Thanks Art for your reply. I can see your point and I can agree that spending the extra bucks on something that helps in your job is not a big deal. I was talking in general about how these companies can sell their equipment at such high prices when a good viable alternative is available for much less. I guess I just don’t understand how free market works, as I would have thought that these companies would have been forced to cut their prices or go out of business.

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Hi again HTE!

OK, Let’s have some fun with your question, on a number of levels. I’m an old business major from my college days (a long, long time ago), and was very into economics. You are going to be sorry you started this, because it’s going to be really long.

So, I’ll primarily ramble, but let’s think in these areas, don’t expect my answer to follow these points in this order, but I hope to touch on all of them:

1. Caveat Emptor – let the buyer beware
2. Personal responsibility – doing your homework
3. Obligations of the manufacturer
4. Long term vs. short term
5. You get what you pay for (and I’m not just talking money)
6. What the market demands
7. Credibility

OK, number 1:
Caveat Emptor – let the buyer beware! – I’ll stick to these types of products (switchers, etc.) It’s not extron’s or Octava’s or anyone else’s responsibility to offer the best product for the best price. Obviously only one product in any category can be the best value overall, but different products can be the best product for different people’s requirements. (example: the Monoprice unit you mention might be a great value for you, but I, having spent 3+ times the price, still wouldn’t buy their unit because it lacks the digital audio output abilities that I consider a tremendous value.

The point is, however, that it’s my job to sort through what’s available, to find what’s best for me. I can do that with a lot of research, or, perhaps I might decide to pay a consultant.
Or, I just shop for price, and hope for the best, and so on.

Let’s say two units are roughly comparable, and equally suitable, but I’m too “lazy” to do a lot of research. (My time, I consider very valuable – let’s say that I get $250 an hour for consulting – about right). Do I spend 3 hours doing research for these switchers which run from $60 to $600, or, just look hard enough to find one (30 minutes) that does do the job (in my case that Octava), and buy it. If Monoprice had a unit for $100, that was just as good, but if it was going to take me two-three additional hours to track it down, then My spending $350 for the Octava, is, for me, a bargain, compared to all the revenues I lose by spending valuable time becoming an expert switcher shopper.
One point therefore, is that there is a real cost to many, in terms of finding the best product, and/or best value. “TIME IS MONEY”
Many enthusiasts, for example rely on the assorted av forums as a resource site, and they are very good at that. However, I also realize that many folks into home theater seem to spend almost as much time researching as watching. For those committed to the “hobby”, then “TIME is Money” may not apply. For most folks, though, it does.

Things which can dramatically affect price:

Marketing – One way to keep the manufacturing cost down, is to have high volume, another is to build cheaply. To get high volume you either need to spend a lot on marketing (which can be extremely expensive on lower volume products), or be very successful with viral marketing.

Support – Again, we’ll use these two companies – Octava and Monoprice. I have no experience with Monoprice support, but it’s a given, that if you want fast support, the company has to spend more for staffing (relative to comparable reliability). When I did have a question for Octava, I had someone on the phone who knew their stuff. I was talking to that person within 2 minutes of dialing the number. We’ve all been on hold with companies for 5 – 10 – 30 minutes or longer, before even getting through, and how often do you get someone who is truly “level 1″ – support from reading a troubleshooting script by people who don’t know much. I have no idea how fast, or how good Monoprice is, I’m just making the point that good support can add to the price.

Warranty – the longer the better (and more expensive). How a return/exchange program is handled can also increase or decrease costs – one company may pay all freight, the next, charge for one way, or even both ways.

Personal responsibility – this is perhaps the key reason why prices can vary so much, it ties directly to my first point about time is money.

I believe I read something a few months back that less than half of all people buying a new car do not test drive more than 1! Let’s say you are looking for a Camry class car. There must be 10 competing models. Then, there’s the fact that maybe that class of car is what someone “assumes” is best for them, but in reality, had they looked at some other classes, they might have found a much better fit. (A subcompact, or maybe a small SUV, or a larger vehicle.

