Well said, Bill. You are likely to get many different types of "opinions" ? passionate, prejudiced, thoughtful and objective. The problem is weeding through them all. You don't mention what switcher you are using currently. If you will be upgrading from an old Ampex Century, GVG 300, Sony 7000, BTS DD30, etc., there will be a learning curve no matter which new switcher you get. The best thing to do is to have each of the switchers brought into your facility for a demo. Make sure every TD attends the demos and has a chance to punch the buttons. What works for one station may not work for another so you should be confident that the switcher or switchers will work for yours. Many times a person's switcher bias is because of being familiar with one and not being familiar with another and other times there are viable reasons. Don't make a decision until you get your hands on the systems to compare them yourself. Then you can make an informed decision. Cheers, -= Ken =-

If you have gotten demos of all 3 (if you haven't do so). Then sit down with mng and explain to them why you want switcher xx. You can then discuss the pros and cons based on your needs and future needs. Make sure they are aware that you have to actually operate it and regardless of whatever deal they can get you have to use it, they don't. You will get a bunch of different opinions, all 3 switchers are capable of doing whatever you need to do. Take a look at the DVE/DME options, as they are pretty different amongst the 3 of them, that is one place to start.