According to HCC news index, they mentioned AE500 having a list price of 1850 including a 70inch screen.
And from searching on google a little bit, the list price of Z2 is 1600, so it's only 250 difference, and remove the value of the screen, its surely down to maybe 150 pounds.
Definitely, it should have been an honourable 2nd, if not winning.
AE500 is definitely in the same comparative class.
An US review from here -
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=588&page_number=1
Although, avs members are wondering why no mention of VB, which many here and there are experiencing.
BTW, the new Hitachi Illumina PJ-TX100 looks really promising, 720p which means DVI?, vertical and horizontal lens shift, 1200lumen, 1000:1 contrast, 25db noise level, and a MRRP of 1799eur, which is 200 lower than AE500 and Z2's MRRP in Germany, which hopefully mean lower price than the cheapest AE500 price???
http://www.areadvd.de/news/2004/200403/190320040005.shtml
Wasabi