I checked back on that long MX-700 thread from several weeks ago to see if I could find answers to some questions and couldn't find what I was looking for. I thought I'd post a new thread with my questions since you guys like talking about the remote anyway….
The only "serious" remote I've ever owned/used is the Sony 2000 touch screen…. So I'm really pretty ignorant about remotes such as these. There were some things that I really liked about the Sony, but I found it couldn't do everything that I needed it to do. And really, if you don't have ALL of your functions consolidated and have to keep many other remotes nearby to use sometimes, what's the point?
For instance, I have two Sony Jukeboxes daisy-chained as designed. The remote would control most of the functions of the "Master" jukebox, but there wasn't any way to switch to the "Slave" Jukebox. So, if I had them in "crossfade" mode to continuously play as alternating units, the remote virtually became useless. I assume that a remote like the 700, being fully programmable, allows for situations such as this?
Also, in addition to the two jukeboxes, I also have a Pioneer 578 DVD player that I frequently use as a single-disc universal player. Further, I'd like to add a DVD recorder to the system someday. My old Sony remote would not be able to recognize 4 different disc players, are there any limits such as this with the MX-700? I'm already finding myself a bit frustrated at the seeming lack of input-labeling on my Denon 3805; maybe it wouldn't matter so much if the remote was user-configurable for labeling and I didn't have to look at the wrongly-labeled front panel on my Denon!
I'm a TiVo devotee, and that TiVo remote is one that generally doesn't leave your hands (you TiVo users know what I'm talking about!
). I really don't mind keeping the TiVo remote on the coffee table along with a universal remote, but for those of you who might have TiVo AND the 700, can the 700 fully and ergonomically replace the TiVo remote? It would be a nice bonus!
I frequently sleep on the couch in the living room. To head off the inevitable questions, my wife awakes at 5 AM for work, and it's not at all infrequent that I'm going to sleep at 3 or 4 AM after working late on a project (the joys of being self-employed!). The only feature (that I was aware of at the time of purchase, anyway) that my Denon receiver didn't have was a timer. I would really, really like it if I could listen to a CD on a sleep-timer-controlled system at night. (My TV has a sleep timer, but then I get involved in the program and stay up even later!) It seems as though the MX-700 doesn't offer timer features, but from some page on remotecentral where asked about features desired to produce a list of matching remotes, the MX-700 shows up. Can anyone confirm whether it has sleep and/or wake timers or not?
Finally, are there any current recommendations for dealers? There was talk of open box vs. new, authorized dealers and non-authorized dealers, and even discussion that the 700 looked like it was about to get replaced. Does anyone have any current recommendations on purchasing one?
Sorry if these questions are pretty basic… I think sophisticated remotes (much like the aforementioned TiVo) really can't be appreciated without actually using one for a month or two. I'll bop around remotecentral.com too, but I wouldn't expect to find these specific answers there and, besides, I like and trust you people more!
