To cater to a setup with a surround processor, there needs to be a market for it. As I understand your posts, you are envisioning a pretty massive gaming setup focused on providing instant access to just about every game console manufactured since the early 1990's, with surround sound and multiple options for video display. You also are interested in having this access (including HDTV and surround sound) in more than one space, I think. I don't think that a market for such a device exists. Maybe I'm wrong, but in all of the home theater forums I visit I've not encountered other people requesting this same level of massive legacy device connectivity. I haven't even encountered the interest in multi-zone surround sound that you have made mention of, and discussions of building network switches into surround processors has been spotty and never discussed on the scale you suggest. I don't want to say it's a market of one person, but it may very well be that way.


I've seen some high-end receivers include network media clients, but I haven't seen them include data switches. There is also an argument presented by some people (myself included) that integrating a network media client onto another device (be it a surround processor or a Blu-ray player) is inherently inferior to having a purpose-built network media client (AppleTV, Roku, Popcorn Hour, etc.) that connects via HDMI just like all our other sources.


Any time we assemble a home theater system, we are designing a one-of-a-kind product. We don't often think about it that way, but we really should because it's a pretty accurate way of describing it. The product is built from off-the-shelf components that we select, arranged in the room based on our decisions, assembled using the cables that we choose and connect, and controlled using a sequence that we develop. In some cases, it's a really simple design: a VCR and a TV. The product that you have been describing is extremely complex and unusual, and as such it requires careful decisions on your part to get right. You need to determine what consoles you want, how to arrange them to allow easy access to them and their controllers (most of which are wired), where to locate display(s) and speakers, where to install the non-gaming components that you've mentioned (surround processor, amplifiers, cable box, DVD or Blu-ray player(s), VCR, turntable), how to handle the wiring and power, and how to control all the different pieces efficiently (universal remote control(s), IR distribution system, possibly RF-to-IR, etc.). It is absolutely possible that a not-so-great choice in equipment selection or layout when trying to integrate this many pieces will have an undesired effect. That's why each part of the overall design is important.

Your aversion to IR control seems to be related to a desire to have some other form of communication between components that allows automatic control without remote signals. The problem is that there is no such standard available unless you want to invest in something like Crestron via RS232 (which still, at some level, relies on commands from the remote). You've mentioned "RIHD" a few times, including a desire for dedicated RIHD outputs. The problem is that RIHD is Onkyo's proprietary name for HDMI's Consumer Electronics Control (or CEC). Many of the big companies have made their own "flavors" of CEC, and until just the last year or so compatibility between brands was very hit-or-miss because HDMI hadn't initially bothered to get a really well-established standard in place (again). These days, CEC is fairly reliable. Unfortunately, it is of limited practical use even when each component supports it in a compatible fashion. It is also an integral part of HDMI, not a standalone connection. HDMI-equipped TV's, processors, and disc players can use it to select the correct inputs, turn things on and off, and pass along basic transport controls (although the latter has always seemed pretty pointless to me). Non-HDMI devices can't support CEC. That's why a good universal remote is the best solution, especially when paired with an IR distribution system and RF-to-IR control.


First, I would question your "average" pre-amp price range. The $5,000 to $25,000 range is the domain of companies like Anthem, Lexicon, Classe, McIntosh, and Krell. There is nothing average about those companies, their products, or their price tags.

Second, we have already discussed why processor manufacturers aren't eager to build products with the quantity of legacy AV inputs your proposed system would require. Those quantities raise manufacturing costs, make their units larger, drive them to create more and more separate inputs (with setup menus and remote buttons for each), and increase overall complexity. Let's take your recent list of ten game consoles, then assume that you still want your turntable, VCR, tape deck, cable box, and a DVD or Blu-ray megachanger as well. We'll also assume that you're using a 9.1 speaker setup (Pro Logic IIz) and a constant image height HD front projection system (HDMI). You need a phono preamp, stereo analog audio input for tape deck, probably six composite video/stereo analog audio inputs, at least three component video/stereo analog audio inputs, and at least four HDMI inputs. Then there's the 16-port network switch. There's also AM, FM, and satellite radio tuner antenna connections, at least a couple coaxial digital audio connections, three or four optical digital audio connections, a USB port, some 12V triggers, IR input and output connections, a 7.1 analog audio input, and both balanced and unbalanced 9.1 pre-amp outputs. You want room to grow, so add an extra component input and at least two more HDMI inputs. You also want to be able to have something connected to each input, so you now have at least 19 separate inputs on the remote. You also have 19 separate sub-menus to configure each input (audio source, video source, video processing, audio processing, triggers, custom label, and whatever else). That's cumbersome. It increases design costs, manufacturing costs, and shipping costs. It makes the unit huge physically, which people don't like because it doesn't fit in their furniture. And there will be very few people who actually use more than a third (or a quarter) of those 19 inputs.

What about power consumption? Well, I described a system earlier that used two outboard AV switches to integrate your 10 consoles in with a fairly normal processor. Each of those switches uses a single AC adapter for power. Those AC adapters draw perhaps 5 watts each, or 0.01kwh per hour for both switches. That's 0.24kwh per day. At a utility rate of $0.10/kwh (which is more than I pay here, but less than some people pay), that's $0.02 in electrical costs. In a month, that's $0.60. In a year, that's about $7.20. If incorporating all those extra inputs on the processor increases the cost $1000 (which I think is probably conservative, considering the lost sales such a unit would experience due to its size and excess legacy inputs) and the two switches I proposed cost $40, the simple payback is 133 years (save $7.20 per year by spending an extra $960 in first costs). And that assumes that the processor's standby power draw is unchanged by the scope change we've described, which is not guaranteed in light of how much extra stuff we are talking about packing in there.