Most popular extender

[Capn Trips]

As an indication that I clearly have too much time on my hands, I was browsing through the file section and took note of how many times each of the various extenders has been downloaded. Although we all know that there are lies, damn lies and statistics, and acknowledging that some (many?) of the downloads may be multiples by the same user, or a user upgrading from one version to another, I still found the numbers interesting.

Here are the data I gleaned (oh for an agreed system for numbering extender versions!):

Code: Select all

Remote     Times Downloaded(different extender versions separated by /)
15-1994	      156/161/127/114/179
15-1995	      126/77				
15-2104         136/86			
15-2116	      229/6308/362			
15-2133	      180	
URC 8811	     83/137/121/331		
URC 6131	     634/141				
URC 6960	     0					
URC 7560	     3281
URC 7800	     85/227/8/8
URC 8040	     103					
URC 8060	     194					
URC 8080	     119					
URC 8550	     87/79					
URC 8910	     868/1490				
URC 9800	     99/125			
URC 9960B00	  171/300			
URC 9960B01	  4				
Atlas DVR	    156					
RCU 810	      234/117/86/89	
ReplayTV 5000	237/10				
Sony DirecTivo  83/67/114
Sony Tivo	 	65/72/370

The most downloaded extenders BY A WIDE MARGIN are for the RS 15-2116/2117. As of this typing, an extender for this remote has been downloaded 6899 times! The next closest one is for the European URC 7560 at 3281 times. It is almost TRIPLE the closest US-based competitor!

Nobody else is even in the ball park!

Based on the volume and content of postings here, I would have expected either the 8811 (family) - 672 downloads, the 8910 (family) - 2358 downloads or the 6131 - 775 downloads to lead the pack, but they lag pretty far behind (The old, original 1994 - 737 downloads - I suppose has been unavailable for most of THIS site's existence, so that relatively low number (5 versions, so likely MANY duplicate/upgrade downloads) is not a real surprise).

Am I the only who didn't realise that the trusty old RS 15-2116 and 2117 are (by this admittedly limited measure) arguably the MOST CUSTOMISED UEIC remotes? I love my 2117s but didn't really suspect this.

I don't know that I expect any response, just thought I'd point out some useless trivia (and perhaps give the extender writers a hint as to how many people actually benefit from their work.)

I would further point out that although the numbers are probably too low for most cases to be worth a marketing effort for a company, EACH remote with an extender (except for the extremely newest extenders) has been downloaded by over a hundred users, so the work is indeed being used by many others.

[Nils_Ekberg]

I suspected that the RS-2116/2117 would have been the most popular. I didn't write that one but did work with David on it so I was aware of the interest at the time. Plus, it is the one remote that was pretty popular and available for a long time.

As far as the ones I did write (URC-9960B00, 8040, and 8060) I am actually surprised the numbers are as high as they are. I just did not think they were that popular. I only attacked the URC-9960 because it looked like a fun challenge as they were very different than the mainstream remotes and had significant problems as the base remote (Battery use and speed). The 8040 & 8060 were just an easy port of the 9960 so I did them.

[The Robman]

Do high download numbers imply that the remote in question is really popular, or that it's original firmware is so lmited that everybody needs to use an extender?

Just one of those questions that Arsenio Hall would say that makes you go "Hmmm..."!

[Capn Trips]

I don't know about Arsenio, but Comedian Stephen Wright used to do a bit on that topic, and there was a song by the 1 or 2-hit wonder C&C Music Factory. Along those lines, I found an interesting one on this page (read the first item on the list) that seems to ironically pertain to this forum.

[zaphod7501]

Comedian

I was reading your signature and noticed the beer comment. Have you seen this?
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070319 and of course the consequences.
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070320

[ElizabethD]

URC 8910 868/1490

1490 part is disturbing, considering that sig not changed and causes rdf confusion. I once posted a note on that file, I swear I did, warning of conflicts, I don't even see it there anymore

[Capn Trips]

The 1490 (now 1492) is for the original (i.e. "refined") extender 1.1, the 868 is for the zip package of several memory-boundary-shifted variants by teamvc, and your cautionary note is still there.