It's too bad that sites like this and IP have slowed to a crawl. They used to be great for info and fun.
Most manufactures have their own dealer forums, and I think we are slowly getting away from trying to figure out or having to figure out what works well with what.

For those that have been around for 20+ years, we and our clients have been the test pilots (or Guinea pigs) for manufactures that had no idea how to implement various protocols from DTS audio to HDMI and handshakes. We had to put their gear through various connections and configurations, as well as communications to find their flaws. Many of us are old and tired and don't really want to do it anymore, or have shifted our focus to specialize in certain products or aspects of a system.
Trainings are done on line, even the Cedia trade show doesn't have the allure it once did. In fact, is Cedia still trying to do things? Don't really hear much about it anymore. Then we also don't have splashy magazines showcasing mega homes with all the gear it once took to make everything work. (and show us systems we wanted to strive for)
We also don't see new must have products that helped drive this industry. Over the course of many years we saw Laser discs, Mini dishes and big screen TV's. That started getting people interested in projection systems, 3 gun and LCD. As they improved, we saw DVD and Dolby digital and there were more improvements that continued the push for home theaters. While all that was going on, multi room audio and smarter music systems were getting added. For those that had serious money, way back then you could have AMX or Phast / Panja for an early smart system. Then we spent the next decade or more "trying" things to get things clients wanted, to work.
Now, as long as you stay inside the system sand box and play with the things they say will work, it has become easy to set up and commission a system. Little to no need to ask a lot of questions anymore. If you are asking, it's probably because you are old school and trying to do something not on the list.