Suggestions on a home theater processor?

I was just reading through another audio/video forum on the net, where it appears that Emotiva has bee taking preorders on UMC-1 since at least APRIL OF 2008!!!
Is this right?! Are you kidding me?! Wow. I'm sorry but that's almost 2 full years of holding onto other peoples money. Boggles the immagination...
Now there's a business model for a budding business! You take peoples money on a pre-order basis, and string the rease date out for years...then you invest the hell out of all that free cash your holding. Then, if you invested all that "house money" you're riding for free on at the right time, even doubling or tripple up your envestments (hint: Q1 2009 to now) you made a REAL killing! Then, when the public outcry gets too hot, you simply return all their money, and come up with an excuse as to why it never shipped, shut the doors, whatever.
I'm just sayin. It could happen...

"Another unit that you must consider is the soon-to-be-released UMC-1. Surf on over to the Emotiva.com website and see what all the fuss is about."

The UMC-1? What's that? Did this mythical creature ever even exist? I'm not certain it was ever intended to, honestly.
I personallly think it was mearly a marketing ploy to attract attention to the other, actual physically manifested pieces of audio gear in their product lineup. Cleaver ploy, in my estimation.
I honestly can't remember at any time over the last 20 years where a company has released press on a product, then never delivered the actual piece!. I think we've seen the first here - er, not seen.
For now anyway, we can all just pretend to have purchased such a unit, and then play "fantasy theater!"...or "virtual surround sound"...watch my "head movies"? Hey, u pick your terminology.
Even if I'm wrong, and the sucker ever actually does transpire in our life time, It's going to be trivial at best. Will you be able to download from the net on to it's platform? I think not. Will there already be newer processing technologies on more current products on the market? I believe so. Is it going to be a nearly obsolete piece on it's own merits? Surely. And then who's going to care.
I for one am quite irritated at having been allowed to be teased by the virtues of this mythical piece initially and, later, having had my patience prolonged unnecessarily. Given the above mentioned assesements, I refuse to ever touch the unit should it ever actually materialize.

Here's a marketing ploy to consider..
Some relatively lower profile upstart company anounces the tenative arrival of a product that simply sounds too good to be true! The price for this proposed product is redicoulously attractive (low) This product, of course, willl offer all the bells and gadgets. It's being played up as audiophile grade, affordable to the masses - the answer to all your av needs. And many take the hook, and decide to wait it out for it to show up on the market. And while this much anticipated and hyped product is in the process of "coming soon to a market near you", the same company up and offers a rather attractive deal to those who plan to purchasing this product, whenever it becomes available. This deal could, say, be that if you purchase one or more of our amplifiers and/or speaker systems, at some modestly discounted price (cleaverly marked down already on sale), when the piece - which everyone has been eagerly anticipating -eventually becomes available, they will offer that "leader product" to those existing customers at another 50% off the already low low price!!
The company inturn sells the hell out of all their amps and speaker systems, all to those who are expecting this "end-all-be-all" product to eventually show up!
Of course, the piece never actually materializes. The company then shuts it's doors, and re-organizes under another name, and starts the same joke all over again.
Hey, I'm just saying it could happen...

BTW, did anyone who attended CES 2010 see this unicorn displayed (working or not) at the show? I'm curious.
If I'm not mistaken, it was touted for released over a year ago at CES 2009, when it was on display.
I'm just wondering if they had the umption to try and pitch this thing on the next go around.
Hey, maybe we'll get a chance to see it up for auction at CES 2011! You know, as an old relic of a futuristic "Protoype" that never actually reached production?
I'm just saying...It could happen.

Well I don't believe it. I think they're gunna ship out "body snatcher units" in a box!. Then, when the decoy packages do arrive, and those who ordered open the box, they will be immediately attacked by John Carpenter's "The Thing" creatures, that will take them over, and then go online to tell everyone that the UMC-1 finally arrived, and how much they truely love it!
That's just what I think...