Of all the "countless horror stories" that you've heard about HDMI distribution, how many involved Crestron DM?

You say that you don't want to change anything out in 5 years. It will be sooner than that if you don't install HDMI distribution now.

Do your clients recognize the difference between 480p and 1080p? Do you tell your clients about analog sunset? Do you know what analog sunset it? If you aren't giving them "the talk" then you are setting yourself up to have VERY unhappy clients.

Let me also say I HATE HDMI and I really wish something comes along soon that's better.

On your "analog sunset" Have you noticed alot of TV manufactures that went straight HDMI last year readded Component this year on most models? What does that tell you? I dont think analog really is going away nearly as soon as you might believe.

If it does there are PLENTY of devices that are inexpensive (and work well, I have used lots of the new appletv ) that convert HDMI(even with HDCP) 1080p over component

I don't try and SCARE my customers into converting. In the next two years (time we have left anyways) things will come down, so I prewire with a pair of cat6, and cat5e, and rg6 whenever they decide to upgrade.

FYI my customer enjoy 720p/1080i at least on every tv from all sources. and cable boxes/sat tuners all output 720p/1080i on component which is a good majority of what people are watching 90% of the time. If they want that or better there are ways to get 1080p over component even with HDCP encryption

If you choose to go with the PVID then you choose to replace the switcher in 5 years or less. There is no way around this fact. My advice... make sure that you wire your house for the new switcher. This will make it less painful.

And who knows... maybe in 5 years HDMI will be phased out and everything will be wireless!

Have you noticed how many mid-level receivers that have only two analog inputs? Sure TV's might have one analog input but that doesn't change BD and cable/sat buckling to the pressure from the studios to downres if HDMI isn't used,. Those devices that you are talking about that convert HDMI to component aren't "legal" and could stop working!! But then again how many new BD players have component output?

Don't scare your clients but inform them of what's happening. Imagine what happens when 2013 comes around and you didn't help your clients make an educated choice. Let them be the one to turn it down. It doesn't have to wait until 2013, it could happen on the next big movie.

It's like if you bought a car and find out two years later that the engine just went from 300hp to 100hp. Now if the salesman told you the benefits of the upgraded car and that it cost 50% more and YOU made the decision then you can't get too mad at him. And when you decide to upgrade you might go back to that dealership. If the salesman didn't tell you that he was selling you yesterdays technology that might "all of a sudden for no reason" stop performing at the level that you paid for then you'll be pissed at the dealership and not go back. Which side of this do you want to be on?

Oh I'm not one to argue that 720p looks damn close to 1080p, especially on nicer equipment. I've proven to clients before that they couldn't notice the difference between component and HDMI. Most even think that component looks better.

I do tell my customers about it all, but most of my systems are 8+ tvs and similar sources, in my market its a hard sell to spend more on a video switcher than everything else in the system.

But hey kudos to those of you that have a market that will go that way, its a tad more reserved here in ky, like to have my biz in indy, a much more progressive area

My market is Delaware. Most of my core clients are beach clients that don't want to spend a ton of money on their vacation home. The rest of the lower Delaware area I cover has over 10% unemployment. I know how hard it is. I have clients that spend $25k more so their car says AMG on it but don't want to spend $1500 to control their system better. My clientele goes from a guy in a trailer park with a $79 Phillips HTIB, 26" offbrand tv, and a harmony remote that costs more then the "theater" system to people that have crazy money but don't spend it.

I'm not an audio engineer, but I was an IBM development engineer with a lot of years of design experience. In the mid-1970s, the U.S. was going to convert entirely to metric to conform to world standard within 15 years, so I don't get too excited about "imminent" changes that involve dropping old standards.

In that regard, I'm not convinced that HDMI will be the ultimate solution. In fact, I think the HDMI "jack" is inferior and prone to long-term problems - simply because it has no interlocking (RS232) or positive indent. Our new, high-end theater stopped working two nights ago when the projector showed no picture. I wiggled both ends of the HDMI, and "presto!" Never had to do that with component, S-video or RCA.

There will definitely be some new standard of some type down the road.

Now, back to my previous question about Crestron DM... :-)

If you were a DMC-E (Which you have to be in order to spec/order DM equipment) you would know the answer to your question!

JBS,

For your system, you would only need an 8x8 switcher since you only have 5 video sources and 7 displays. You could save probably half the money if you could somehow figure out how to jettison a single display and make it so you could use the new 6x6 switcher and roomboxes that are coming soon. This is your best course of action.

There are locking HDMI cables commercially available to address the problem you are having with cables coming disconnected.

This comment is not helpful, and if you had actually read the thread you would realize how much of a jerk you are being.

Crazyone,

my advice is to re-think your strategy and sales process regarding HDMI. Here in Europe we are already facing big problems because most satellite and cable decoders do not have component output any more. The same for BDPs and most media players. Sure we are using hdmi to component converters to compensate for this on projects where we have component switchers but we are adding a big point of failure and wiring is becoming a mess in the rack.

I am also expecting tvs to start shipping soon without any component inputs and our problems will increase.What are we/you going yo do? Add an hdmi to component converted for each source in the rack and then a component to hdmi converter at each tv?

I understand your problems in selling DM and I am facing them also. The smaller DM switchers will help a bit for smaller projects. Otherwise you should look for third party solutions that work. The AMX UTP 8x8 is more reasonably priced than DM and it works. You dont get room boxes of course and control for the tvs and inputs for every signal but you get what you pay for. Even the Amx one will also soon have many more competitors at better prices when the hdbaseT chips are implemented by other companies. I suggest to research this more and find a solution so that you stop selling component switchers and move to HDMI solutions.

The difference with this "imminent" change and the "imminent" change you described is that the content creators are behind the technology.