But sometimes certain items are commodities and should be treated as such...with the internet providing far more information than most "retail store experts", I see no reason for paying the extra 10-30% markup. Where is the value proposition...

Sooner rather than later, most products will be commoditized and sold on the Internet...Only those items that you MUST see in person or tried-on will be purchased at retail outlets...low price and the high availability of product/consumer informatation on the internet will drive this. Not to mention the fact that Sales Tax is usually skirted (for now) as well...

Those that have not embraced this new economy will eventually die-off or lose, the latter usually preceding the former.

Take care...I have to get back to surfing for 2% over cost DVD player now...

Universal Remote Control, Inc. has no policy saying
their remotes are not to be sold over the internet.
They would be foolish to do this as they would
lose tens of thousands of sales. Some manufacturers do have internet policies, the ones who don't yet understand the impact of the internet and know how to control it, but your right they are still sold over the internet. But, as of yet, no internet policy from URC, Inc.

Hey Bill T.! You are obviously interested in this remote. How much are you spending on it!

Well, just got off the phone with Mike at Universal Remotes where we discussed their Internet policy, or lack of. They were more than happy to make me an authorized dealer but all this meant was that I buy direct from them at dealer price instead of my distributor. The told me that authorized was basically a relative term and if I was happy with my relationship with my distributor that they had no restrictions on sales and would in no way interfere with my business.

What this means to you folks out is that yes you will get the same warranty when you by from anyone getting their product through a legitimate distributor. I want to add that I did offer to support their effort to come out with a policy as there are just to many unethical distributors selling at close to dealer cost to the public, killing hard working businesses like mine. Yes you Internet shoppers are the beneficiaries as long as you are buying from legitimate sources. Just keep in mind that there are some illegitimate sources and if the price is way to good to be true it probably is. I have a couple of dozen of these coming in next week.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Bill E-Once again the remarks you are making are your words not the manufactures. Why don't RTI or Universal Remote Control post their policies on this web site?That would give your statements some credibility. If your trying to convince us that a manufacture doesn't care who sells his product and at what cost, I don't by it. I thought you were going to stop posting your company link on your posts?

In response to Bob- I own a RTI T2 that I bought from a dealer where I was able to touch and feel it. He helped me with some programing and other aspects of its functions. I was glad to pay the $649.00 he charged me. But I think I'm a dying breed.

Bill T

Since you are interested it would have been real nice if you would have taken the time to check out my story before publicly questioning my truthfulness. The one thing I never do is lie to people, making a sale isn’t worth stooping that low for. The name of the representative I spoke to at Universal Remote was Mike, you don’t have to take my word for it, please call him (914) 835-4484 and verify I spoke with him on 10/13. I also had listed the name of RTI's marketing guy that I deal with, Dave Palmer, please call him also I have his private number but he did not give me permission to put it on the Internet, so you will have to get him through their main number 612-253-3100. Please report back to the Remote Central audience what you have learned.

I don't fault you for paying $649 for your T2 if you pay a premium for your equipment you deserve great support, not that I don't help my customers also. Have you ever heard anything negative on this site about my company or my level of service? You wont, because I work very hard to please my customers, I have a business to build and a family to feed, and this is what I do for my living. Actually I wish there were more customers like you, this thread started out with me offering MX1000’s at a fair price, but well under list. What is the very next thread, me getting blasted for my price being way above that of a site that has 3 models of Universal Remotes as their entire product line. I wish I could sell MX1000’s and T2’s at full retail and maybe if I had a monopoly on this site like the other guys I could, but I cant, so I try to attract people by offering fair prices and honest service. I am counting in the long run that that will be enough, but who knows in this cutthroat Internet world.

When I was blasted by Q4100 he said that using my URL as a reference on my signature would be OK. If you are reading these threads especially the RTI and X10 you can see I have been offering helpful advice to people and only signing my name the way I normally do in every correspondence that I send to anyone. I gave my word that that is what I would do in the future, and I am one of those people that believe that your word is the most valuable thing you have to offer.

Please take the time to verify what I have been saying is true, and report back. I have nothing to hide and everything to loose by getting a bad reputation especially when I am the new guy on the block.


www.homeautomationnet.com.

Bill

Hmmmmmmmmm....... seems to me that if you want to really promote your company on any site, you buy banners ads, or support giveaways, etc., similar to Etronixs. That is obviously the most effective. If you can't afford that or don't want to pay for it, then you put your URL at the end of your posts or advertise in the marketing area.

And it seems to me that if the owner of the site, Danny boy has any probs with it, he would not only have let Bill E. know about it, but the others who do it as well.

Frankly, I'm glad to have it. I like to research things as much as possible.

My 2-bits!!! - Greg :-)

Actually Daniel has been real good, he has control of this database and does not mess with any of these threads when I know he can.

But… From what I can tell Etronix has an exclusive to this site and you can not buy banner ads if you compete with them. I can only assume this though as he has never responded to my e-mails or phone messages trying to buy space, yet I see new non related banners popping up all the time. I don’t know what the special relationship is but there definitely is one.

As for the giveaways, I would rather offer the lowest price I can so that everyone wins. Someone is paying for the "free" products, I will the Etronixs customers figure out who that is.

Bill

This MX-100 wait is beginning to make me "twitch". I have evaluated the Pronto, and although nice is not what I am looking for and more than I can justify spending. I want the MX-1000. I am so sick of using 5 different remotes. Please, let them ship soon!

