I'm not very knowledgeable about remotes, so there are probably many here who can give me guidance. With any ordinary universal remote, you can turn a receiver off and on and control the volume. But, I have yet to find one that will allow you to change the receiver settings, such as speaker levels and switching modes. Is there such a beast?

Enter Ray, and his amazing MX700.



it will seem like he is trying to sell you some snake oil or something, but its all true, trust me, it is!!!

bigjohn

Bruce,

Search here for three major threads in the following forums:
"Home Theater Master MX-700" (Advice )
"More MX-700 Questions" (Home Theater)
"MX-700 Questions" (Home Theater)

The unit is amazing and these trheads will give you all the detail you could want. Note the information about the incredible functionality for Denon receivers.

Now, I know that ray has become the local guru on this stuff, and plenty of people have bought this unit on his recommendation. And for good reason.

But don't forget about some of the other options out there either.

If your system is not too complex, and mostly, you're interested in having your components spring to life at the press of one button, and have some macro capability so that when you press the button to "watch tv" you tv switches to the TV inoput, the receiver does the same, the cable box turns on, and everything turns off, I would check out:

harmonyremote.com

They've got some great stuff. You can set up everything on the internet and have it working flawlessly in 30 minutes. Your wife and strangers will have no problem negotiating the unit, etc.

For example - I have a neighbor come over once in a while to check on my puppy. I've found her a number of times staying longer and just hanging out, watching TV. My system is fairly complex (inasmuch as if you wanted to get everything to be on the correct input, etc. and have channel changing capability, voume control, etc. without toggling between devices, it coudl be confusing) and she had no problem turning everything on and sitting back and relaxing with the pooch.

Shoot, the buttons are even labelled 'watch tv' or 'listen to music'

you don't get much easier than that.

I'm nto sure about the price on the 700 that Ray will have you buy, but the Harmony, "family remote" it is called, can be had for about $125 online. check out bluedo.com. they are an authorized dealer.

Happy remote hunting.

is this kinda like cock-blocking, but with remotes?

bigjohn

Not really. Harmony makes a nice product as well. I've owned the Sony RM-AV300, the MX-500 and the MX-700. I've seen/used the Harmony. Pronto is also availble (a tad pricey).

Like other pieces of this HT habit, these things all boil down to personal preference.

I have a Jones for the MX-700 because, in my opinion, it is the best combo of price, power, ergonomics, flexibility - value out there. Others will like something else. That's cool. The key message is that if you have multiple remotes/expensive equipment - you should have a universal remote.

For those who want to chase the MX-700, I can offer a bit of information and a bit of help. The MX-700 (open box) is available for about $180 (MSRP - $349) for Surf Remote Control.

Not too much different than chili recipes!!

No "cock-blocking" intended...

Just wanted to let our friend know that there are otehr options out there.

My father-in-law bought a really fancy-schmancy LCD backlit remote that probably has more computing power that the space shuttle. But, for all of its $400 price tag and $600 programmer's fee (the guy came over and set it up for him), the thing don't work for sh!t. I hate the interface, its about ten times more complicated than it needs to be, and the programs have a couple of annoying bugs that neither of us are savvy enough to fix (that will cost another couple hundred for a visit from the programmer).

Anyway, cheap, easy, simple to use, very flixible, tweakable, and its internet based, so there is the ease of sitting at your ocmputer and figuring things out rather than punching in codes and nonsense on a tiny keypad until it works right.

As a bonus, they have a really great tech-support team who will trouble shoot for you (they can do this really easily because the program for your remote is accessible to them over the internet).

Just another option. Like Ray said, your taste/needs may differ.

i was completely joking ya'll.. i dont want ya'll thinkin my intent was anything more than that.

when i read the post, i got this stupid mental image of ray and pickard, facing off with remotes in hand, ala OB1 and Darth Vader. thats what eventually evolved into my completely out of context "blocking" comment.

i truly didnt mean to get ya'll riled up. hope i didnt? or maybe i am just reading the posts wrong. i sense animosity. multi purpose/function remotes are good!!

bigjohn

As much as I love my MX-700....for people like my Parents, a Harmony might be a better route. Then again, being the good son that I am, I could spend the time with my Dad and really tweak the MX-700 for him.

BigJohn-
I about fell off my chair laughing at that one.

"is this kinda like cock-blocking, but with remotes?"

That's a classic! I wish there was a thread that had quotes on it like this. In fact I will start on. A good place to get a laugh.

Ahhhh....I see your Schwartz, errr....remote, is as big as mine.

ah.... spaceballs...

now that movie has some GREAT one liners!!!

bigjohn

Surely, there has to be other choices. It's hard to believe that there are only 2 good remote control manufacturers. Regarding the MX-700, I'm sure it is a wonderful remote, but it seems like overkill. I just want something which will give me the functionality of the factory remote. I don't want to dim the lights with it, or go on a mission to Mars or launch a nuclear missile.LOL And there is no way I can justify spending $200-$300 on a remote control to the better half. I'm lucky she let me order the DVD player.

Ray's MX-700 is old hat now...

Enter, Daphoid's MX-850! Better backlighting, a seperate select button in the thumb pad, and much more . It's also prettier!



- D

Here's another less expensive choice in the consumer line by the same manufacturer:
www.thetwistergroup.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=URC200%20C00833&source=dt
Here is a review:
www.remotecentral.com/urcseries/index8.htm

URC200

Review

So, how was this thing left? Apparently, no feelings were hurt, BigJohn had to drop the "C-block" term, and sure, laughs were had by all....

But, what result on the remote front?

Judging from your last post, LIttleB, it seems that you're more interested in a wife/kid friendly remote with enough functionality that it will run all of your stuff and be smart enough to know which component to send a signal to when you press certain buttons. Simplicity and logical layout/setup/use seem to be the primary concerns here. Of course, price will factor into any decision.

Judging from all of that, I can very much recommend the Harmony line of remotes. They've got them at Best Buy these days. Go there and pick one up and see how it looks and feels in your hand.

Let us know what you decide.

If I win this one, that will be what, Ray - 23, Adrien, 1. Not a great record, but I've just started. If I lose, then, no harm done, I'll slink back to my corner and lick my wounds quietly...

Happy remote hunting.

I hope no one's feelings were hurt. I was just talking to the Mrs. today about the simplicity of the harmony remotes. She wasn't real open to the idea, though. So far, she would rather hop from one remote to the other than have me spend more hard earned cash on a remote control. I will just have to bide my time, and see what happens. So, that decision is on hold for the moment. Hopefully, she never reads this forum.

The Radio Shack Kameleon series is liked by some, and is even less expensive than the Harmonys....

Another vote for Harmony. I used to have the 768 and have sinced moved to the 688. I have an HD Tivo and it works great w/ PVRs. Button placement could be better but it's VERY easy to use. I don't have to teach the wife ANYTHING.

I'm hoping to "upgrade" to the 880 when it's out. Considering that I can put it past the wife...