Just something to think about – The Toyota Prius, is incredibly successful, but why?
Consider the Camry Hybrid is at best a real disappointment by comparison. And the Honda Accord hybrid sold so poorly, that they stopped selling it for a while (it’s either back, reconfigured, or coming back soon). Why? With the Prius, you can’t compare apples to apples – It costs this much, and gets this many mpg. With the Camry, the shopper may think – geez, I’d rather buy a hybrid, and be a good world citizen, but it’s too expensive. I’d have to drive it 200,000 miles to break even compared to the regular Camry, and I won’t own it that long, and there are long term unknowns with hybrids, as to how they will hold resale value, especially if issues start occurring with those pricey batteries down the road.
Thus, many people walking into the Toyota dealership who thought they wanted to buy a hybrid camry, end up with the standard one.

Still rambling.

If it’s too expensive – it’s the buyer’s choice to find an alternative. It’s not a manufacturer’s job – it’s “ours”.

Now on to a pet peeve. As you know, I take my projector reviews very seriously. And unlike most reviews (at least in print) I spend a lot of time comparing products, and trying to help figure out “which is the best for them – their room, their budget, their watching tastes, etc.” Fortunately, I generate enough ad revenues to make a decent living doing that.

However, I could attempt to do the same for switcher reviews, but, I’d starve to death, if I had to depend on an ad revenue model for income.

Plan B, therefore might be to charge for reading the article. For example, I could put 40 or maybe 100+ hours into looking at a wide range of switchers, write a report about it, with comparison’s etc. I could put it up on my website, with a shopping cart, and charge say $10 to read it. And let’s just say that over a year, there might be 500 people interested enough to pay that, in which case it might make sense.

But, it’s not practical, I know exactly what would happen. Just as my, and other’s reviews and conclusions are discussed on the forums, within a few days of publishing that switcher report, I’d be able to find people summarizing my conclusions, etc., on the forums, and many/most of the people who might have spent the $10, won’t have to. In that case, I end up maybe with 50 reads instead of $5K for my efforts – I end up with $500 – which is less than the minimum wage.

In other words, I’d have to be nuts to put in 100 hours for $500.

BTW, I do have experience in trying this with another site I own, in the presentation-training space.

THE point here, is that with niche products that are not overly expensive, good comparative information is usually extremely hard to find. It’s easy to find comparative info on cars, not so easy on tires, now try finding comparative info on “in car” hanging air freshners, or 3rd party drink holders. good luck.

Reputation – most people pay more for reputation. GM may be the best selling cars in China and Brazil, but in the US, you can’t even get 30-40% of the population to even consider one. The Japanese own the high ground on reliability. They built that in the ’80′s compared to US brands and probably even the worst built cars today, by anyone are significantly more reliable than those Toyota’s and Accords where back then. Still, people go with “reputations” whether valid or not, because it’s another shortcut in the decision making. I’m a Consumer reports reader, forever. I don’t often buy what they recommend, because I look for the best product for me, not the best product for the average user, but I find them to be a useful tool when I’m shopping for things I don’t know much about. (I read their stuff on digital cameras, cars, refrigerators, etc. I’m more likely to weigh them heavily on a frig, than a camera, because I”m more knowledgeable about cameras – I know at least enough to be dangerous, whereas with a frig – all I know is energy efficiency (since they all have to publish numbers), and cubic inches, and maybe whether I want a side by side or a top freezer.

Long term. Buy an unknown brand, and you don’t have any feedback about long term issues. I’m always asked about reliability regarding different projectors, but I don’t get to keep them very long, so I have no good answers. I can project – an answer based on some past experience with the manufacturer, when good, but with product life as a new product being typically 1 year, and rarely more than two, even a great company can release a new model with problems.

Case in point the CFI and focus issues with the Epson. If you read my stuff back to the beginning, the one consistent thing I said, is that I believed you can count on Epson to fix any issue. They in my opinion are sort of the Nordstom’s of projectors: In the business world, Nordstrom’s is studied – theirmission statement is something like “Our job is to always exceed our customer’s expectations. And if shop there, and need to do a return, or have other issues, you would know why they are legendary for their post sale service and support.