Actually I can't even sell traditional 'banner ads' to Etronixs (due to an ad agency thing)... so they host the contests. Sponsoring prizes is no different than any other form of advertising, but this way a number of people can get something for free each month.

Posting your site as a signature is fine, but I totally object to messages that do nothing but advertise unless a user specifically requested such information in the same thread (for any other businesses reading, please don't attempt to start such threads yourself -- I can tell). Technically this thread counts as a "pure advertisement", but since people have been waiting so long for information I allowed it.

Daniel,

Thanks for laying down some ground rules, I will of course comply. I have never lost site of the fact this is your site and you can do with it as you see is in your or your audiences best interest. Judging by your traffic numbers you are filling a big void in the market and your site provides a great service for the consumer.

You have a link on your front page for advertise on remote central. But I can not get a response to that, who is your ad agency and how do I contact them? You have a great product to sell and you would be the beneficiary of opening up your audience to other dealers in the industry who are trying to reach them.

Thanks
Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Bill E.,

I am a relative newbie on Remote Central and I would like to commend you on the advice that you have given. I have followed quite a few threads to learn more myself, whether it be remotes or X-10 (which I am beginning to get into now). Many people are squeamish about the net as a whole, to purchase anything because of fraudulent practices or just basic poor customer service. So it's good to see someone who stands behind their company and stands behind their customer service. Something that really lacks now-a-days. It seems that the buisness practice of today is to lure the customer in, make the sale and then slam the door, and onto the next customer. Which I am sure, many would agree with me.

Anyway, to get back to the real discussion at hand...........

I am at a crossroads as far as remotes are concerned and I was interested in hearing your spin on the HTM 1000. I guess a lot of people are trying to use the Pronto as a guage of comparison to the T1000, myself included. I have done a lot of homework on the Pronto and it has a solid support base and you cannot find the customization it offers unless you went with the higher end remotes. So what is your spin on it, thus far?

Bill (Another one!)

Bill thanks for your support,

As far as my take on the remotes, I am not a professional reviewer, I will leave that to Dan but here are my impressions on what I have used. First off I have and use a Crisp Solutions 515, 616, RTI T2, and a Pronto with my home theater, which consists of several different brands of components.

The T2 is definitely the Mercedes of the group. Not much it can’t do. But it is a bit expensive for the mass market. I like most everything about except I wish they would not have flared it as much as they did in the center. But overall it very balanced.

The Pronto is very nice, has great support (just look at the files you can get on this site) and is fully customizable I think it is one of the best buys on the market. , but to be honest I don't really like the way it feels of it in my hands, it's kind of wide. I like the narrow format for one-handed operation. The other thing all the touch screen have in common is that as you tilt them at your IR target your viewing angle gets steeper and you can't see the button labels, the pronto at least addresses this with some buttons. I see why its is so popular, but it would not be my first choice.

The UC515 is a bargain and a very nice entry-level touchscreen, I only wish the button labels were customizable. But at $99 it does a lot of things right, great with macros, fast scrolling and gets the job done at an unbeatable price. The same problem with the tilting screen limiting your view. I suggested to Uli at Crisp solutions that they put the IR emitter on a swivel so that you could look at the screen while pushing the buttons. One of these manufacturers is going to do this some day and wonder why they ever had it in a fixed position. The other strong point of the 515 is Uli, just look what he did when the X10 forum wanted to use this with the IR543, he immediately incorporated this into the remote as shipped, not many companies would respond like that. Just a great guy.

The UC616 is kind of a poor attempt at a cheap T2, I find it similar in a lot of respects. The layout is nice and the way the basic screens are laid out. The one I have an early production unit and let me tell you it is slow. Changing channels takes a button push for each advance, I would rather hold the button down and have it move out. The macros also have their own menu, which is not so hot, I like the ability to assign a macro to any button I want. This remote is coming out with new software later this month that may fix some of this, but I will wait and see.

Which leads to the HTM MX1000, I got to use on of these briefly and have not had the chance to program it, but from what I can tell this unit is real real nice. The feel and layout is just what I am looking for and the price is right in the spot that is affordable for most everyone looking for a high-end remote. My only reservation about this is its frequency range. I wish it had been a little broader so that it covered everything on the market I have some old pioneer elite that I am not sure it is going to work on. The only other problem I have with this unit is the manufacturer, I just don’t get the same helpful feel I get when I call them as I do with the other three manufacturers, it’s been kind of like go away your bugging me. Having said that I just can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Thanks
Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

Bill E,

I guess it's hurry up and wait. From the *looks* of the HTM, it seems to have a nice feel to it, but I guess it will boil down to what type of software package it will come with and how customizable it will be.

Personal preference wise, I would like one with a slim design (ease of use in one hand) and a nice balance between hard and soft buttons. And of course, the software.

I am sure there are some out there like me who are waiting to see what all the hub bub is about with the HTM, or go with the tried and tested Pronto(nuances and all) with the support base it has. But another important factor that people have to keep in mind, is the sale afterwards. I have reservations about a company that cannot keep target dates and being less than customer friendly.

Bill

Well, I guess I should have learned my lesson from the history of this company. I got tired of waiting for my distributor and called Universal and guess what? They only got a limited number of MX1000's in and they are all gone, most distributors who had large orders were not sent any, only small orders were filled. So yes, I have been burned by this vaporware product like the rest of you. They say that the next shipment is expected to reach universal the 26th who knows how many. I am in the process of getting official authorized dealer status but my guess is I will receive that long before I get any product to sell.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com