URC vs UEI

EdT · Post by **EdT** » Tue Dec 09, 2014 11:17 pm

Which company is the real McCoy with more JP1 remotes ?
Just did a search and they are suing each other over patents ! ...LoL

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 1:06 am

URC has zero JP1 remotes. I guess that makes UEI the real McCoy. Many UEI remotes have "URC" in the model number, but that has nothing to do with the URC company. UEI was first, founded 3 years before URC, and probably did patent quite a few things first. However 99% of all UEI remotes wouldn't be user programmable via PC if it weren't for the JP1 community. URC, on the other hand, has been PC programmable, at least by integrators, for many years. UEI likely just sat on many of those patents, never using them until recently, long after URC.

URC and UEI OEM markets overlap a lot, but their retail market does not overlap as much. Most URC remotes are very high end and custom programmed by integrators. UEI remotes are very low end. Xsight was their failed attempt to compete with URC and Logitech in the high end market. IF their own software was as good as Remote Master, they may have had more success.

UEI is the only remote that can add any arbitrary function to their remotes via "magic" codes (EFCs), their major claim to fame. Other remotes can only acquire new functions by learning. UEI has a very clever, elegant and efficient way to store and use hundreds of protocols and many thousands of codes that few others can match. JP1 software exploits these capabilities to their fullest extent.

3FG · Post by **3FG** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 1:07 am

URC (Universal Remote Control) doesn't make JP1 remotes; only UEI (Universal Electronics, Inc) does. UEI is the older and larger company. It is confusing that UEI remotes are frequently labeled URC-xxxx, leading people to believe that these remotes are made by URC.

MaskedMan · Post by **MaskedMan** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:29 am

As for the lawsuits, UEI is losing each and everyone they bring.

http://www.cepro.com/article/uei_guilty ... e_control/

http://www.cepro.com/article/urc_is_cru ... nt_claims/

EdT · Post by **EdT** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:31 am

mdavej wrote: Many UEI remotes have "URC" in the model number, but that has nothing to do with the URC company.

OMG what the heck were they thinking of, not only is this helping their competition, but confusing the heck out of the consumer as well !
I guess VOXX is the other player that is buying up the retail brands like RCA, Audiovox, AR and Jensen. I thought at one time they had One for All as well.

3FG · Post by **3FG** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:25 pm

Well, it was before I was much interested in remote controls, but this copy of the OneForAll website (click on discontinued products) suggests that the very first offering of UEI was called the URC-2000. Since UEI predates URC by about 5 years, perhaps URC copied the OneForAll acronym?

MaskedMan · Post by **MaskedMan** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:39 pm

Back then we didn't call a remote a remote, we said Remote Control, a universal wasn't a universal, it was Universal Remote Control. GE, Onkyo, Memorex, all of them used that three word phrase. It couldn't have been patented.