Does anyone like the UMC-1?

[stiehl11]

I like mine; love it for the price. Dropouts are annoying when they happen but easily resolved. Usually come from my Comcast box when they happen. This isn't the UMC's fault but what Comcast does to their video/audio signals that throws it in a loop (Lonnie and I talked quite about this and other things at Emo-fest).

[collector]

I love mine.... The only issue that I run across is the occasional need to bounce between sources. Sometimes it doesn't pick up my source on starting my BD movies. That and my emo amp have really made my system come alive. Even the cat pay more attention!

[Davecski65]

Almost a year with mine,Lovin It!

[choirbass]

Love mine! The only issue im having is software passthrough not working properly, or rather just not accepting the displays nonconventional resolution or just connection even. Was wanting to passthrough 1680x1050 from my htpc over dvi to my display over dvi by way of an hdmi adapter, it just says resolutiom not supported, so setting 720P as the most preferrable other choice works at least. The evil, evil hdmi (lol ) does well otherwise with limited usage like this. For audio im just using both 7.1 and 2.1 analog from my sound card. A wii and a/v adapter/converter are connected as well. Sounds excellent, with absolutely zero real problems in the half year or so that ive owned it. The combination with a upa-7 absolutely blows away any budget receiver ive personally used or had; both sound quality and configuration options are pretty much unmatched. Although coming from budget avrs too, id be surprised if that wasnt the case.

Beyond that im considering buying a second one for my family to use, and at only $500, why not?

As a side note, knowing the cable box downstairs has issues with hdmi, an hdmi switcher, as well as the samsung bluray player i connected temporarily to the umc-1, and complaints involving it in general.. avoiding hdmis use when i can has kept me happy, because everything still works reliably and isnt nearly as restricted either

[Ctuna]

Lots of problems with mine in the beginning, but sent it back to EMO and it's been awesome with just an occasional dropout ever since. I think the XMC will be awesome when it comes out. I think that EMO probably learned allot about what and what not do do from the UMC-1 release.

The sound quality is what made me stick with it and I glad I did.

[vitruvian]

I am very happy with mine. I will buy more Emo processors in the future. I think of the (very) few niggles I have had as 'personality' rather than 'failings'.

Big on SQ whilst low on price - I am in.

[klinemj]

I love mine...great sound, great picture, EmoQ is working great, love the OSD, and it is "playing nice in the sandbox" with all my equipment.

Mark

[House]

love the one i use in the master room.....only time i ever even have an audio dropout is when using my media player...and honestly i think its due to the cheap 88 dollar media player.....not the EMO gear. I'd buy another one if i didnt have a brand new pioneer elite reciever just sitting in its box in my closet.....

[Gary Cook]

I have a UMC-1 as does my cousin and my uncle, I installed the 3 and did the set up. None of us have ever had an issue with our UMC-1's from day 1. I have an upgrade certificate but I'm not sure I will use it as the UMC-1 does everything I need.

Cheers
Gary

[tangible]

Amazing sound quality, very flexible controls, very fun tweek-able unit, value leader.
Not up to consumer standards for firmware upgrade handling, but it's upgradeable with effort, and the upgrades have been done.
Support is excellent.

Firmware has evolved but it has taken 2 years. Concepts were ahead of Emo's capabilities initially.
Emo's next generation - the XMC - 'should' benefit greatly from their experience with the UMC.

It should be noted that the whole industry went, and continues to go, thru HDMI speedbumps.
The transition was top to bottom, from silicon to systems. Nightmare of blind leading blind.

[jjmatrix]

I got mine about 1.5 months ago, but I haven't "play" with it as much as I wanted due moving into a new house. The only "complaints" I have at this point are: HDMI switching is slow, and the unit did not turn on/off on 2-3 occasions. But I consider these inconveniences at best.
Overall I am very pleased with UMC-1; I like the sound, be it stereo music or 5.1 surround movies/shows etc. Sometime in December I will buy better speakers and I intend to set everything up as best as I can; I will most likely follow up with a more in-depth review.
I agree with many that usually issue are the ones coming up all the time which can give the wrong perception that a product is sub-par. I would love to have the ability to put a poll on this forum about this very product.
On the other hand I don't agree with some saying "what do you expect for this kind of money??
So... if it has features beyond it's price point, is it OK to be "buggy"? I don't think so; but since people at Emotiva are "keeping at it" and should/would alleviate most problems, I for one am willing to cut them some slack.

[audiofile]

Oct 5, 2011 17:44:44 GMT -5 Pauly said:

Jamrock, I really wish that was the case, but it's not. Actually, when it was Verizon I had zero problems and quick lock on. Then Frontier Communications moved into my area, and Verizon dropped/handed me over to Frontier, along with most of Portland metro area. Everything was still fine for about a week, then one night they decided to perform an update at midnight(which I witnessed)and the HDMI handshake has been ruined ever since then. So hopefully Verizon will share that update with Frontier.

Anyway, back on topic.

Frontier kinda sucks from a qualityof service standpoint, IMHO. I lost my STB to monitor HDMI handshake as well.

