I understand the reluctance over the HDMI crazy licensing costs. It appears to be a Mafia and it continues in audio equipment now with stuff like MQA ( Mafia Qarantined Audio ).
I would be interested in the numbers. If you were to add HDMI out, has anyone done the math on how much additional you would have to charge per unit? If I buy a new receiver with analog inputs, it will cost me an additional $3K on a denon unit. If I pull the Surround Master off my movie surround sound setup, then I have the additional cost of purchasing 2 stereo amplifiers and 4 more speakers ( or have the luxury of pulling the speakers off of the surround and putting them back every time I want to listen to the S.M. ), also I have no preamp/remote volume control with this setup, I would have to get up and use the volume knob on the S.M.
So, I spend a lot of money and have a lot more equipment and speakers setup in my surround room, or shell out a significant more amount of money on a new receiver. Oh, and spend the additional again if that receiver dies or needs to be upgraded ( I already had to ditch one receiver when I bought the original S.M. because the one I had didn't have analog inputs).
If I had a Surround Master with HDMI out, it would save money and connect to a whole lot more of my equipment, and new future equipment that will probably be HDMI also.
So even though I agree with you that they are rediculous with the licensing cost, us consumers are getting the shaft also, because everything is standardizing on HDMI now. I have already paid for a version 1 and version 2 Surround Master. One sits in the box because I upgraded to version 2, now my receiver is dead and I am going to have to spend a lot in order to keep using the second unit.
I think adding HDMI has the potential to save your customers a significant amount of money, and make the S.M. more modern since it would be able to connect to more modern HIFI and home theatre gear ( for example a young person who only has a soundbar system with HDMI, or low end surround system ). For me I would probably buy a V3 if it had HDMI, so it would be nice to know what you would have to charge us per unit if you added it. Maybe you could take a survey and see how many want it and would be willing to pay the additional cost. Maybe most of your users are not Home Theatre users with receivers and don't care about HDMI.
At some point I would think future sales of the product will depend on being able to connect to other current gear. I don't see HDMI being replaced soon, but I don't have a crystal ball. I do really enjoy the Surround Master, it is a great audio product and I would love to see it's users base grow. I guess that will depend on how many young users are willing to spend on the analog equipment for a Quad audio setup or how many prefer to spend on a receiver and Home Theatre setup. Maybe the answer is none of the above! There does appear to be some excitement over Dolby Atmos music, so at least some may be investing in H.T. setups.