Re: No more X10 at Radio Shack?

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:AQidh.369$Gr2.67@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 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 ...

There were a number of mislabelled and mismatched remotes and promotion
material.  I bought one recently on Ebay that was completely erroneoud.
IIRC, that remote was one of the cheapest and least functional remotes ever
made.  They also had the worst RF range, although that might have just been
a production issue that could have been fixed by tuning.  I think the UR19A
was also made before the widespread advent of DVD players.  Worst of all,
it's not able to learn commands from other remotes.  They made a number of
different remotes, all with their own different strengths but having a
learning function is a basic necessity, IMHO, to solve just the problem you
are facing.

> 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.

In the world of consumer electronics, that's two generations ago.  I don't
even think the original maker is required to provide spare parts for more
than 5 years, although many do.


> >>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.

IIRC, they went from sales of 2 million dollars per year to 20 million
dollars as a result of that campaign.  You and I may have hated it, but it
made them, at one point, one of the fastest growing companies on the
Internet.


> >                                                     ... 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 :-(

Vouchers were flooding the Internet in the 2000-2001 time frame, IIRC.  They
provided some pretty signficant discounts and the more you bought, the more
vouchers and deals you got.  I have about 20 Hawkeyes because for a while,
you could get them for $3 or so, or even for free.  If you had a work
address, a business address and a neighbor you could really acquire a lot of
equipment.  It must have been cost effective because they made an *awful*
lot of money.  I don't recall being able to break it down across product
lines:  it may easily be that they sold more X-10 cams to voyeurs than the
home automation equipment.


> > 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 ;-)

Manufacturers love to sell products that are never used because they don't
have to spend a dime supporting them!

> 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.

But you *can* buy it.  I just bought 4 more because they make X-10 so much
more reliable.  Does it solve *all* my X-10 problems?  No, but I never
expected it to.  What it does is sharply reduce the chances of something
being left on in the house after I send an ALL OFF command, and that's one
of the primary reasons I use X-10.

--
Bobby G.