Kickstarter campaign for Remote 3 launches tomorrow

News
1

Our Kickstarter campaign for Remote 3 launches tomorrow, Friday 21st of June at 18.00 Central European / 12.00 Eastern / 9.00 Pacific / 16.00 UTC.

In the first three days, until midnight on Sunday CET, we have great discounts:

  • Remote 3 standalone - €279 (MSRP €349)
  • Dock 3 standalone - €89 (MSRP €119)
  • Remote 3 and Dock 3 bundle - €299 (MSRP €449)

After the limited time offer, there will be still attractive prices for the rest of the campaign:

  • Remote 3 standalone - €299 (MSRP €349)
  • Dock 3 standalone - €99 (MSRP €119)
  • Remote 3 and Dock 3 bundle - €329 (MSRP €449)

We have configured add-ons for the pledges, so you can add additional remotes and docks. Kickstarter campaign page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marton/unfolded-circle-remote-3?ref=4dxc3n

We have something special for Remote Two owners. We have sent out emails to you, but if you bought a Remote Two second hand, please reach out to our support and we’ll make the same special deal available to you as well.

4 Likes
2

I had registered for the remote 2a long time ago, so I am pretty excited about the new model.

Is there some sort of a timeframe, for when about we could theoretically receive the remotes?
Autumn or a Christmas present or even later?

Just sort of an idea.
Last time, it took forever. But obviously, there were many unexpected hindrances.

3

I’m pleased to see the Remote 2 offer has been extended to all owners and not just those that bought directly from you. I am looking to buy Remote 3 with at least 2 and possibly 3 docks (I need 2 blasters that are located in different rooms and a 3rd location where I would like to charge the remote). Remote 2 reserve list offer is free dock, so what is the Remote 2 owner offer?

4

I am still hugely miffed about how this entire situation has played out. I would like to provide my point of view so that hopefully this type of situation can be avoided in the future. I would love to know if others share this sentiment.

*Disclaimer, yes, I understand new revisions are needed, but how it has been handled has been extremely poorly. I wish to explain/vent.

Remote 2 backers are promised “a little something”, and I guess at least that’s not hyperbole. Being forced to buy the new hardware for €279 in order to even take advantage of our loyalty is one thing. To see our loyalty is worth €20 is another. For one, an offer of a free dock 3 (or significantly discounted) and IR improved blaster, without having to buy another remote, would go way further. It seems like version 3 of the dock and upgraded blaster includes some essential improvements that were sorely lacking in version 2 (weak IR, dock is signal source AND only charging station, etc.). Being upsold just feels… icky. Maybe it’s just me though?

Anyways… what amazes me though is that isn’t even enough to really dissuade me from giving you more money for a new product, because I believe in the mission and the remote 2 hardware is extremely nice, even if I can’t use it. But therein lies the main issue. The reason I cannot persuade myself into giving more money:

I still cannot use my remote 2, at all.

There has been no communication that I’m aware of on here or Discord about timelines on IP control of LG TVs or Onkyo/Pioneer AVRs. LG isn’t some obscure manufacturer. I would be shocked if they weren’t in the top 3. As for Onkyo/Pioneer, there’s got to be some demand for these manufacturers as well. I see discussions of user integrations being released sometime in the future, but nothing regarding that specific hardware being compatible. (Let alone my other gear, minus my Apple TVs.)

And yes, I know about HomeAssistant for controls, but when we bought into the Kickstarter, I don’t remember, “forced usage of HA in order to have an operating universal remote” being in the promotional materials. Maybe I missed it. I have not chosen HA hardware yet, so I would really prefer my remote be able to handle remote duties sooner than it takes me to get a new smart home system set up and everything transferred over.

If we had been delivered a fully working remote 2, these points would be moot. Release your new hardware, try to make money, give loyal customers a little something extra (in addition to a working product), keep going, rinse and repeat. I get it.

But our “reward” for spending €350+ years ago (if I’m remembering correctly) is to be able to spend another €279+, on a second device? I would then have two devices that still don’t have a concrete timeline for when they will be working without me relying on HA for integral universal remote functionality. I want to do it, but I logically can’t.

Sorry for the wall of text. I feel a little better, but maybe I’m factually wrong somewhere or just wrong with how I’m feeling.

5

If you read the whole email, you know that we’re not forcing anyone into buying new hardware.

For one, an offer of a free dock 3 (or significantly discounted) and IR improved blaster, without having to buy another remote, would go way further.

This is exactly what’s in the email :slight_smile:

2 Likes
6

Hi,
with IR it is already a universal remote and BlueTooth is near. For LG there is a community integration here GitHub - albaintor/integration-lgtv: Unfolded Circle Remote Two integration driver for LG TVs

Ralf

1 Like
7

Hi Ralf, thanks for the response.

