Suggestions on a home theater processor?

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.

they are both phantomware items to hold the market....the companies that know what they need to offer to stay competitive (i.e. stay in business), but they apparently don't have the staff/money or engineering to deliver. I wonder if the Las Vegas odds makers are taking bets on whether either box will make it out before either company runs out of money.

However, I am patient....I have prelim orders in on both although I never expect either to appear at my door.

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...