UMC-1 wait continues

[tknice]

Jul 9, 2009 17:39:26 GMT -5 ebam311 said:

I think RLW put it very well.

Emotiva has set and missed delivery date after after delivery date. They deserve to hear the frustrations of their customers. As much as some of you don't want to hear it over and over, it speaks louder and louder to Emotiva everytime a new thread is started and they hear from potential new customers, how frustrated they are to have been anticipating a product and not have it available as promised. Customers are buying other products in lieu of an Emotiva product. It's sad and not good for business.

I understand Emotiva is trying very hard to get the product done, but it doesn't take away from customer frustrations.

The frustration comes when people hold off on buying something else to wait for a product. The alternative would be for Emotiva not to offer any kind of advance notice. One day the product becomes available for shipping which means you may have already purchased elsewhere. I personally would rather them wait until they are completely satisfied--or at least to a point where all remaining bugs are small and can be fixed via firmware updates.

[DYohn]

Jul 9, 2009 17:39:26 GMT -5 ebam311 said:

..., it speaks louder and louder to Emotiva everytime a new thread is started and they hear from potential new customers, how frustrated they are to have been anticipating a product and not have it available as promised. .

My bet is they stopped reading such threads long ago. I know I would have in their shoes.

And I'll say it again: these threads do no one any good at all. Indeed, they stoke the fires of negativity for new people just discovering the company who may not be aware of the entire history or the reasons behind the delays. They just hear things like "This company make promises they don't keep" and it hurts the company's reputation. That does none of us any good, well except maybe it make the complainer feel better that they were able to *bleep* about their frustrations on a forum.

Whatever. I've seen this sort of thing really hurt Internet companies, and that's the only reason I care what you or anyone posts. I have no vested interest in Emotiva except I want them to succeed. Others may have different motivations, I don't know.

[flamingeye]

I`m sorry ,but I`ve looked and I`ve looked and I can`t find anywhere where emotiva promised that it would be ready/shipping on any said date ,please show me where they promised to deliver the UMC and the date of that promise

[jasona]

Jul 9, 2009 17:39:26 GMT -5 ebam311 said:

I think RLW put it very well.

Emotiva has set and missed delivery date after after delivery date. They deserve to hear the frustrations of their customers. As much as some of you don't want to hear it over and over, it speaks louder and louder to Emotiva everytime a new thread is started and they hear from potential new customers, how frustrated they are to have been anticipating a product and not have it available as promised. Customers are buying other products in lieu of an Emotiva product. It's sad and not good for business.

I understand Emotiva is trying very hard to get the product done, but it doesn't take away from customer frustrations.

Do you really think Emotiva is clueless... that they have no idea that people are frustrated with the delays? Do you think they're "stalling", intentionally holding back their product because they want people to ditch them and buy somewhere else? Do you think they're just kicking back bumming around instead of trying to get this product to market?

Personally I think Emotiva listens less and less the more people complain about the delays. They're already aware and I'm sure embarassed every time they miss a date. They've said many times that they aren't going to bring the UMC to market until it's solid. The LMC had a rough start and I think they had a lot of work to regain trust and confidence. They would rather be known as the guys that was late to the game, but brought a great piece without problems, rather than rushed to the market with lots of problems (which in this case would have meant having people ship their units back to Emotiva for repair work, which would be a huge expense to Emotiva).

[ratmice]

Jul 9, 2009 19:21:23 GMT -5 flamingeye said:

I`m sorry ,but I`ve looked and I`ve looked and I can`t find anywhere where emotiva promised that it would be ready/shipping on any said date ,please show me where they promised to deliver the UMC and the date of that promise

The webcast comes to mind, this from the Emo news page:

"During a webcast recording, company President Dan Laufman stated that a small pilot run of UMC-1 Processors would be in house in June, and that mass shipment would start in July."

They also updated the new page to indicate the current delay.

Whatever, it'll be here soon. Now where are the subs?

[flamingeye]

OK thank`s , I always forget to check the news section on there site , it will be nice when they get the UMC out so they can concentrate on my XMC don`t care about a date , but it`s going to be exciting when I get that email though

[elee532]

Jul 9, 2009 19:22:28 GMT -5 jasona said:

They would rather be known as the guys that was late to the game, but brought a great piece without problems, rather than rushed to the market with lots of problems

When did these two things become mutually exclusive? Is it no longer posssible that a company can be "on time to the game" AND "bring a great piece without problems." Is this a totally unrealistic expectation... even when the company gets to set their own game time?

