Which remote do I choose

[gcmarshall]

i spent several hours last night getting to know the mx-850 and its programming software. in the period of about 3 hours, i went from knowing literally nothing about fancy remotes to getting mine setup to about 80% of where i want it to be ultimately. it is very powerful and, once you understand the nuances of the software, it becomes not too difficult. there is definitely a learning curve, but it's nothing a few dedicated hours can't solve for a person of average or better intelligence.

whenever my wife watches a DVD, she ALWAYS has the receiver set to the wrong surround mode, when she remembers to turn it on surround in the first place (which is rare). using this remote, i can set it so she can press 1 button on the main menu ("DVD" for example) and all necessary equipment will come on and the receiver will set itself to the default surround mode that i have in the memory bank (well, she will still have to turn on the subwoofer and 3 amps, but there is no solution for those items due to their design). to turn this off and switch to another activity, she simply hits the "off" button and is automatically returned to the main menu after the original activity is powered off.

i did find that the IR database supplied by universal remote lacks several of my equipment pieces. this problem is mentioned by the audioholics review of the mx-950, as well. however, choosing a generic brand name for my dvd player 9which was one of the models not listed) somehow managed to give me all of the puch button controls that i need and it placed them where one would logically want them placed.

more to come.

 

[MDS]

'Activities' on the MX remotes

This is just my take on setting up activities on the MX series remotes and is provided as food for thought only:

Remotes like the MX series are infinitely customizable but I feel that people tend to go overboard with the whole 'activity' (macro) setup and try to set up a macro for every possible combination of watching/listening; ie they setup a macro turn everything on for DVD watching and have that same macro try to turn everything else (like the cable box) off. Then another macro to turn everything on for cable and turn everything else off, etc. This can lead to a large number of steps and can be very confusing for the low tech crowd (mom, babysitters, etc. ).

I use a different approach which I think is far simpler. Note that I am a programmer and am fully capable of dealing with complexity, but I get enough of that on a day to day basis and want my HT setup to be EASY.

My concept revolves around a 'home' state for the HT - the 'activity' I do most, which happens to be watch cable TV. All macros move the system from the home state to another state and back.

So, the ON button on the main screen is the System On button. It turns on the TV and receiver and sets the receiver input to the cable box (I leave the cable box on at all times so it can download the guide, but the macro could just as well turn on the cable box too). That is the home state because watching cable TV is what I do most.

Now the device macros (on the Main page) move from this home state to other activities. To watch a DVD, I press and hold the DVD button on the main page and it turns on the DVD player, switches the receiver to the DVD input, and changes the page on the remote to DVD. The DVD page has dvd commands as well as often used receiver commands (late night, surround modes) so I don't have to go main->audio to adjust those things.

Now when I want to go back to cable, I hit Main and then press and hold the cable button, which does exactly what the Main On button did when the system was entirely off.

When you are done for the day and want to turn the entire system off, you just go back to the Main page and use the OFF button which turns everything off. If you were in DVD mode, you do have to go back to cable mode and then use the Main OFF button (because the OFF macro expects to start from the cable state).

Because you always start from a known state, the macros are very simple and work flawlessly. Having the one macro to go back to cable mode is also a generic 'fix-it' macro that can get you back to the home state if you happened to mess up.

gcmarshall, a simplified setup similar to mine might just make it easier on the wife - press and hold DVD to get the system setup for DVD and press and hold some other button to get back to the home state. I did the same setup for my non-technical sister and brother-in-law and they get it.

Just something to consider...

 

[Hi Ho]

One of the main reasons the Harmony is so popular is that it "knows" which state it's in. It is activity based.

When I press "Watch TV" the TV and receiver come on, then the receiver is set to "TV" and the TV set to "Cable".

If I want to watch a DVD, I press "Watch DVD" and the TV switches to "Video 1", the receiver to DVD, and the DVD player comes on and the tray opens.

It does not matter where you start or end. If I press the off button from any state everything that is on will turn off.

The automatic macro setup actually works very well and is completely customizable. I fail to see how the Harmony remotes are any less customizable than the MX's. One can setup their own macros as he wishes. I don't have anything against the MX's but the convenience of the Harmony's Smart State system is really invaluable to me.

 

[broberts]

I know you said RF is not important to you, but I'd urge you to reconsider. Many pieces of AV equipment feature toggle only control for on/off (if this is not the case for you, please ignore). If you have an IR remote and don't keep it pointed in the correct direction until the macro is completed, any components that did not recieve the signal can become out of sinc. Getting components back in sinc can be a minor pain and undo any conveniece that the remote was intended to provide. With a properly set up RF remote, the signal will reach the component every time, preventing this issue. I own an MX-850 and love it not only for its flexibility, but its RF capability. It was a night and day difference for me.

 

[gcmarshall]

MDS:

thanks for the thorough writeup. i will study it some more and see if i can apply some to my situation.

my biggest gripe thus far is not with the remote, but with my components that use a toggle on/off rather than a discrete on and a discrete off. for me that includes my satellite box, dvd playey, vcr and TV (basically everything except my received and cd player). i have figured out the trick of using a "play" command for the dvd player, for example, to turn it on. that way, if it is already on, and i want it to be on, it does not shut off.

in any case, i do plan to use a 1-2 second delay on my main menu macro buttons. that way, my wife won't get into a viscious circle of on/off if she gets lost in the menu and ends up back at the main page.

i'll keep reporting what, if anything, i think might be of interest to others.

thanks again for the suggestions.