Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater More MX-700 Questions from an ignorant remote user

In reply to:

---

No serial port, Curtis? Yeah, that would make it simpler. I just leave my cable connected to my serial port and tucked neatly out of sight beside the computer. When I want to download, I just whip it out (the cable; THE CABLE! ), plug it in (the cable; THE CABLE ), and do my download.

---

Yeah...I have been doing the same thing with my desktop PC. It would be nice to take my laptop/MX-700 to the living room and bedroom to test everything before sending the changes to the remote. I guess that would make it just TOO easy.

Well, here it is early Sunday afternoon and I thought I would program my MX-700 today.

I've got a laptop displaying the programming manual .PDF right next to my main computer which has the Editor software open. I'm on page 16 of the manual and I have to ask:

Are you guys SURE this is supposed to be easy?

I dunno... maybe it'll get better when I actually start doing it instead of just reading "what" in the software does "what" on the remote....

Or maybe I have the attention span of a gnat at this stage in my life...!

See you in an hour, much happier and much more relaxed!!!

LOL! I would not characterize LEARNING how to program the remote as "easy." But, once you DO learn, the programming is easy. I couldn't learn by reading the manual, and then applying what I'd learned. I had to wade into it, and when I ran into something that stumped me, I'd refer to the manual. I'm sure I'm still not doing things the "easiest" way. But I've got what I've learned working beautifully for me. Don't be afraid to learn by trial and error.

One thing to remember.....you really can not mess anything up, so don't be afraid of it.

In reply to:

---

LOL! I would not characterize LEARNING how to program the remote as "easy." But, once you DO learn, the programming is easy.

---

This is why I think I am going to end up going with Harmony.

Neither would I characterize learning how to program the MX-700 as difficult. Regardless, once learned, the time and effort is well worth it.

I had the Harmony 659. Couldn't get it to work properly, and hated that I had to go online every time I wanted to program it, or make any sort of a change. It was, for me, 10 times more difficult to learn than the MX-700, much more inconvenient to use, and considerably less versatile. It sits on a shelf collecting dust. But, suit yourself.

From what I can gather, the Harmony does everything for you as long as it is pre-defined on the Harmony site. The upside is that it is "easier" to customize, because you do not do the customization. The downside would be you need the Harmony site to make any changes. How difficult is it to customize if the Harmony site does not have what you want to do pre-defined?

The MX-700 editor is NOT hard. I just watched the 2 minute video that is available on the HomeTheaterMaster website. The only time I have referred to the manual was to make sure I was setting up a delayed macro properly.

Hey Jack...send me your Harmony and I will do a comparison. hehehe

Remote Central has some great reviews of the remotes:
http://www.remotecentral.com/remotes.htm

The Harmonys can accept commands learned from your original remotes and you can also input hex code (if available) for commands. If something's not on their site (which is rare), or if you want some non-standard customization, you can call their tech support and they can do it for you. The advantage to the MX-700 (and up) is that you can do everything yourself, as well as have macros on any button you want. With the Harmonys, your only real macros are the "activities". That's a real problem for me because I have macros all over the place in my configuration.

OTOH, if you want something that's quick to set up and easy for the whole family to use, the Harmony's are the best option in their price range. They just don't have the overall horsepower of the MX-700 IMO.

Yeah, I have macros all over the place too. I've no doubt the Harmony is an excellent remote. Look at all the positive reviews and high ratings it has garnered. I'm sure the problem I've had with the 659 is me, rather than the remote. I DO like to do it myself, and I do like the MX-700's versatility.

Oh Curtis, you're a computer guy, and have experience with the MX-500. Of course you didn't have to look at the manual. I dislike you intensely.