zHD issues and Parasound

[LAMark]

I'm a long time Parasound customer and have been very happy with my Halo stuff (C1, A51, A21, T3). But I made the mistake of buying a zHD switch to compensate for the lack of HDMI in the C1. It has been nothing but trouble since I bought it. It switches on its own, doesn't switch along with the C1 like it's supposed to, and finally became useless. Fortunately I bought a new display device (65" Panny plasma) that has four HDMI inputs so the zHD is a paperweight.

Parasound support has been responsive but nothing they suggested worked. I finally wrote them to express my displeasure with the device and after a few email exchanges they are now telling me that since I didn't buy the switch from an authorized dealer there was nothing they were willing to do. Bad on me I guess for not checking out the legitimacy of the dealer, I had no idea I was buying grey market, and I think I payed list price! Their final suggestion was that I try to get some help from the dealer. Hmmm, not sure I should even try that.

So caveat emptor I suppose, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[Chris D]

Huh... I have two Zhd's that I've used in different setups. My first setup would have occasional spontaneous input switching, maybe once per 10 hours or so of use. My current setup is MUCH better. I might have once per 9 months where it will blank out, and I have to re-select an input. Not sure what the difference is--it could partly be that the new Zhd's ship with the Y-serial cable.

My guess is, though, that it mostly has to do with the equipment in the rack. I think my Denon DVD-3910 player might give off some funky EM, which could be effecting the Zhd. Since I've moved it to mye secondary system, the Zhd in my secondary system has started to have the spontaneous switching.

[LAMark]

Chris,

Yeah, I've noticed that sometimes the zHD will "respond" to remote signals for other equipment. That part I'm OK with, no manufacturer can "own" any particular IR code. It's the not switching when I switch the C1 (have the Y RS232 cable) and the other random switching that makes it unusable for me. But like I said, it's kind of moot now becuase it's pretty easy to switch inputs on my display.

But the whole experience with Parasound is making me reconsider my goal of upgrading to a JC1+JC1+JC2 setup.

Mark.

[Peter Nielsen]

So caveat emptor I suppose, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Everything is relative. I purchased a TacT Audio Boz 216/2200 amplifier system for $34,000.00. Every now and then an amp goes up in smoke (three times so far it has happened literally with a bang and smoke). Currently I have two amplifiers for service (one that failed and one that went up in smoke). I sent in the first one THREE months ago and is still waiting to get it back... Is this acceptable for amps that are $3,500 each?

I'm contemplating puchasing more amps just to have as spares because it takes them so long to fix things and the amps burn out like a tank of gas...

Talk about bad taste for a few hundred buck HDMI switcher? :E It's simply nothing in comparison... :W