[jasona]

Well, it would appear that those are their two options right now. Obviously they would have liked to have had this to us a year ago when they originally thought they were going to be able to, but for a lot of reasons (some of which were outside their control), that didn't happen. Would you prefer that they start shipping products that they know have defects?

There have been a couple of other companies that have delivered their HDMI pre-pros before all of the bugs were worked out, and their customers have bailed ship, probably never to come back because in their minds, the companies don't know how to build a quality product. People already want to write Emotiva off because their prices are so comparatively low... but instead lots of people are being won over to Emo because at that low price you get a quality product. If the product isn't quality, there's the ammo you need to prove that the price really is too good to be true.

I'm pretty sure you're going to get your wish with future products - they aren't going to even leak information on what they have coming up, and then they'll post "we have a new XXX on the boat and they'll be here in 4 weeks". That seems to be their modus operandi now. I think that's kind of sad, as it means we're probably going to be missing out on giving our feedback on the early design elements, which was one of the things that made the Emotiva experience unique.

[Mike Ronesia]

Has there been anything added to this thread since the first post which was informational and didn't require a response? Maybe it's just about people entertaining themselves.

Like me.

[oscartheclimber]

Jul 9, 2009 23:07:13 GMT -5 jasona said:

I'm pretty sure you're going to get your wish with future products - they aren't going to even leak information on what they have coming up, and then they'll post "we have a new XXX on the boat and they'll be here in 4 weeks". That seems to be their modus operandi now. I think that's kind of sad, as it means we're probably going to be missing out on giving our feedback on the early design elements, which was one of the things that made the Emotiva experience unique.

I think (hope) you are absolutely wrong - Emo just this week posted a poll getting feedback and giving info on an Emo DAC.

I do agree that we won't hear much about new product launches until the fat lady starts singing. That does seem to be their policy now.

[bigred7078]

Jul 10, 2009 6:43:27 GMT -5 oscartheclimber said:

Jul 9, 2009 23:07:13 GMT -5 jasona said:

I'm pretty sure you're going to get your wish with future products - they aren't going to even leak information on what they have coming up, and then they'll post "we have a new XXX on the boat and they'll be here in 4 weeks". That seems to be their modus operandi now. I think that's kind of sad, as it means we're probably going to be missing out on giving our feedback on the early design elements, which was one of the things that made the Emotiva experience unique.

I think (hope) you are absolutely wrong - Emo just this week posted a poll getting feedback and giving info on an Emo DAC.

I do agree that we won't hear much about new product launches until the fat lady starts singing. That does seem to be their policy now.

true, but its also not something they are starting from scratch with. Its the dac from the ERC-1. The equipment is already there.

[lonnie]

A product like the UMC-1 is in its simplest concept a very complicated product. A product that goes way beyond the simple building blocks of selecting certain parts to handle specific aspects of its operation. It is fascinating how each block brings with it a whole new level of complexity. Take for instance the video engine. You wouldn’t think that the length of a piece of wire on the board would make much of a difference. What I mean is if one piece of wire is 2.00mm in length and another is 2.01 what would be the big deal? In reality it can mean the difference between the system working reliably or not at all. So the technical aspects to overcome for each block were numerous, but not insurmountable.

I find it interesting that the fundamental building blocks of the UMC can be drawn on a single piece of paper. But each of those blocks could fill a book the size of war and peace with schematics and technical data and once you have all the blocks in place, you still have to marry them together much like mortar is to bricks. The mortar in this case is the software and firmware that binds it all together. Thousands upon thousands of lines of code had to be written, tested and re-written to bring it all to life. But even that wasn’t the end of journey. Since the UMC will be the hub of a much larger AV system it has to be able to work in an unimaginable number of scenarios with equipment from 100s of other companies. To that end there are governing bodies that set forth rules, regulations and standards that we must comply with.

When you look at the big picture it is easy to understand why there are only a handful of companies that will actually spend the time and resources to develop AV processors. For us it has been a labor of love with all the trials, tribulations and joys associated with the development of such a complicated product. For some of us the journey started several years ago and to say we are excited about its release would be an understatement. I know many of you are also very excited and anxious, so let me just leave you with this one last thought. The blocks are in place, the mortar is set, and everything is nearing completion. All that is left is a little spit and polish, so get ready it’s almost here.

[SticknStones]

I have the utmost confidence in you all! That was a nicely written response and thank you!

Patience is our virtue!

