Thomas Smailus
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2002
- Messages
- 64
I am very interested in the differences between the 4ES and 7ES and if they could possibly justify the effective doubleing of price. Why would I buy a 7ES and not 2 4ES or 1 4ES and the extra money into the 16x9 plasma screen fund?
What I can see from the OUTSIDE of the boxes is that they are identical except for:
1) the 7ES comes with a 3rd room, audio only, set of pre-amp outputs, the 4ES stops at the 2nd room. (3rd room also includes the trigger output for the 3rd room)
2) the 7ES comes with a separate remote for 2nd room use, the 4ES only comes with its primary remote
3) the 7ES comes with one hellaciously large and sophisticated looking remote with a stylus that you need a table or lap to operate, while the 4ES has a more traditional one hand usable remote.
As was mentined, the front panel on both the 4ES and 7ES look the same in terms of where the remote interface is. The questions I have are:
1) About the 2nd room remote the 7ES comes with is, is it RF? It would need to be, since you are in another room, right?
2)If so, can one purchase this remote separately and then use it with the 4ES to controll the 4ES 2nd room functionality?
3)If the '2nd room remote functionality' is a feature that is turned off in the 4ES, can it be activated by use of the RS232C port on the back side?
4) Given the legendary crappedness of the sophisticated remote that came with the 9000ES processor and the basically acceptible but not ideal nature of the the Sony multi remote I now have (RM-AV2000 I think it is - the predecessor the current RM-AV3000) - Sony does not have a stellar record in the design and execution of large remote platforms. Would the 7ES really be purchasing, primarily a $500+ Sony remote that is crap? Would we be better off saving the cash and buying a Pronto instead with the money - and still having cash left for the 16x9 plasma screen fund?
5) The final question, that hopefully someone with the systems doing a review will clarify is, is there any INTERNAL difference between the two systems that we cannot see on the outside? Is the amp or circuitry construction on the inside different? If they are effectively the same then it is only the 3rd room circuit along with the ueber-remote that is the extra cost and I think that does not justify the price difference. From similar past expereince, it is quite possible that one can add the 3rd room ports on the back oneself as I suspect that MOST of the circuitry already exists inside the box - and only need to do a software change to hack the box - if one wanted the 3rd room. But this is a possibility only very far off after the units have been out for a while and some brave sole has gotten adventurous.
What I can see from the OUTSIDE of the boxes is that they are identical except for:
1) the 7ES comes with a 3rd room, audio only, set of pre-amp outputs, the 4ES stops at the 2nd room. (3rd room also includes the trigger output for the 3rd room)
2) the 7ES comes with a separate remote for 2nd room use, the 4ES only comes with its primary remote
3) the 7ES comes with one hellaciously large and sophisticated looking remote with a stylus that you need a table or lap to operate, while the 4ES has a more traditional one hand usable remote.
As was mentined, the front panel on both the 4ES and 7ES look the same in terms of where the remote interface is. The questions I have are:
1) About the 2nd room remote the 7ES comes with is, is it RF? It would need to be, since you are in another room, right?
2)If so, can one purchase this remote separately and then use it with the 4ES to controll the 4ES 2nd room functionality?
3)If the '2nd room remote functionality' is a feature that is turned off in the 4ES, can it be activated by use of the RS232C port on the back side?
4) Given the legendary crappedness of the sophisticated remote that came with the 9000ES processor and the basically acceptible but not ideal nature of the the Sony multi remote I now have (RM-AV2000 I think it is - the predecessor the current RM-AV3000) - Sony does not have a stellar record in the design and execution of large remote platforms. Would the 7ES really be purchasing, primarily a $500+ Sony remote that is crap? Would we be better off saving the cash and buying a Pronto instead with the money - and still having cash left for the 16x9 plasma screen fund?
5) The final question, that hopefully someone with the systems doing a review will clarify is, is there any INTERNAL difference between the two systems that we cannot see on the outside? Is the amp or circuitry construction on the inside different? If they are effectively the same then it is only the 3rd room circuit along with the ueber-remote that is the extra cost and I think that does not justify the price difference. From similar past expereince, it is quite possible that one can add the 3rd room ports on the back oneself as I suspect that MOST of the circuitry already exists inside the box - and only need to do a software change to hack the box - if one wanted the 3rd room. But this is a possibility only very far off after the units have been out for a while and some brave sole has gotten adventurous.
