Universal Remote Control MX-500 10-Device LCD Viewscreen Remote Control with Joystick Operation
by Universal Remote Control, Inc.
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List Price: Our Price: $89.98 You Save: $50.01 (36%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Universal Remote Control MX-500 10-Device LCD Viewscreen Remote Control with Joystick Operation
Customer Review: MUCH better than Logitech Harmony for MUCH LE$$
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought an MX-500 over 6 years ago. It has been sat on, chewed on, dropped and accidentally flung to the ground such that it broke apart and little pieces flew out. Fortunately, it's put together so logically that I was able to put the pieces back where they belonged, snap it back together, and it kept on working as well as ever.
This remote has two outstanding features that combine to beat just about any other universal remote I've tried (under $300 anyway.) The first is the LCD section at the top. The buttons in this area can be labeled any way you like, up to five characters each including some basic symbols. The second is that it's a learning remote. You can still enter device codes to get started, but the learning capability combined with the custom LCD button labels takes all the guesswork out of what does what. No more trying to remember that the button with the little symbol on it means "Aspect"! And since each device gets two "pages" of customizable buttons/labels, you'll have plenty of custom buttons to cover every function on all your factory remotes.
The remote is designed to handle 10 devices. I only have 4 or 5 to control, so I used 3 of the "device pages" to create "function-centric" controls. These pages combine the most needed functions from my TV, receiver, DVD player, TiVo and/or HTPC so that I can just watch TV, watch a movie or listen to music - without having to go back to the main device menu and switch to another device. Of course, I still have device-centric control for accessing seldom used functions, but the vast majority of the time, the function-centric device pages I created are adequate (and very convenient!)
This remote has great macro capabilities, too. Each of the device buttons doubles as a macro (just push and hold for a second or two instead of push and quick release.) The system power and system off buttons can be programmed for macros, too, and there's three macro buttons at the very bottom of the remote. You can switch between devices and add delays, too. I have yet to find any commonly used sequence of commands that I couldn't automate with a macro.
This remote is a breeze to use in a darkened environment, too. The LCD screen and all buttons are backlit and the dedicated backlight button sits all by itself so it's easy to find. The backlight seems to use the same sort of technology that was pioneered in the old Timex "Indiglo" watches. It's very easy on the batteries. And speaking of the batteries, that's yet another great thing about this remote. Not only does it go for months between battery changes, but it also has a very good backup system. In 6 years, I've never once lost all my programming.
The 5-way joypad is very responsive. Some remotes with joypads can be unpredictable and frustrating. You thought you pressed down but it gave you right, or you meant to press left but the up button was sent or, most commonly, you press the "Enter" button in the center but it sneaks in a left or an up before sending "Enter". Not on this remote! I always get just what I intended.
Other niceties include a very powerful infrared emitter that works from a surprisingly long way away and a "Favorites" system that gives you several pages of channels. Using the custom LCD button labels, you simply press the "ESPN" button to watch ESPN. Very nice.
Bottom line, this remote is rugged and has a well thought-out design. It's not svelte or sexy but it has the perfect combination of sophistication and ease of use. If mine dies tomorrow, I'll buy another one to replace it. (In fact, I've considered buying one just to have it around as a spare- just in case!)
UPDATE: This product is now offered as the NXG NX-RM505 10-Device Universal Learning Remote with LCD. Same exact product, but rebranded and $30 cheaper!
Customer Review: wouldn't change a thing
Summary: 5 Stars
In my experience with high-end aftermarket remotes I've owned a few. and in my experience the hard-buttoned remotes were always overly complicated to operate, and touch screens were fragile and gimmicky. One of the remotes I've owned was a philips pronto, [...] and I had for about a year, and it was pretty cool with a huge wow factor; but even a tech-saavy geek myself I found their editor software was slow, buggy, and unrefined.
Touch screen remotes like my pronto also lack tactile feedback, there's no real way to know you've hit the right button, or even if you've hit a button at all, you have to physicly look at the remote because a glass touch screen has no particular texture.
The mx-500 is exceedingly simple to use but does take a short learning curve as most of these remotes do. It works just like using your factory remote, except better in most cases with some criminally poor-designed OEM remotes, not to mention the mx-500 fully lights up if you actually did have to look at it. but after a while operating your system becomes muscle memory.
My pronto's life finally ended in a hurried morning, late for work and rushing out the door I stepped on it, broke the screen and found myself needing a replacement.
