According to the latest home theater magazines, HD-DVD will be "available" this Christmas (that was where I got the $1000 number from. I didn't make it up, but then again, where did they get that number? Might be MSRP, who knows)...
At the same time, there are a hundred or so HD-DVD disks that are supposed to be released at the same time, so there WILL be some movies out there. It won't be years, it will be months. Dates are set for HD-DVD, Blu-Ray is a little more vague with a "Q1 2006" release.
We'll see, but I would think that the research teams and writers of several of these magazines would be closer to the facts than could be "speculated" here.
As for the DLP vs. LCD thing. This is a horse that you (smokey) beat to death once before. I agree that is many cases DLP is superior. There are tests and reviews that give it a slight performance edge, but LCD is usually a lower cost option, so you pay for the deeper blacks, and so forth. Keep in mind that you shouldn't compare a $4000+ DLP to a $1500 LCD and say that it is a clear cut case. LCD is still a proven technology and if done well performs well for the cost.
If you look at the 4805, you are not going to get the resolution of the Z3. But you would save some money since it (the 4805) is a low end projector. If you have no intentions of upconverting your image, then go for it. You will have a popular projector that might fit your needs as a low cost way to get a projected image.
As newf mentions, the Panasonic AE700 is a nice projector too. Very popular. The Z3 edges is out a hair in performance specs, but the Z3 has a better internal scaler and provides a better picture mainly just because it is a slightly newer model.
Anyway, if I had $5000 to spend on a projector, which technology would I get? DLP. I don't have $5000 so when I bought in March of this year (based off of what was available) I went for higher resolution, HDMI, etc, but had to give up in the black levels.
Good luck, and remember, people who buy Bose think that they have the best system in the world and that nothing else could possibly be as good. DLP has some features in their mid-high end gear that are truly superior to LCD, but don't count out LCD until you have done the research yourself.
