For what it's worth, I'll point out the
official word from Outlaw that while plans are in the works for the successors to the 990 and 970, there is no timetable in place for their release. The nearest thing to estimates in when the next gen platforms will arrive are just guesses from folks around the forum (I'll claim the "2008" date as my current best guess, but it's just SWAG).
Emotiva's kind of the new kid on the block, and their entry-level processor (the LMC-1) has had a particularly bumpy roll-out. They're also expected to offer a mid-level processor (the MMC-1) any day now, which will have HDMI but will be limited to video switching (basically the same functionality as the 970 and 990 have but with different plugs). The discount program may be a way to draw interest in their current product lines during this transitional period.
The announcement of their HDMI v1.3 product feels early to me. HDMI v1.3 is still young, the capabilities they describe will take a
lot of engineering to get working right, and the LMC-1 launch (which involved a much less sophisticated platform than the unit they are describing) was delayed repeatedly. I'm particularly dubious about the ~August '07 release date I've heard reported recently. It makes launching the MMC-1 now seem like an odd marketing choice, among other things.
The DMC-1 is a rock-solid product (based on the Sunfire Theater Grand IV), so there's certainly potential for their HDMI v1.3 product to offer some quality competition in the marketplace.