That was easily two years ago! my MX-500 is still alive going strong after being dropped, kicked around, lost several times in the deepest, darkest, depths of the sofa, and generally being treated like remotes get treated. Touch screens are cool, but I'm sick of having a gimmicky remote that needs to be handled gently as a laptop. The MX-500 is a perfect example of technology that just plain works.
Battery life is exceptional for a remote of this caliber, I use dollar store alkalines and usually get about 2 or 3 months on a set of four AAA's.
I've heard people complaining here about support issues with these remotes and it's true, Home Theater Master isn't a huge company so they might not have people ready and waiting to answer the phones 24/7 but email support was fast and simple the one time that I needed it. The remote is easy to operate and program for both simple and complex systems. and even allows macros so non-technical people can just push a button to send up to 20 button presses on different remotes to coordinate a specific task.
If you have seven remotes laying about like I did and you'd like to do it all with one, You're a good cantidate for the mx-500.
Logitech harmony remotes are also quite decent from what I've read. A bit more money though, but you get a USB connection to download new remotes. I can't speak for the quality of the software included but it's also a good option for alot of people.
When I purchased my mx-500 two years ago for $100, it definately wasn't the most I'd ever paid for a remote, I've owned a few in the past but my shopping around is over! I can say without a doubt that it was money well spent and the mx-500 is the best remote I've used. I wholeheartedly reccomend it to anyone, big or amall system, novice or expert, everyone with more than one component can benefit from owning one of these.
And the best thing of all, When I have friends over, they're not completely lost at operating my complex system. This remote can make even the most complex systems easy which is why a good share of home theater master's market share is in configure-to-order systems that people pay big bucks to have professionally installed. those professional installers have recognised the greatness of this remote and so can you!
Customer Review: This remote does everything I need it to do
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't write many product reviews, but I read them before I buy just about anything. However, this remote is so good I just had to give a review.
I was able to get 5 remotes off the end table with this remote. The MX-500 can control 10, but I have different ways I like to control my home theater system. The MX-500 allows you to be creative in how you program it. Here is an example of what I did.
I have an HD Sat Receiver with a DVR built in. I normally like to use the Sony Receiver to control the sound, but sometimes I just want to use the TV sound. I programmed the SAT Receiver remote into two of the 10 inputs, and set one for sound with the TV and one with the SAT. I did this for the DVD player as well. You can create your own label for your inputs so I have a SAT, DVD, SATTV, and DVDTV input.
With the second page of functions for each input, I was able to program some of the Receiver functions so I can change receiver settings for the sound I want. That way if I am watching a concert on the SAT, I can control the SAT receiver and the Audio receiver settings without going back and forth from SAT to Audio.
There are many Macros you can set up. Not just the main 5. I set up mine so when you are watching SAT and decide to watch a Blu-Ray movie, you just go to the main menu and push and hold the Blu-Ray input down for 1 second and the remote automatically turns on the Blu-Ray, changes the TV input to the Blu-Ray, changes the Receiver input to the Blu-Ray, then ends up in the Blu-Ray menu on the remote. I then set up the M1 macro to re-set everything to watch SAT again.
Although I do not have a remote for my Wii, I set up one input on the Remote for Game. That way when you want to play the Wii, you press the Game input from the main menu for 1second, and the remote changes the TV input to the Game input and the receiver to the Game sound. This makes it easy for my kids to get the audio and video set up to play a game. Likewise, I set up M3 macro to re-set everything to watch SAT again.
Here are the components I have programmed in the remote:
1. Toshiba 52" HD TV
2. Dish Network HD DVR
3. ClearPlay DVD Player
4. Sony Blu-Ray DVD Player
5. Sony Audio Receiver.
Only one very minor change I would make to the remote: The Skip forward, Skip back, record, and pause buttons share with the guide, menu, exit, and info. With a DVR, you need all 8 of these commands. Not a big deal, I just programmed the Guide, Menu, Exit, and Info commands to the LCD screen.
Bottom line: I have had 5 different universal remotes, and this is the only one that allowed me to clear the end table of all of my remotes.
UPDATE: It has been two years since I posted this review. Every function still works exactly like they did the day we got it. I have 4 kids from 9-18 years old and none of them have broke it. It probably gets knocked off the end table at least once per day. It is like a Timex, takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Buy this one!!!!
Customer Review: Simple. Versitile. Powerful. Outstanding!
