I haven't done anything too sophisticated with the MX-700 as of yet, but I want to post some initial reactions.
Once I got beyond the first 20 pages of the manual that describes what every button and window of the software does, and I started actually programming the remote, it's gone very smoothly and simply. The codes for my major pieces of equipment were all available without searching other sources, so the remote is very useable already. There weren't codes for an Onkyo Mini-Disc deck and Philips CD Recorder, but I haven't checked RemoteCentral.com yet. Hopefully, I won't have to use a teaching function- I don't remember where the original remotes are! I also haven't set up any macros as of yet.
The actual programming thus far went very well, and I have to admit that I think it's just fantastic to decide that you would rather choose a different name for a button or have that button in a different location on the remote….as easy as dragging it to the new location. Even though I haven't delved deeply yet, I'm very happy with how easy the software is at this point.
The remote itself has a good feel to my mid-sized hands. As someone else mentioned, the "curved" bottom doesn't really allow easy pressing of buttons while it sits on a table, but I don't have any concerns about that. Again, as mentioned, if the ambient lighting in the room is at a certain dim level, the display is somewhat difficult to read with either the remotes light on or off…. Again, I don't really expect it to grate on me.
There were codes for my Sony monitor that weren't on the original remote. I'm very impressed that I can go straight to different picture modes, for example, when for the last three years I've had to do that through three levels of menus. I also do have direct inputs I've discovered, without doing the scrolling I've been doing forever. (I think it's really cool that I'm gaining all this capability with the old Sony; but I'm really happier yet that the Sony is going to be replaced by a Samsung DLP on Tuesday).
Maybe most surprising is that I feel confident that this will replace my TiVo remote. TiVo users know that's the one remote you pretty much keep in your hands. All the duplicated buttons on this remote are in comfortable positions and the two that were not, in my opinion, I remapped to preferable positions. Very nice!
I've often said that you really can't describe how great a TiVo is; you really just have to use it and before long you can't imagine not having one. I really do see this remote as being the same type of product. I'm already very comfortable in how it switches devices and handles them. It's all been very intuitive. As opposed to my old Sony 2100 Universal Remote which did not furnish replacement buttons for every capability, this remote seems to have a button for every single button the originals had…even more as mentioned above. Finally, finally, finally, it looks like every other remote can be put away!
I'm looking forward to finishing the setup, and I'll report again in several days when I've lived with it a bit and tweaked it even more!
Thanks to all of you who have offered your help in the endeavor- especially Ray!
