Is the URC MX-450 Remote any good? Anything better for this price range?

[bd997]

http://www.universalremote.com/product_detail.php?model=154

It retails for $450 I found it as low as $160 on ebay brand new....

 

[mtbound10]

BD~

After alot of comparison shopping and alot of advice from our friendly fellow audioholics on this sight I just purchased a Harmony One Advanced on amazon. The thing rocks! Controls all my components without any issues and there is not one feature that it misses. The touch screen is great and works flawlessly. It is comfortable in your hand and more important, with the software that Logitech will provide you with for free, the Harmony is super easy to program and manipulate.

Take a close look at it before you pull the trigger on the universal. From what I gathered about universal I found that they are quite a bit more difficult to program and depending on the model you might need to have it "professionaly" programmed to maintain the warranty. (dont quote me on that)

Cheers~

 

[Audioholics]

There is no requirement of professional programming tied to any warranties on Universal Remote remotes. What they do say is that you need to get the Pro line of remotes from an authorized dealer, and there are no online authorized dealers (I don't believe). So if you get the remote from some unauthorized place and then have issues you may be up the creek.

As for Harmony vs. Universal Remote, the MX-450 coupled with an RF system will smoke Harmony in terms of how powerful it is. The Harmony, conversely will be easier to program, though the MX-450 isn't terribly difficult to manage.

What you should really be interested in, however, is the Digital RF-50 which is the consumer level version of the MX-450.

Our review: http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/remote-controls/universal-mx-450-rf

 

[bandphan]

^^ +1.

 

[Nemo128]

Harmony 890 with RF Extender is heavenly.

I love URC stuff, but I agree with Clint, the Harmony is much faster and easier in programming.

Be aware though, Harmony can NOT take your discrete IR codes. You have to supply any unsupported codes to Harmony's tech support so they can add them to your account and possibly their device database. I had this situation recently with discrete HDMIOut switching codes for my Onkyo NR906.

The first time I e-mailed them to tech support, I got no response. I followed it up almost 2 months later (last Sunday) and had a response within 6 hours. They were added to my remote and I was up and running perfectly!

I say this to give kudos to Harmony support but also to illustrate the occassional issue with their system not reporting or them missing a support ticket. I love my 890 Pro though (was almost $300 total after RF Extender and IR leads that an eBay seller didn't include with the RF). If I were to do over, I'd buy the normal 890. I think it looks nicer, the black of the 890 Pro is overrated. Sorry for the long post. I'd love to do a full, in-depth review of the 890 Pro.

 

[Antonio Neves]

Can it control a Simaudio i-5 from 2004?

I own an Mx-600 and hate Logitech Harmony.. Harmony is Europe is a condom brand.
But the Simaudio does not obey to the commands leaned from an Arcam Remote. If you send them fromo Arcam remote itself it works. From the MX-600 nothing happens. There is something with parity bits or the signal is too strong.

So I you like to know if Simaudio in is the MX-450 Database.
Regards