Re: No more X10 at Radio Shack?

[Joerg <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert Green wrote:

> "Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:r0%
>
> <stuff snipped>
>
>>Ours still flashes 12:00 after an outage. X10 let us down here: We
>>bought the X10 universal remote and on the picture it had a "Menu"
>>button in the lower left. When I unpacked it I discovered that it had a
>>"Guide" button in that space and no menu button. Hence we cannot program
>>the clock or anything else at all except by unplugging again and holding
>>some magic buttons on the VCR itself. Its original remote had died.
>
>
> Is it *really* their fault?  If you're talking about one of their learning
> Universal remotes, it *could* learn the code you're missing in all
> probability, but your original died.  Which of the many X-10 remotes are you
> talking about?
>

It's the UR19A. Their fault? Well, when the glossy ad says there is a
menu button and then when the product arrives there is no menu button,
ahem ...

>
>>Tried dozens of VCR codes in the booklet and none turns that useless
>>guide button into menu mode :-(
>
>
> If it's a learning remote, maybe there's someone that can lend you an
> original remote just for learning purposes if you list the exact make and
> model of the gear you want to control.
>
> I just had a situation where I couldn't get my X-10 learning remote to learn
> the codes to control my Sony DVD jukebox.  It was a real bummer because up
> until that acquisition, the X-10 remote was able to learn any command it
> didn't have embedded in its ROM.  Dave Houston helped me out tremendously by
> suggesting that I use as short a teaching press as possible because (IIRC)
> Sony used atypically short codes.  This was in direct contravention to the
> advice I had gotten about programming my Ocelot, but lo and behold, I was
> able to teach my X-10 remote to control the basic functions of the jukebox.
> For some things, we still need the original remotes, but it's very nice to
> have a remote that controls all the lights, the AV gear and the CCTV and can
> perform 95 per cent of the work that needs doing.  Very nice.  Thanks Dave!
>

This VCR is quite old, 8-9 years. But we have learned to live with the
problem. When the clock lags too much we pull the power cord and
re-program the clock by hand an hour or so later.

>
>>>How many of the "new and better" systems will still be around 30 years
>
> from
>
>>>now?
>>>
>>
>>Good point. "New and better" is not only about technology, they also
>>need to understand marketing. So far I don't see that happen.
>
>
> Dude.  They ramped up sales at X10.com using popunders, popovers, popups,
> popouts and spam at a rate that kept breaking records.  I'm not saying those
> were *good* tactics but they certainly moved the product. ...


I am not so sure about that. Pretty much all the more geeky people I
know were turned off by those ads. To the point where some of them
didn't go back there.


>                                                     ... And now I can
> benefit from all of the 2 for 1 vouchers X10.com used to give away.  Those
> vouchers caused people to buy far more gear than they ever needed (that's
> the hallmark of effective marketing - selling snow to Eskimos).   I liked
> the vouchers, personally, and I know a LOT of people here bought lots of
> gear with vouchers.  The popup crap I could live without and did, as soon as
> I got a popup blocker.
>

Hmm, maybe I missed something then. Got no vouchers :-(


> To get X-10 to work reliably in the new world, you need filters, you need a
> meter and you need a signal booster like Jeff's XTB.   That's really a small
> cost to protect for what some is a fairly large investment in X-10 gear.
> IIRC, there was a comment here a while back that claimed over 5 million X-10
> devices are in use.  If true, it's going to be a while before any other HA
> technology reaches that number.
>

That number might include all the ones that were sold. I bet most of
them are laying around in a dusty box somewhere in the garage ;-)

IBM, RCA and many others got out of X10. From what I've heard the number
of complaints reached suffocating levels. Sure, you and I and most folks
on this NG know how to make it work. But John Doe doesn't. Neither does
the neighborhood electrician. Let's face it, Jeff's XTB is probably the
best thing that happened to X10 since sliced bread. But you cannot buy
it in a store or electrician's supply house.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com