do through the remote. Again, this is not something that would be done often. I don’t need it to have to be displayed on the OSD while being entered.

Some people have stated something along the lines of ‘I can remember that ‘disc’ is actually the Roku, or Game is actually my turntable’ and yes, I may eventually be able to remember this However, I also have family members that are not as tech savvy. I also know that I could program my Harmony remote button to say ‘Roku’ but when the front panel of the 976 shows up as ‘disc’, I can easily foresee my family calling me with ‘Dad/Honey, somethings wrong. I agree with another poster that Input 1, Input 2, etc would be better than the current input names available (assuming your actual input devices are not exactly what the unit offers as options). In my opinion it would be easier to correlate/associate “Input 1” with ‘Roku’ than say “Cable/Sat”.

I understand that the ‘flagship’ model may have this functionality, however I am sure it is going to be outside my price range, not to mention it is going to have features I don’t need (or want).

The intent of my question was to find out if anyone had heard from the company (whether directly, via press releases, manuals, website, etc) if this was a functionality that could be offered at a later time or if their current design was such that there was no way to update the unit in this manner. I would certainly not expect them to make a hardware design change just to add this. It appears that no one has this info, which is fine, so I will contact them directly.

If I hear anything back from them, I will let you know.

Happy Listening and Viewing.