I didn't want to pay the obscene $400 list price to try this one out, but I managed to find one used for considerably less. David's review is right on target, so just some additional comments.
Many preprogrammed functions for the same number devices in older remotes, just don't work. VCR 0048 (Sharp) works fine on the Cinema 7 ... half of the buttons on the Director don't function as labelled. The Telecaption device doesn't work at all; it does on my Cinema 7 and older URC-7200.
It really needs a faster CPU. Swapping between pages of buttons is sometimes slow enough that your appliance "times out" in between keypresses if the keys you need are on different pages. To get around this, you have to CAREFULLY plan your page layouts so that all the keys you might need for a single operation are on the same page.
Touch screen buttons are really too insensitive ... you have to pound on it and your fingers get tired. Some of the buttons are so close to the edge - especially the page selector buttons for each device - that you can't fit even a small finger in the right place.
After programming 2 devices with lots of relabelling and key magic (this is why I bought it in the first place) memory was down to 63%. In the middle of programming the third device, I got that "reorganizing memory" message flash on the screen, and free memory was up to 96%, which seemed way too high. It was.
While labelling buttons on the third device, suddenly the labels would not take. When I was done the label would be blank or contain garbage. Then already-working programmed keys stopped working.
I desperation I removed the batteries (fatal mistake). When i put them back, it did a complete reset an wiped everything clean. I lost 2 days' worth of programming work. Sheesh.
The Mosaic web site refers you to a "distributor" for support ... which doesn't exist. Is there an email address that works?

Impact distribution 925-373-7900

See my other comments under the URC-9800 thread. UEIC's tech support people are aware of the fatal memory problem, but are unable to convince their R&D folks to fix it.
This device has crashed on me twice already, and they WON'T FIX IT.

Followup - UEIC has contacted me and indicate they are close to a hardware/software fix to the crashing bug. Will post follow-up if this comes to fruition.

I received my upgraded URC-9900 from UEIC yesterday. They sent by FedEx - total time out of my hands, including a weekend, was 4 days.
The firmware string in the "About" box shows higher version numbers for the first two components.
Also, as promised, the screen display is MUCH faster ... I'd estimate that screen updates are now about twice as fast as on the original firmware. Much less frustrating to use.
Now the arduous task of reprogramming everything, and hoping it doesn't crash again.

I own a URC-9900 and it is doing the same thing to me. How exactly did you go about getting an upgrade on your remote? Did it cost anything extra (minus shipping of course)? And did you need any proof of purchase like a receipt?

Any idea what the "hardware" part of the solution was?

Brad: I've already responded to you in email, so briefly for everyone else: I "got through" to Universal through a combined telephone, email, and snail mail campaign. I finally spoke to someone at their Ohio upgrade office who did not ask for proof of purchase or any fee.

Daniel: AFAIK the "hardware" comment was an uninformed guesstimate. From what I was told on the phone, and the physical evidence, it does not seem that any hardware mods were made. In any case I'm glad you are following this: your absence from the Director threads (and lack of response to my email about it) was curious.

It's called getting WAY more emails than I can handle. :-) OK, if there's no hardware part to this fix, it looks as though it's time for them to come out with a PC upgrade. Chances are the cable it needs is either the one the Pronto or Take Control comes with, so even if they don't want to provide those, "advanced" users could obtain/build their own.

Yes, a PC upgrade is really what's needed to put this unit in real competition with the Pronto and similar models. Programming is a LOT easier with the new firmware because the screen updates are much faster (though it still strobes; I suspect that is due to the display controller and would not be affected by a firmware flash).
I've passed my first milestone: used up enough memory to get the message that memory was being compacted. With the original firmware, things started misbehaving afterwards, and it crashed with a complete reset after replacing the batteries.
Things work fine so far after the memory cleanup; I removed the batteries and after replacing them it initialized and just picked up where it left off.

I apparently had the same memory bug problems.

