Urc

[moreira85]

Just got in the URC R50 remote today and I must say I am very impressed. Beautiful and attractive remote. I took my 4 other remotes and put them away!!! Set up was very easy and explanatory, you just pick your device and company who makes the device and then they give you one code at a time to see which code works best. I like the copy and paste option so that you dont have to shuffle back and forth between devices just to adjust the volume.
I think the wife is going to love this, easy to use and easy to set up.
I give it 5 stars. I didnt use macros because my receiver triggers the power conditioner to turn all my components on and off, so I have the remotes power button programed to the receiver.
I may mess around with macros tomorrow.
For the price you cant go wrong. I was expecting I had to spend 200$ for a remote to control all components and this one was $80.

 

[MDS]

I didnt use macros because my receiver triggers the power conditioner to turn all my components on and off, so I have the remotes power button programed to the receiver.

That's perfectly fine. For those that don't have a receiver with triggers or a power conditioner that supports a turn on sequence you'd program macros into the remote to do the sequence for you.

What you may want to use macros for is to change state after everything is on. For example, I do not turn on every device at startup. I watch cable mostly so that is my 'home' state. I then have macros on the DVD and Cable buttons on the remote to switch from the startup state to watching DVD and back to Cable.

Macros will also be useful for things like changing the picture size on the TV if the TV requires you to bring up a menu and then scroll to a choice or select a number to choose the size. The remote can handle practically any scenario you will need.

 

[moreira85]

What you may want to use macros for is to change state after everything is on. For example, I do not turn on every device at startup. I watch cable mostly so that is my 'home' state. I then have macros on the DVD and Cable buttons on the remote to switch from the startup state to watching DVD and back to Cable.

Macros will also be useful for things like changing the picture size on the TV if the TV requires you to bring up a menu and then scroll to a choice or select a number to choose the size. The remote can handle practically any scenario you will need.

So can this remote do the following?
Currently if i want to go from watching TV to dvd I have to click on receiver component on the remotes home page then in that menu press DVD and then the source on the TV will switch to DVD. If I use Macros and just press the DVD button on the remotes main page can I program it so that the source on the TV automatically changes to DVD when hitting DVD on the main page?
hope that makes sense.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Generally speaking, that's exactly what you use macros for.

For example: You press 'ON'
The receiver turns on (which turns on everything else INCLUDING THE TV)

You press CABLE:
The receiver switches to the cable input
The TV turns to the correct input for cable
The remote flips to the cable control page

You press DVD:
The receiver switches to the DVD input
The TV turns to the correct input for DVD
The remote flips to the DVD control page

Advanced control systems go a lot further and don't require power on buttons, they just track the current state of any device connected to the system. If the TV is off, the system turns on the TV, then waits for the TV to warm up, then puts the TV on the correct input. The next time you pick a different source, the system knows the TV is on, so it just flips to the correct input right away.

Lots of remotes out there, but reliability and usability are the most important factors

 

[MDS]

If I use Macros and just press the DVD button on the remotes main page can I program it so that the source on the TV automatically changes to DVD when hitting DVD on the main page?
hope that makes sense.

If you just press DVD on the main page, it will simply go to the DVD page. If you want to execute a macro, you need to use a 'press and hold' macro. Just enter a pause or two as the first steps of the macro and then all the other commands you need. Make sure you end the macro with a change to the page you want to end up on, which would likely be DVD.

When you press and hold the DVD button for the length of the pause, it will execute the macro. That's exactly how my DVD and Cable buttons are programmed.

 

[moreira85]

sweet, thanks for the replies and I love this remote. I will mess around with it when I get home.

 

[moreira85]

I got the macros all set up, Sweet! I press one button such as DVD icon and everything switches as needed, TV, Receiver to DVD input, and DVD player powers on, and remote to dvd menu, all by pushing one button. Same for hitting the Dish network icon.
never knew life could be this simple.
The ONLY THING I CANT GET TO WORK IS THE PREVIOUS CHANNEL BUTTON, HMMMMMM.?

 

[newb]

Previous channel

The URC remotes can learn any button you want to program with a different function. Just go to the learn portion of the URC remotes menu, hold the remote you want to learn from facing the URC, press the button you want to teach and press the button on the other remote and hold, the URC will say good and you're all set.