Barring something truly unexpected, we're stuck with HDMI for a while. Ideally we would have HDMI 1.3 in time for inclusion in a successor to the Model 990. Considering how "smoothly" the standards development has gone for AACS as of late, I'm leery of accepting any target deadlines for standards publication, but I agree that 1.3 will come and will be a necessary feature/evil once it's here.

If we're thinking of the same units, the $2000 Arcam's HDMI switching is actually no different than the 990's DVI switching: it only support video switching, with no capability of getting audio across the HDMI.