[darkvisions]

Well said Lonnie...bravo

[jh714]

Jul 9, 2009 21:52:26 GMT -5 flamingeye said:

OK thank`s , I always forget to check the news section on there site , it will be nice when they get the UMC out so they can concentrate on my XMC don`t care about a date , but it`s going to be exciting when I get that email though

My sentiments exactly; the sooner the UMC, the sooner the XMC

AND, where are the SUBS?? ;D

[rk1981]

Jul 10, 2009 11:54:13 GMT -5 lonnie said:

A product like the UMC-1 is in its simplest concept a very complicated product. A product that goes way beyond the simple building blocks of selecting certain parts to handle specific aspects of its operation. It is fascinating how each block brings with it a whole new level of complexity. Take for instance the video engine. You wouldn’t think that the length of a piece of wire on the board would make much of a difference. What I mean is if one piece of wire is 2.00mm in length and another is 2.01 what would be the big deal? In reality it can mean the difference between the system working reliably or not at all. So the technical aspects to overcome for each block were numerous, but not insurmountable.

I find it interesting that the fundamental building blocks of the UMC can be drawn on a single piece of paper. But each of those blocks could fill a book the size of war and peace with schematics and technical data and once you have all the blocks in place, you still have to marry them together much like mortar is to bricks. The mortar in this case is the software and firmware that binds it all together. Thousands upon thousands of lines of code had to be written, tested and re-written to bring it all to life. But even that wasn’t the end of journey. Since the UMC will be the hub of a much larger AV system it has to be able to work in an unimaginable number of scenarios with equipment from 100s of other companies. To that end there are governing bodies that set forth rules, regulations and standards that we must comply with.

When you look at the big picture it is easy to understand why there are only a handful of companies that will actually spend the time and resources to develop AV processors. For us it has been a labor of love with all the trials, tribulations and joys associated with the development of such a complicated product. For some of us the journey started several years ago and to say we are excited about its release would be an understatement. I know many of you are also very excited and anxious, so let me just leave you with this one last thought. The blocks are in place, the mortar is set, and everything is nearing completion. All that is left is a little spit and polish, so get ready it’s almost here.

Thank you Obiwan! Might I suggest posting a copy of your statement in the announcements? It might limit the number of UMC-1 angst threads.

[jmilton]

...bring on the knob!

[f1nels]

Thank you Lonnie once again for taking the time to post and ease the pain.I feel like I've ordered a custom Ferrari from the factory that I've waited a year and a half for that's almost done.OK, almost that excited.

[Lonnie]

Jul 10, 2009 11:54:13 GMT -5 lonnie said:

A product like the UMC-1 is in its simplest concept a very complicated product. A product that goes way beyond the simple building blocks of selecting certain parts to handle specific aspects of its operation. It is fascinating how each block brings with it a whole new level of complexity. Take for instance the video engine. You wouldn’t think that the length of a piece of wire on the board would make much of a difference. What I mean is if one piece of wire is 2.00mm in length and another is 2.01 what would be the big deal? In reality it can mean the difference between the system working reliably or not at all. So the technical aspects to overcome for each block were numerous, but not insurmountable.

I find it interesting that the fundamental building blocks of the UMC can be drawn on a single piece of paper. But each of those blocks could fill a book the size of war and peace with schematics and technical data and once you have all the blocks in place, you still have to marry them together much like mortar is to bricks. The mortar in this case is the software and firmware that binds it all together. Thousands upon thousands of lines of code had to be written, tested and re-written to bring it all to life. But even that wasn’t the end of journey. Since the UMC will be the hub of a much larger AV system it has to be able to work in an unimaginable number of scenarios with equipment from 100s of other companies. To that end there are governing bodies that set forth rules, regulations and standards that we must comply with.

When you look at the big picture it is easy to understand why there are only a handful of companies that will actually spend the time and resources to develop AV processors. For us it has been a labor of love with all the trials, tribulations and joys associated with the development of such a complicated product. For some of us the journey started several years ago and to say we are excited about its release would be an understatement. I know many of you are also very excited and anxious, so let me just leave you with this one last thought. The blocks are in place, the mortar is set, and everything is nearing completion. All that is left is a little spit and polish, so get ready it’s almost here.

Lonnie, I just spoke with Dan L., and he gave me the thumbs up on my concept of shifting the company from audio based to smoothie based.

'Emotiva Fruit Smoothies'. What do you think? We could have, like 80 diffeent flavors, and we'd all wear matching outfits with hats and everything.

[Spike]

Dan,

I would like to request that a strawberry Margarita be included among one of the 80 "smoothies."