ESPN Ultimate Remote is now shipping, inexplicable packaging comes free

by Paul Miller, posted Jun 14th 2008 at 9:20PM

Just in time for Father's Day, ESPN's tvCompass-built WiFi Ultimate Remote is finally available, and rapidly making its way into the awaiting, Cheeto-stained fingertips of a couch potato near you. It still costs $300, and with a good number of laptops retailing for that price these days, it's certainly hard to justify, but forget all that... who on earth thought this packaging was a good idea? It kind of looks like a dumbbell, but not. We're really at a loss for words here. It's almost like ESPN wants to fail.

Filed under: Remotes

Tags: espn, tvcompass, ultimate remote, UltimateRemote, wifi remote, WifiRemote

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

phanbouy @ Jun 14th 2008 10:17PM

well if all you're doing is sitting on your ass watching Curling at 3AM, you'd might as well do bicep curls with your useless pricey remote too

Neutral

Paul Arnette @ Jun 14th 2008 11:14PM

Why the &*(% would I want this? Oh, that's right, I don't.

Highly Ranked

Orlando Ayala @ Jun 14th 2008 11:50PM

I am a custom home theater installer who does quite a bit of remote control programming, and this is actually a pretty cheap remote considering it has built in wi-fi(almost never seen in remotes) and is an actual programmable remote. I've never seen one and I don't know how well it will work, but the cost, form factor, and price are all good starts. The responses so far are obviously from people who have no idea what they are talking about.

Neutral

JBDragon @ Jun 15th 2008 12:41AM

I like my Harmony 1000 for the most part. I don't know if I really would need Wifi, for what? Other then I guess you don't need to plug it into a PC to program I guess?!?! I'm happy with what I have now.

Neutral

Jon @ Jun 15th 2008 1:01AM

All i have to say is Harmony One , Best remote by far

Neutral

jjsevdt @ Jun 16th 2008 11:55AM

I agree. This looks very similar to the Harmony 880, and one big complait was the button layout was too close together. I fear a disorder this remote suffers from as well.

Neutral

Jon @ Jun 16th 2008 12:15PM

I have the XBOX360 harmony , i never used it bewcause of the button feel ... BUT the Harmony One has Different Zones for different tasks , i don't even have to look at the remote when changing changes , going to menu , use DVR etc.. you can feel the difference with your hand , and the Touch screen is great , very responsive , And you can use custom channel icons for fav channels .. a few websites have made all the channels for free , even regional ones (NESN for instance)

I love my Harmony One

Neutral

eric f. @ Jun 15th 2008 12:56PM

Seems to me that they're simply saving plastic in the middle part of the packaging, while not making it so small that it gets swallowed up by the other competitors on the store wall.

Fail? really? the packaging will cause the remote to fail? that's a stretch. If anything, the name will alienate more buyers than the package. I don't watch sports, therefore, I don't want an ESPN remote. You'll have to tear my Harmony 880 from my cold dead hands...

Neutral

Kirsten @ Jun 23rd 2008 10:46AM

Well, I don't know if the packaging will cause the remote to fail but it is really important if the product is competing on shelves. If people are buying it mostly online and they are looking specifically for this product, then it won't be such a large factor. The major value that clamshells and blister packs provide to a product like this is the clarity; being able to see the product straight through the packaging. I doubt it but it would be nice if the packaging company would provide a way to recycle the plastic once the consumer removes it from the product. My company offers free recycling to packaging products that are recycled (sunpack.com/green_packaging) but not many others do. But I'm getting off on a tangent. Basically, it depends on where the product is most likely to be sold. I don't think that the packaging will cause the product to fail in this case (although it has in other cases), but that's just my opinion.

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