Suggestions on a home theater processor?

they are both vaporware at this point....both missing their announce dates by months. The Outlaw has built in Trinnov processing which is quite different than Audyssey...so it's of interest with a price of around $1400. The Emotiva unit has no special audio processing at a price of around $700. Both have the latest HDMI 1.3 codecs although the Emotivea lacks some of the less used ones....and they are both at lower price points than the pre-pro's that are currently available.

I would recommend the RSP 1570, it includes 1080/24p compatible HDMI 1.3 connectors, a dual chip 32-bit DSP and D / A converters, 24 kHz bits/192, also supporting the Video Options "Deep Color and xvYCC. This beautifully designed product is easy to setup and use, i would use it with no hesitation.

The Rotel doesn't have Audyssey (or Trinov) processing....and Audyssey really makes a big difference in rooms that don't have perfect acoustics (which is almost all of our video rooms). All of the other processors that we've been recommending do...onkyo/integra, Outlaw or Emotiva. That doesn't mean that the Rotel isn't a good unit, but few are going to invest in an Audyssey MultiEQ box to improve it's sound in a real environment and fewer will really make the changes necessary to create a good/tuned audio environment, so in the real world, for HDTV, the other processors should all provide a better listening experience.

I believe all the processors mentioned have the same technical capabilities you listed.

My equipment is listed in an earlier post in this topic. There is a tremendous improvement in sound with my Audyssey multiEQ turned on. FYI, my family room has tile floors, 8' ceiling and lots' of glass/plaster with little "soft" furniture and no drapes....in other words, it's a terrible audio environment.

"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.

Well, i happen to live near their home office of Franklin,TN. I stopped by a couple of months ago and actually saw the mythical creature. They were just getting a beta sample and played me a scene from Transformers 2 and i was mightily impressed. Now, i am with you tho in getting annoyed at the continuous delays and promises. well see. I will give them another month or so.
I am curious about the new outlaw piece, but it is 2x the price.