New Rotel RSP-1066 firmware needed !

[pbarata]

I wonder if with the current RSP-1066 it’s possible to develop a new firmware version in order to have some features currently announced for RSP-1068/98, like having different crossover settings and channel gain for each sound format (Dolby Digital, DTS, etc.)?

The capacity is there, firmware only need to be changed in a way to memorize values for the crossover filters and channel gain, for each mode different?!

[aud19]

A similar thought was discussed months earlier in regards to adding DPLIIx to the 1066. It was mentioned that someone should organize some form of a petition with suggestions to remove some of the other features that users may not find as useful on the 1066 to be replaced with the updated functionality of DPLIIx or perhaps also as you mentioned, better bass management.

So far I've seen no such effort from anyone so....

Beisdes you can't really expect a company to release a new product and while it's attempting to sell that new product, based at least somewhat on it's more advanced features, to update an older product in almost direct competition. That's just stupid business. I wouldn't expect anyone to run a company like that. Not too mention that it would take resources away from developing other new products and software that they also need to survive. If Rotel does ever offer us updated software based on those requests I'll be surprised if it's very soon. Possibly after they release a successor to the 1068...

Jason

[DrJRapp]

During the aforementioned, prior thread I asked Andrew to bounce that suggestion off ROTEL.

on 3-16-04 Andrew replied" I'll pass that idea along to Rotel but I'm not sure they'll be able to do what you guys hope. The fact is Rotel is a pretty small company with limited resources so they might not be able justify the effort on the older line...esp with the bugs to be worked out on the current models."

Never heard a word after that.

It seems to me that there are substatial things other than a few features differentiating the 1068 from the 1066...like sound quality maybe? If, however, there isn't a real difference in sound quality from the 1066, I agree, from a business standpoint, for Rotel to offer a software upgrade incorporating some of the features of the 1068 would be very foolish, unless of course if it were done to stand behind it's prior statements that due to software upgradeability 1066 owners would not be left behind. Then it would be smart business...and prove to the Audio World that they have integrity and their advertising is trust worthy.

[Andrew Pratt]

I did hear back from them but the answer was pretty much identical to what we had been saying in that it just isn't in the cards for them and there are hard ware limititation as well I believe.

[DrJRapp]

Thanks

[Sonnie Parker]

So pretty much after the first few upgrades the upgradability of the unit is a moot feature.

Of course I'm extremely happy with my 1066 so I guess it really doesn't matter to me... but I can see where others might would care or feel slighted.

[aarsoe]

This seems to be an issue that we keep comming back to over and over again.

I know this have been discussed in many other threads but I still keep asking my self if selling a product as being upgradeble should only mean - until we make the next product availeble.

So my question to all you guys is this:
How long do you feel a company like Rotel should continue to do software upgrade's and more importantly, should it be a payable service to get new features? And if so how much would be a fair charge?

I am assuming that fixes should be free, but to make it viable for Rotel to implement new stuff then payment would be a way to do it.

And just before someone brings out the argument that this will limit new sales then please considder the car industry - they promote used car sales as they know that this generates even more new sales..
Think about it, before you dismiss it!!! :huh:

[DrJRapp]

I still keep asking my self if selling a product as being upgradeble should only mean - until we make the next product availeble.

So my question to all you guys is this:
How long do you feel a company like Rotel should continue to do software upgrade's and more importantly, should it be a payable service to get new features? And if so how much would be a fair charge?

:huh:

I think you have gotten somewhat to the meat of the issue. In ROTEL's advertising they made the statement for the 1066 as they still do for the 1068 and 1098: "Upgradeable software means you won’t be left behind by new advances either". To me, this means exactly what it says...we won't be left behind, ROTEL will not STOP supporting changes and feasable upgrades as they have with the 1066 as soon as the 1068 became available. IMHO, ROTEL needs to stop making representations about the future upgradeability of their products if they have no intention of making their actions conform to their words, or only intend to do so for a limited time. Perhaps they should be saying something more to the effect: "Upgradeable software means that during the production life of the unit, software bugs and conflicts created by advances in the audio industry can be addressed". Of course such a statement would not be as convincing a sales pitch as their current one.

If we look at Microsoft, a company that is well known and criticised for it's "planned obsolecense" we see that they continue to support their prior software for many years past it's discontinuance without harming sales of new products. I believe they only recently stopped supporting Windows 98.

The issue of who absorbs the cost is big. The first question becomes, how much cost will there be? To elaborate on the issue, most of the code for upgrades comes from Cirris Logic, the processor manufacturer. They offer the code basically for free to the OEM purchasers of their chips. All ROTEL needs to do is fine tune it (or have CL fine tune it for them at a fee) to integrate with the rest of the unit. In fact, CL does have beta code for PLIIx for the processor of the 1066, so implimentation would not be as overwhelming a task as some ROTEL proponents here on these boards would like us to believe. I suspect the majority of the cost involved would be the royalties that ROTEL would have to pay to Dolby Labs if any to distribute it to 1066 owners. I'm sure that ROTEL's royalties on a per unit basis would not be too huge. I for one would be willing to pay that.

[GosonFletchy]

Hmm, I believe that Rotel still offers software upgrade and support for the RSP-1066 even though it is discontinued. The real root of the issue is that you are not getting the new feature that you want. I believe that you had complained in a prior post about having the DPLIIx feature added to RSP-1066. I have contacted the guys over at Rotel, I am sure that Andrew has contacted them, and I am sure that there are many others that have contacted them, asking about this. Just because they don’t give you exactly what you want, does not mean that they are not offering support for it. It boils down to how many man hours they would lose to make the unit do what you want. Then they may have to charge you for the upgrade of the unit to DPLIIx. What is a fair price? $200, $300? How much would you be willing to spend for the upgrade? If it cost me over $100 then I would just go out and buy the RSP-1068 anyways. A lot of customers are going to think this way, which means that Rotel would have to charge even more to recover the cost of making an old unit do something that it was not designed to do. I think that Rotel has been very reasonable with their software upgrades and continued support of product. Of course, I don’t have some personal grudge against the company, I don’t say bad things about the company and try to make people think that they are evil and have no integrity, I don’t threaten to take the company to court over my misunderstanding of "software upgradeable".

G.

[aarsoe]

Dont get me wrong, I am not stating that Rotel is doing a bad job - to be honest I am not really interested in Prologic IIx.
I am just trying to say that I see the issue from Rotel, but also from us, the end users side.

I think you also have to remember the issue of Rotel pricing being very different across the world.
A 1098 will set you back USD 4500, a 1068 is almost USD 3000 - and for that kind of money you should be expecting more than support until the next model..

[Andrew Pratt]

To be fair regarding pricing there's several different distributors of Rotel gear around the world and each plays a role in setting the pricing for that region. I don't fully understand all the players involved but its not as simple as you might initially think