Well, just make sure you have a good return policy should you decide not to keep it. This is why I paid $250 for it at Costco. I have a local Costco very close to me, and they have a very liberal return policy.

It's a good remote, but not very customizable. If you can live with its limitations, you'll like it. The "Experiences and work-arounds" thread here gives some tips on how to do certain things, but it's a tedious and non-intuitive process.

I just picked up a Pronto TSU7000, and will be returning the RC9800i once it's setup. The remote's EPG is quite nice, but that's not enough to make me keep it. Set it up with your equipment and see if it works for you. You're correct on the media server issue though.