I could be mistaken, but I think the Yammy 663's "blacker than black" issue is really a deep color issue. If this is the case, then (just like communism) it is a red-herring. For deep color to make any difference to your set-up, each the source material, the player (DVD or STB), the receiver, the cable and the monitor all have to be deep color compatible. Since most monitors are not deep color capable, and no source material yet exists in deep color, this shouldn't be an issue.
I have only heard great things about the 663. 2 HDMI 1.3a inputs (1 out), "up conversion" (in native fomat) to HDMI (providing a single umbilical solution to the monitor for all sources) all the current decoders, plenty of power, etc. - all make it fairly future proof.
I'll do a bit more research on this video issue, but I am in the middle of putting together another HT for a buddy and was going with the 663 after some research. I'll let you know what I find out.
