Thanks gonk, it is nice to have someone point out just where on the hype curve we are.
One other link in that chain is the source material. I am willing to bet that, even if HDMI v1.3 were fully adopted by the hardware manufacturers today, 5 years from now we will still be lamenting how few titles are available in 7.1 sound formats while we ponder whether we should jump on the 9.1 bandwagon...