So, it’s safer to buy, say a switcher from Extron, than Monoprice, re, reputation. Extron is the leading player in commercial space, many corporate IT/AV types would tend to say – that’s all we use, because we can count on them. With a relatively unknown brand, you have no idea what may or may not happen.

Hobbyists like to research – most others don’t. Those with big bucks, for example, doing a full home theater room, quite often don’t even research the projectors. What they look for is a dealer with a great reputation – (usually by referral). Then they go by the dealer’s recommendation. The buyer in that case often realizes that they could save a fortune shopping everything individually. But they simply want great performance, and minimum hassle.

Which would you buy – projector A. Superior performance, reputation for occasional reliability issues and support, or projector B: Almost as good performance, but legendary reliability and support? Some will take their chances with A, favoring the slightly better performance. Most will go with B. Although hard core enthusiasts usually will go with A.

And Finally FREE MARKETS – In this example – this is free markets at its best. It gives the consumer the choice:
You have a wide range of products to choose from. The prices vary. Some companies will have the latest and greatest, some the lowest cost, some the best reliability, the best warranty, etc. and or combinations of those and others. Prices will be all over the map. Free markets does not guaranty the best product for the lowest price. It’s about allowing the consumer to decide which is the best product for them. If they can find the best product for the lowest price, great. But if they are too disinterested to find it, they will buy whatever is easiest, and from that, you get a lot of companies doing business, that fill all the different levels of customers needs.

If a company gets their business by good marketing and good product instead of little marketing and great product, then you have two companies each able to survive.

Take away free markets and you end up with one brand – the “Yugo” auto example in the US, has been a topic of late night television humor, and that “joke” has recently resurfaced when people talk about “Government Motors” these days, with Obama dictating what they should build, whether or not that’s what people want. The Yugo, of course being a good example of what one communist company built thanks to no competition. It sold briefly here and was extremely unsuccessful.

But it’s ultimately up to each individual to decide what’s important. Some people don’t mind paying more for the privilege of doing less homework. Many will just take the “safe” choice based on reputation.

The important point is, that we get the option to make those choices.

And if you want professional guidance – to save the trouble of doing the homework, then, well, in a Free Market, you are likely to have to pay for it. Believe me, I’ve know a guy who is expert on all manners of switchers, scalers, etc. I’m sure I could get him to do something equivalent to my 1080p comparison report, and I’m just as sure that I’d have to pay him at least $20K.

Monoprice might just have the best product around for the money, but, for them to really get the word out, they just might have to spend so much that their price might increase 50%. These are decisions each company must make, relating to their business model. Some want to grow, and focus on low costs, others might be happy, roughly where they are and don’t want to have all the headaches of a larger company. You never can tell their motivations. The important thing is that the choices are there, for those who want to intelligently consider those choices.

And some day, if I can figure out how to get a return on that investment, I would hire him. But in our Free Market, I don’t see that happpening. In a non-free market, it wouldn’t be needed, there would be but one choice, and it would be far more expensive than the “best performer at the best price” in our free market.

-art

Art,

I’m switching a JVC RS10 projector (that I researched here) between 3 sources – a Motorola HD cable box, an Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player and an Oppo DV981 DVD player. All video goes via HDMI, but my receiver only handles/decodes digital audio.

Lip sync problems bug me so I elected to handle audio switching separately using a Felston DD740 lip sync processor/switcher. It switches between 4 audio sources, allows on the fly lip sync adjustment and allows each source to be preset.

This left me free to select a less expensive HDMI only switcher which, as others have commented, was much cheaper than one that also split out audio. My $20 mini HDMI switcher provides both auto switching and manual switching (via infrared remote). A remote infrared sensor is included so, the switch-box and all the cables can be left behind the hardware. I use a 25ft generic cable from the switcher to the projector. There is no evidence of signal loss/degradation and there are no compatibility problems.

P.S. The Oppo BDP-83 player is wonderful both for Blu-ray and DVD.