The price on the 990 is definitely impressive - all we need is somebody to come up with a Blu-ray player with 7.1 analog output, decoding of all new audio formats, and support for DVD-A/SACD, and a combination of it and the 990 could be a great way to enjoy all the latest and greatest software without getting an HDMI v1.3 processor. Of course, a player like that isn't likely to arrive before the 990's replacement gets here, but at the 990's new price you could get a 990 and such a player for what the 990's successor will cost.

Room correction is certainly a likely candidate for the new technology. Another would be something like Dolby Volume. And I'll be curious to see just what video processing solution shows up, as I agree that the $1400 price point would almost guarantee some sort of video processor.