I have the 1018, and really like it. But wouldn't take the 1019 upgrade if it was free. It's not a bad receiver, but the added features do nothing for me (mostly iPhone/Pod integration), and the removed some useful things (like pre-outs).
I believe the GUI has improved in the 1019, in the 1018, it wasn't so much a graphical interface, as it was a on-screen textual. Also, don't get too excited about the 1080p up-conversion, it only applies to the analog inputs (confirmed that has not changed in the 1019). If you input a signal at less than 1080 over the HDMI input, it is just passed through to the display unaltered. It can also do color/contrast/etc. adjustments on the analog input, up to 1080i. 1080p over component (like the Xbox 360 does), is simply digitized and passed to the HDMI.
These are not marks against a receiver of this price, no one else does these things either in this range, but people tend to get their hopes up when looking at the feature list.
