Suggestions on a home theater processor?

Well, only problem is Emotiva putting off releasing the UMC for software bugs. This has gone on for over a year. Many people gave up and went elsewhere. I am holding on for a little while longer and then may jump ship and get the Onkyo.

What's the story on the Outlaw 997 and UMC-1? I'm not familiar with those.

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.