Summary: 5 Stars
For anyone looking for a truly universal remote control that will allow you to exile your myriad individual remotes to the coffee table drawer, I highly recommend the MX 500. It is absolutely worth the money.The MX 500 had all the features I wanted. Every button is backlit (and you can customize the amount of time the remain lit, from one to ten seconds). The function of almost every button can be programmed by learning a command from another remote. The LCD button labels for each component can be renamed to match whatever command you use them for. In fact, the main menu, which lists ten individual components (does anyone really HAVE then different components?) can also be edited. I changed VCR1, which I use to control my Replay TV unit, to RPLAY. As for macros, there are three dedicated macro buttons. Additionally, almost every additional button can hold a macro. While I use this only minimally (to turn on the TV, Replay TV and receiver with a single button push, for instance), more sophisticated users could do much more.
The MX 500s versatility is incredible. You can control any "box" yet made. I use mine to control my HDTV, Replay TV, receiver and DVD player.
On opening the box, my first impression was that this remote is a monster. Despites its size, its shape conforms comfortably enough to my hand. My only ergonomical complaint is that I do have to shift the remote in my grasp or use a second hand to reach the full spread of buttons. Compared to juggling the aforementioned four remotes, though, this is the smallest of inconveniences.
The MX 500 is a dream to set up. Its "on screen" menu makes the task unbelievably easy. Setup could be streamlined a little by combining editing of LCD button labels with command to learn a function from another remote. I found myself constantly bouncing back and forth between the edit and learn menus.
Once the setup is done, should you ever buy a second MX 500 (Why you would need a second is beyond me), you can simply clone your existing MX 500 to its new brother, which will become an exact...well, clone. I'm sure this is a favorite feature of custom electronics installers, but the average user will probably never use it.
Using the remote is if anything anti-climactic. I've had mine all of a week, and already I take it for granted. The layout of the buttons is intuitive and easy enough to pick up. The thumb pad is a little "squishy", I would prefer that it be more firm, or than the remote use four individual directional arrows, but it works just fine, so I can't complain too much about it.
All in all, I would recommend the MX 500 to anyone. You may want to wait a bit, though. Universal, the maker of the MX 500, will soon release a new family of remotes that offer most of the same functionality but in a smaller, and one would assume more ergonomic, package. If you wait, you could select to get the new model, or probably pick up the MX 500 at an even better price.
Enjoy! I certainly did.
Customer Review: Wife Acceptance Factor - 100%
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally! A remote that does everything it claims. We recently purchased a 55" HDTV set and my wife grew more and more frustrated with the multiple remote controls we've used for a while and even the cheapo "One for All" we've had that never quite duplicated all the functionality of our original remotes.
Take our audio receiver remote for instance. Our One for All 6131 had a code that controlled the volume, power, and several other functions. But it could not switch the input to DVD, although it could switch to VCR1, VCR2, etc. So we had to keep the original audio receiver remote handy. Same thing for the Tivo remote and the TV remote - the One for All could do most, but not all functions.
Well, the MX-500 takes care of all of that and more. Sure, it has built-in codes and those are a decent place to start. But the key difference about this remote is that it can LEARN from your other remotes. And before you think, "gee, plenty of other cheap remotes say that can learn as well" - they don't even come close to having the memory this one has. Some cheapo learning remotes can learn as few as 30-40 total functions, across all your remotes. That might be nice if you only had one or two devices and it missed only a handful of codes for each.
The MX-500 is nothing like that. It can learn several hundred commands - plenty to absorb every single function for all five of my devices with room to spare.
Not only can it learn all of your old remote's functions, you can assign them to virtually any key, including the keys next to the LCD screen that you can customize yourself.
If I sound excited about this remote its because I am - and the coolest thing - so is my wife!
The MX-500 also has awesome macro capabilities. I have a macro for turning everything on or off. I have a macro for taking the system from off to everything switched to play a DVD. I have macros for switching to watch Tivo, switching to HD Cable, switching to play Xbox, switching to play PS2 - you name it.
And the greatest thing? All I have to tell my wife or friends who come over is, "You want to watch Tivo? Just hold the Tivo key down for a second. You want to watch a DVD? Just hold the DVD key down for a second" - and it just works. You'd almost think it was a Mac instead of a remote control. <g>
Trust me - this remote is worth the price twice over.
And speaking of cost, I bought this remote at a slightly higher price and paid for overnight shipping. I checked back a couple of days later and the price had dropped by about $9. I emailed Amazon and asked them if they'd credit the difference back to my card - and they did! That's why I keep shopping at Amazon - good customer service.