[Pauly]

Three words can describe Frontier. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

[stony2275]

I like the product. Minor issues. Decent for music/2 channel. Firmware update process is amateur, but I hope to do it only 1 or 2 more times. It really should be ethernet or just files on a USB stick with a boot sequence -- oh well at least I can update. Multi-channel is awesome. Good UI and just the number of features I need. Great support. I have all kinds of stuff hooked to it with very few issues and I am an equipment geek and a persnickety software guy. Easy to config and "tune." You really can't beat the price. I don't care about 3d. I am a happy customer watching Blu-rays, DirecTV and listening to music with SPDIF devices as well as analog. It is the core of a Magnepan surround system.

[suffolk112000]

Oct 5, 2011 12:20:31 GMT -5 rbruse said:

We have two UMC-1s six months old and love them. We have had zero Problems and think our upgrade to Emotiva was a wonderful choice. I have never seen more complaints on a product in my life.

We must have the only two in the world that function perfectly. Great product and exceptional buy.

I feel the same way.
All the negativity gets old.
I wrote a short review about my experience a week after I bought mine.
Here's the review...
emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=preamps&action=display&thread=24802

[rob80b]

So far so good on my end after a few weeks of use.

The main bug so far is when changing the video resolutions (I use 1080p for the ATV2 but pass through for Blu-ray to get 24p), the audio channel designations get mixed up, fronts might become the rears and vice versa or a loss of a channel, a quick change of input or an off/on resolves the issue or one just needs to remember to change the resolution prior to changing the input.
So other than that the UMC-1 has performed admirably while watching 5.1 movies, 2 channel stereo is not too shoddy either and I might even opt for the USP-1 to replace my Bryston BP25P so that I can facilitate using the sub in Direct mode for music playback.

The thing is, once you get a clean FW install (which appears to be the biggest acceptance hurdle for most) and figure out the bugs (which will most likely show up more often with new users trying out and adjusting the on board features) the UMC-1 should be easy to like unless that is you happen to be one of those who have difficulty programming the timer on your micro-wave or changing the input mode to rectify the issue is too much to deal with, then the UMC-1 may not be to your likening.

The up coming XMC-1 will most likely be the better unit but I wanted a low profile AVP that doesn’t look too bad, equals or bests the sound quality of most of the boxes out there and doesn’t break the bank, the UMC-1 fit the bill perfectly.

Robert

[bukwagner]

I just received my system about a week ago. One little problem with the UMC-1 that fixed itself upon resetting to default (per Vincent’s recommendation). I am by no means an expert, in fact this is my first real system, but this thing sounds awesome!!!!! Just wanted to add my 10 cents.

[ranger67]

I've had my UMC-1 for a little less than a month now and have experienced a couple of problems. First, I had paused a blu ray for almost an hour. When I went to play it, the UMC-1 would not see a signal at all. I had to switch inputs and back and then all worked fine. My only other issue was in the first couple of hours. I was playing a dvd through the system BEFORE I had fully configured the UMC-1. So, once the movie was over, I stepped down the menu and asked for it to play test tones. NOTHING came out. Had to power cycle the unit to get test tones to play. Other than that, the unit has worked pretty good. HDMI handshake speeds can sometimes be pretty good, other times a little slow. I feed the unit with a Sony bdp-580 which not only plays discs, but netflix and dlna streams. The consistent annoyance is while streaming pandora or other dlna music. The unit looses sync between songs over hdmi and with a 2-3 second sync, I often miss the beginning of a song. Obviously, this isn't critical listening, so no big problem, but did want to share. Currently waiting for the first reviews of the XMC-1 with my upgrade coupon burning a tidy little hole in my fingers.

[vthokies]

I have been on the fence about purchasing the UMC-1 and have a couple of questions and hopefully you guys can help me out. My wife and two kids need a pretty flawless system do to the fact they use the set up prior to my coming home after work and weekends. Do you think it will work well with the equipment I have which is the following:

Samsung DVR thru Time Warner Cable hooked up thru HDMI but don't have a problem using optical and component if that eliminates hand shake issues and audio drop outs.

Apple TV - 1st generation hooked up via component and optical.
Cambridge Azur CD Player hooked up via co-ax digital
Oppo 83 hooked up via HDMI
X-box 360 hooked up via HDMI

I really want to get the UMC-1 especially for the 40% upgrade certificate for the XMC-1.
How well do you think it will sound compared to my Denon AVR4810 using Audyssey which I like for multi channel Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio but not for two channel listening.

Help me decide.

Thanks,
Ted

All my equipment is my sig as well.

[dust770]

LOVE my UMC-1 great sound and performance, and love the look of it too. Only had two minor issues. 1 it takes about 5 seconds to get sound when starting a Blu. 2 when I calibrate the sound it often picks the left surround speaker to no sent the test noise to. I just back out and go back in and it works. I often re calibrate because I mess with the channel volumes a bit depending on the movie. For someone who calibrates and leaves it alone this would never be a concern. Never a problem on x-box. Please note these are MINOR issues that I dont even find inconvenient. My Pioneer Elite 94 TXH had a few quirks too. This is a stellar unit! Cant wait for the XMC-1 for my theater room and then this wonderful unit will come upstairs.