I'm surprised it has height, because this device is designed to do the bass management in an analog setup (i.e. using the analog outs of a BD player). There are no players that output anything more than 7.1 (what's on the disc).
With the variable output this could function very well as a multi-channel pre-amp for someone wanting to go and stay analog right out of the player. The player would need to be able to do channels trims, and delay, though. (My Pioneer DVD player does both, and suffers from pretty poor bass management.)
Still, I'd rather use HDMI to a full-function receiver.
I am quite surprised that Outlaw, although in an updated form, has decided to resurrect this particular design. Prior to owning an HDMI equipped AVR, I had an ICBM-1 that was designed for primarily getting the most out of DVD players that had SACD and DVD Audio capabilities. It provided much superior and versatile bass management in the analog domain than what was available in the players themselves. HDMI connections pretty much eliminated that requirement and the ICBM-1 really didn't stay around that long.
I am only assuming here with some of the "juiced-up" analog circuitry of players like the forthcoming Oppo BDP95 and others, there seems to be a demand for analog connections. I would only hope the circuitry on this new model is superior to the previous, since, as good as it was, the ICBM-1 did add some noticeable noise to the signal path.
