This probably won't help, but you and I both missed the typo:


Should be


Ah. Typos aren't an issue:

Let's not forget the HVAC guys- if they want to play in our sandbox WRT thermostats, they'll surely want to do some "hang & bangs" to add to their bottom line.

Just wait 'till they see how much fun HDMI can be.

When people order items used buy others, it seems logical to think they should have at least some passing contact with them and I don't mean seeing them in a catalog. It's one of the gripes I have with many dealers of, well, just about everything. Nobody wants to hire people with experience in what they sell because they don't see a benefit. If people call and order by part or item number, why should the clerk need to know anything about what is entered?

Many sales reps know nothing about what they sell, but they sell the crap out of it because they know how to sell. I have called distributors to get a little info about things and was told "You could look it up on the website" when they really should have heard the noise as I drove with my window open.

Customer service- it's hard to find, sometimes. I often wonder if distributors train their people in this because I have and what I hear from them isn't what I have learned over the decades.

I think part of the problem with what's stocked vs what is needed lies with people (reps are people, too) who go to the branch and fill orders from a planagram or some other canned method of re-stocking. If they don't see an empty bin, they must not need it, right?

Well said. Beyond that, in the case of wire and connectors, I'm not about to go order wire from a catalog and pay same price I could pay for the wire at my local vendor... then pay shipping also.

Shipping on wire? Nope. Catalog price for wire right now after I drive ten miles, or catalog price plus shipping in a couple of days... why would I ever make the second choice?

They are not the issue you make them out to be. Typos are typos, and everyone makes them from time to time. Even more so with so many typing from mobile devices with touch screen displays. Only you feel the need to constantly point them out though. Well, except when you do it. I have to point it out every time you mistype, cause someone has to police the police...

I think I irritated you, though, when you made a typo that I thought was funny and I commented on it as though it was. I love good typos! I'll occasionally refer to a "clustomer," a great term that was a typo.

Well, it happened again. I went to a three-letter distributor for flat bends for wire molding and they have lots of that brand of molding, but absolutely no accessories for the larger sizes. Looks like they won't be in until next week. He blamed it on the people who come in to check on the inventory and what sells. I might ask him to call em when they show up, just so I can give them a little seasons greetings, if you know what I mean.

Or his need for VGA.

Ok gentlemen, I'm back. Sorry it took me three months to get back. I'm glad to see all the interest in this thread. Time for more clarification. I do work for ADI (pretty obvious I thought). I am the Business Development Manager for Residential AV. I've been with the company for 12 years and have been in the CI business since 1984. My email address is [email protected]. You can find me on LinkedIn if you want my full resume.

Now to the TVs. We know the TVs shortcomings and will be working adding more to them in the coming years. This isn't a one shot deal. When we decided to get into this business we looked at where we could be most impactful and compete. If we tried to create a full featured TV that would have changed its entry level price points we have lost to the big boys. The only way to create something of value (not for everyone obviously) was to help dealers when their customer is shopping strictly on price.

While these TVs are targeted at the light commercial market they are not commercial grade TVs. Go into many bars and restaurants and what do you see? Dynex, Vizio, etc. No integrator makes money on those. With WBox the integrator can make a few bucks. At least with WBox he can put a couple of bucks in his or hers pocket. Our philosophy is simple, if you can sell a branded product you should but if you need to hit a price point, buy Wbox. Also the two year, over the counter exchange, warranty is pretty damn good.

As far as no retail goes, we don't sell to Costco, HH Gregg, BB or any other national or regional brick and mortar. That's what I meant by "we sell to integrators".

Lastly, and I apologize for long winded reply, we are introducing a new line of 4K models and discontinuing the 1080 models. 4K panels have come down in price so far that we are only anticipating a small price increase if any at all. The bad news is they still do not have discrete IR. Sorry, its on my wishlist too.

Long story short, always sell a branded product when possible (hopefully you get it from ADI). When you customer says I'm going to Costco or Sam's Club, or Amazon to get my TVs, sell him WBox and put some money in your pocket.

Thanks,

Randy Blanchard

Thanks for chiming in on this Randy. I can tell you that if I had to build a proposal for a client in which the budget only allowed for TVs without discrete commands, I would have to have the conversation on why we need to add enough to cover TVs with discrete commands. If not, I would likely walk away, especially if we already are working on putting a control system in. Even if not, the future upgrades would be limited with working with TVs that cannot be controlled properly. I appreciate the attempt to get into some markets with an affordable set, but this is the one and only feature that is a MUST on all sets.

I'm also sure that the measly profit that you make on the TV will be gone after the first phone call of "it's not working".

No thanks.

Randy,

first let's get the cheap joke out of the way by saying I have no idea why you would want to add more shortcomings in the coming years to the TV.

Now to get serious. you guys sell product, it is our job to integrate them and make them work. So it is worth listening to us. If we are talking about a TV (or any other device) aimed directly at customers used with the stock remote discrete codes are not that big of a deal (TV is off and you want to watch press power button, TV is on and you don't want top watch press power button, TV is on wrong input press input until the right thing shows up..).

But, from what you said,that is not the market you are targeting. So let's assume the TVs are installed in a bar, and some are on and some are off. Sending a power signal will turn off the ones that are on and on the ones that are off so that won't help. Maybe the solution is for someone to climb over furniture, appliances or patrons to reach the power button (assuming there is one) on the TV? maybe having an other controller that only controls one TV at a time and sending someone close enough to the ones in the wrong state, but then that secondary remote can then be lost/broken/stolen or used to mess things up even further? maybe to go with a more expensive controller add extra sensors and take longer to program it to counter the shortcomings of the equipment but then that would add a lot to the cost of the install which would defeat the purpose of using these TVs for the customer that is "shopping on price".

The humor is inescapable. You start with the bottom of bottom end product, and then you produce a new lower end version. Is that not a technical impossibility?

Here's a suggestion for sales: stock what you "carry."

I lost 90 minutes one day trying to work out which UPS to buy for a client. When I found the stock check option things sped up, but "no stock in the country" or even nonexwithin 100 miles doesn't seem a reasonable position for something listed on your site.

Take items you don't stock out of your website, dammit!