Sometimes when I would attempt to use the hard buttons or turn on the screen by touching it, instead of sending the command the unit would display the reinitialization screen. Even worse, other times it would not respond at all until the batteries were removed for a few seconds. The "blank screen of death" so to speak.

After reading comments here, I proceeded to fill the memory to 50% and got the "memory cleanup" message. It wasn't apparent that things had become worse until I tried to name a macro button and could only get a blank button. I pulled the batteries and replaced them about 10 seconds later only to find the unit had totally reset.

Needless to say, this was unacceptable. This would have been unacceptable if the unit had only cost $10. Within days of purchasing, I returned to the local retailer and decided to try another unit. (I really wanted this thing to work.) The good news is that this new unit has not duplicated any of the prior problems, so far. The screen redraws seem a little quicker and the screen flicker (slow refresh rate) appears to be gone.

I really like this remote so I hope they've gotten the bugs worked out. I haven't tried the Pronto. Has anyone tried both of these units, the Director and Pronto, and if so, which do you prefer?

Well, I guess it's time to post another update as well. I have been slowly adding devices to the Director that UEIC updated for me recently. I'd gone through a few "compacting memory" routines without problem - until this weekend.
I had 8 devices programmed, and had just deleted a superfluous button on a device composed entirely of learned codes. Memory was at 95% when last checked. After the "compacting memory" message, I held down the MUTE button to quickly get back to the device control screen. The remote started beeping at me and then the display went blank.
Waited a while .. nothing happened ... so I removed the batteries and, upon powering back up, got the dreaded LCD cablibration routine si knew I was sunk.
Interestingly, memory had only been partially wiped clean. Empty (unlabelled) buttons for all the programmed devices, and the programmed/learned function buttons were still there, but they no long transmitted recognizable codes.
As I tried different buttons to assess the damage, the display suddenly froze and the remote became unresponsive. I tossed it in the box and emailed UEIC again.
I got a response from yet another person there, who wanted to have an engineer call me to discuss exactly what I did to get to the crash. That was yesterday ... no call as yet. Film at 11.
Conclusion: still not ready for prime time ... at least not until there is a way to back up your work (read: PC interface).

I had reported that my new remote had no screen flicker. After further review, in better lighting, I see the screen flicker is still there but it is not noticeable unless you try to see it (from your peripheral vision). Certainly better than the prior unit that was giving me problems. It had noticeable flicker looking straight at it. Not to mention the crashing.

For what it's worth, here is the version number from the "About" screen from my new Director remote...

A08.S08.R08.LUSM0.H01.BUMS0.P11

I'm not sure what the number was on the defective unit, should have written it down before returning it.

I have 8 devices programmed with various learned keys, moved keys and macros. At 77% memory now and still have not reached the 50% point. I'm a little concerned that everything was going well with Mike's unit and then - CRASH! I still have time to return mine to the retailer so I'm hoping to hear if anyone else is having problems. I also want to hear from everyone having NO PROBLEMS with malfunctions.

Thanks

Before upgrade: A08.S08.R08.LUSM0,H01.BUMS0.P11

After upgrade: A11.S12.R08.LUSM0.H01.BUSM0.P11

Have been in touch with UEIC a couple of times since the crash; they're working on it.

By the way: after the last crash, my remote is essentially in an unstable/unuseable condition. There are a number of "blank-labelled" devices which cannot be deleted. It's tough to know exactly how many, since they all look the same. Attempts to delete them using the device setup menu doesn't work. Either it says they're deleted and they aren't, or it says the device is "locked", or it crashes again with garbage filling the screen.
The user reset function does not help. There are two exposed contacts through a cutout inside the battery compartment; shorting them causes a coldstart but the phantom devices do not disappear. I can remove individual functin keys using the view/delete function in the personalization menu, but not the phantom devices themselves. It looks as though some core memory storage area is corrupted in a way that can't be recovered via the keyboard. Time to call them back again.