I am less than enthralled by this new projector. I mean, yes, it will likely have several nice upgrades over the AE900. But, it is more in the line of 'refinements' rather than 'improvements'. The AE700->900 are both excellent models and the Z4 is great. But, I really thought that they would be working on a second generation 1080p model by now, instead we get a FOURTH generation 720p model, and no 1080p model (yet) at all.
I think 2007 will be the year that LCD gets stomped by 720p DLP. DLP has finally started to hit price points that allow you to choose which machine you want for the same money. While the LCDs have delivered more setup options they have flat out failed to deliver the brightness or the real world contrast ratios that DLP has been giving us. While I love LCD it just isn't quite as good, and coming out with a new $3000 model, when we will see a $1,000 720p DLP projector coming out, is just insane.
I think 2007 may be the first year in a long time where Panny/Sanyo don't sit at the top of the list for budget home theater projectors. Especially as we see DLP issue 1080p models that street under $5K and start to set the performance bar for what is expected from a 1080p projector. LCD will be playing catch up instead of showing up as the innovator.
Still - likely to be a very good projector... But, not as exciting as it really could, and SHOULD be.