Since the original announcement of the 997 then the 998 now the 978, when it comes to the mainstream companies and their ongoing product offerings, there has been a considerable sum of water that has passed under the bridge. Honestly speaking, the 978 will have to be quite impressive, virtually trouble free and offered at a very competitive price before I would consider it. There is just too many attractive options out there in the marketplace and for my self with TWO 7125s and some pretty sophisticated outboard video processing, the Marantz 5005 being offered on this very website used as a pre-pro would be more than adequate for my needs.

Hmm, let's see, 5005(which is available now) or the 978(possibly available at some point in the future and not knowing the features or the price).
The clock is ticking.