Unfortunately, I do not want to have to set up another device for integrations to work. A large part of my issue currently is that it is not a self-sufficient device. I don’t really want to have to rely on other systems and hardware to get my $400 remote to work. It’s an option, but frankly isn’t really acceptable. I am aware that at some point there are plans for this to be on-device.

As for IR, unfortunately, it is completely useless for me. I have all my AVRs in my basement in a rack and IR is not as responsive as IP control, additionally, it has no way to distinguish one AVR of the same brand to another. (Or at least, there’s only 3 different IR settings, and I have more than that number of AVRS of the same brand.) Onboard IP control for these devices can’t come quick enough!

8

Hello Marton, appreciate you responding.

The entire meaning of my “forced” sentence I think has been lost in translation a bit. Of course we’re not being forced to buy the new product, but I guess my point is, our options are:

  • Buy the remote for €279 and get a free €20 dock.

  • Buy the remote and dock for €299, get another free dock. (Not as horrible a deal, but see my previous point about timelines of development.)

  • Buy the dock 3 standalone for €49 + shipping. (Why is it worth only €20 when bundled, but if Kickerstarters buy it, it’s €49? I’d find €30 to be an acceptable discounted price.)

  • Buy the IR blaster. €10 + shipping, which isn’t horrible, but it could be argued R2 owners who use IR extensively basically need this for their devices to work correctly, at least, based on what I’ve read on here. It should be thrown in free as well with the free/discounted dock 3s.

  • Don’t buy anything.

All that to say, I still would have two $300+ devices that cannot function as promised without extensive 3rd party support, for now. A little sweeter of a deal for us R2 owners would have probably helped alleviate some complaints.

Thanks for hearing out my concerns.

1 Like
9

I must agree.

I do not want to spend more money to get my R2 working. The discounted dock offer is still expensive in my view as the R2 should not need it.

I would feel better if there was an offer of a free IR blaster at least. If it works, it could solve many of our usability issues.

I also echo your plea for those very same integrations.

I am so frustrated that I am considering the Haptique RS90x. Unfortunately, judging by their timeline which is remarkably similar to UC’s, I fear that remote will be as incomplete as the R2 is now.

@marton As for reading the email, I still haven’t received one. I am in the dark. Can’t you just publish the whole email? Why the secrecy?

1 Like
10

But the IR is too weak to be of any use.

11

Also, I’ve found that using Home Assistant as an intermediary makes the whole remote experience laggy and unresponsive.

12

Sorry, but I cannot support this. My HA runs in Docker on my Synology NAS and I control my LG TV and my VU+ satellite receiver with HA from my R2. The control from R2 via HA to the LG TV and the VU+ is really very responsive and very stable.

On the other side my SONOS speaker control with the native Unfolded Circle SONOS integration is from time to time a little bit laggy and not so stable. When I change the SONOS control to HA this is responsive and stable, but the HA way cannot display the actual volume level, so therefore I use the native UC integration for this.

All in all I cannot really say that the ip device control via HA from R2 is laggy.

13

How are you triggering HA from the R2?

14

Via HA scripts. I just explained it in this post:

EDIT:
For my LG TV it is controlled via the HA integration for WebOS.
For my VU+ satellite receiver it is controlled via HA shell commands with http posts.

15

What about Matter support ?
Will this be implemented ?
Or is it even possible ?

I see that the rs90x Remote will have support for matter.

Maybe Rs90x is a better option

16

We had high hopes in Matter that it would solve the common issues with different communication standards and hubs. Initially we had it on our roadmap for 2024 and were eager to get started.
Unfortunately a lot of issues emerged with the standard development. Especially if the number of devices grew and devices from multiple manufacturers were involved. For these reasons we decided to wait until it is more mature, otherwise we simply cannot provide a good user experience or handle all the support requests.
We continue keeping an eye on this standard.

17

I don’t understand why you can’t use your Remote2? I had mine for a while and have no issues controlling my system. I got rid of the Neeo controlling my system before almost immediately.

Controls
LG 77C2
Anthem MRX1140
Sky Q
Oppo 203
Zidoo Z1000 pro
Apple TV

My only complaint would be the speed it takes to find WiFi signal/connect to docks from being woke up. I connected my IR Repeater (neoteck - Amazon) already in my system and had no complaints using IR. Bonus was that would replace IR commands with IP when they were available

1 Like
18

Kickstarter was fully backed in 8 minutes. Not bad :slight_smile:

19

Really is going through the roof. Nearly half a million already.

20

Could you please give me the link to the neoteck ir repeater. I cannot find it on (German) Amazon. Thanks.