Customer Reviews

Universal Remote Control MX-450 Custom Programmable Remote Control with On-Screen Macro Editing.

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Let's all agree that it does not require an advanced degree in computer science to program a remote control. In the case of the MX-450, neither does it require a "Professional" installer (whatever THAT means).

If you know or can figure out with a little bit or web surfing (a) which components need to be turned on and what inputs and outputs should be selected, (b) what is the difference between IR and RF, (c) what an IR emitter or blaster is, (d) what a delay is, and (e) that you need a Power Off macro to turn off all the devices in your system, you can easily program this remote. It might take a little bit of trial and error and a little bit of patience, but no more than any other "Consumer" remote control that I have seen so far.

Put another way: If you can read the directions and figure out how to program a Logitech Harmony remote at some basic level (and especially if you have already done so), you can read the directions and figure out how to program this one and probably in less time. You might have to start over again once or twice while you get familiar with the guided setup, but the step-by-step software is so simple that even a "professional" installer could probably figure it out :)

My experience: I initially owned a Universal Remote Corporation MX-900 which was installed and programmed for me by a "Professional" AV company that shortly thereafter went out of business. I was irritated at URC because they would not provide me with access to the programming software for my MX-900. They said it was for "Licensed Dealers Only" which is their way of saying "Professionals". It was a great remote, but I was no longer willing to pay somebody $300 every time I wanted to tweak the picture or add/upgrade a component (e.g., adding an XBox, swapping the DVD for a Blu-Ray, etc.) and a few things with the way mine was programmed were really irritating.

To replace that, I purchased a Logitech Harmony 900 and had the exact experience as everyone else who purchased it did: bad RF range and performance. I tried every creative workaround you could think of, to no avail. If the RF worked, it would be a great remote. But it doesn't.

URC adveritizes this remote as being for "Professionals", which initially scared me off, but the cool thing about the MX-450 for the DIY folks like me is that, since you don't need a PC, there is no software required to program the remote.

Correcting some previous reviews, URC offers for download from its web site support section a helpful Archiver program that allows you to update the remote firmware and ir codes database via a USB cable -- just like the Harmony remotes, but much simpler. It also allows you to make a backup copy of your remote configuration in case you have a problem later on and need to do a factory reset or restore your settings. (For the non-pros like me, I strongly recommend making multiple backups along the way as you add more and more cool macros and other programming.)

In my case, I spent about an hour surfing through the internet reviews and reading the 12 page manual before I took the thing out of the box. It probably took me another 4 hours in total to program the remote over the course of one evening. That includes my Denon AVR receiver, my Sony TV, my Sony Blu-Ray player, my AppleTV, my Xbox, my HDRadio and my wife's Wii Fit (all hidden in the next room and connected to our whole-house audio system). I used the macro feature to create six macros on the Main page that emulate Harmony-style "Activites" -- e.g., to watch Tivo, you press the "Watch Tivo" button and the remote does the rest. Favorite channels can be done in under 10 minutes. It probably took me another half-hour to install the IR emitters, the base station and the RF antenna and do the RF programming on the remote to make each component RF only with its own ir address. BTW, the URC manual for the MRF 350 base station is really easy to follow and the RF settings on the remote itself are self-explanatory.

The guided programming is not as elegant as what you can do on a PC, and I had to start programming devices or macros over again once or twice, but the learning, macro and cut and paste functions are really helpful and easy. You can do just about anything that you can think of with this remote so long as you are a little bit organized. My unit gives me RF range to almost 100 feet through two interior walls and the performance has been reliable, even during long macros.

I highly recommend this as an alternative to other high-end RF remotes for DIY folks like me.

The MX-450 is an excellent higher-end remote. While this model is geared more towards pro installers (the similar consumer model is the Universal Remote Control URC-R50) it is still relatively easy to program via it's on screen setup and does not require advanced manual PC programming like my previous URC MX-700 did. There is a large database of built-in codes for all types of devices and automatic searching for your equipment, though I used the unit's learning functionality to do most of my programming so I could place the button locations directly. You can have up to eight pages of six functions each on the LCD section plus the hard buttons for up to 85 functions per device (this unit can control 18 devices). Very nice.

The unit is well-made and feels balanced and solid when in hand. Ergonomics are excellent with it's curved sides and thumb-recesses. I've never been a fan of base-charging remotes, so the use of four standard AA's is a plus for me. I've gotten about 4-1/2 months of fairly heavy usage with my first set of batteries and that includes a ton of initial button and macro programming for a complex system. The 2" LCD color screen is sharp and bright and the rest of the hard keys are nicely illuminated (intensity levels and timing can be adjusted) with multi-colors via button push or a Light button on the right side of the remote. Note that you can NOT import a background picture like the product page shows, though there are various built-in button/icon graphics available as well as a bunch of popular channel logos for the Favorites list. There is a USB port in the battery compartment area that allows you to backup your configuration to a computer file with the downloadable software from URC's website. As of now I believe that is the only use for that port.

I am using just the standard infrared transmitter and not the RF, and signal pickup response is very good with my equipment. If the unit is "sleeping" and you want to use one of the six buttons for the LCD functions those require an extra click to wake up the screen first. Buttons are solid and have decent resistance to them. Full 255 step macros with variable delays can be programmed on to all the buttons except for (I believe) "Main" and the two "Soft" navigation keys.

If you're looking to save some cash you can go with the previously mentioned R50 which gives you pretty much the same programming and device functions minus on-screen macro editing (a big minus for me, as you would have to delete the macro and start over if you screwed up or want to edit). You also lose the USB port and backup function, RF-signal transmitting capability and a nicer finish (the buttons are the rubber type vs. the 450's hard button and the backlighting is just full button red vs. the 450's multi-color lighted label type).

i have very mixed feelings on this remote.

we had our home theater professionally installed by a locally owned a/v company. they showed us this remote and told us this is what they go with in the majority of the installations. i said "ok."

Good: this thing is rock solid. great construction. well built. not cheap crap like the harmony units. once setup, the thing works really well, and with the macros you can do basically anything you want with it. in our current setup it controls a PS3 (yes, you can control a PS3 with it), satellite radio, satellite tv, secondary speakers on our back deck wired into the receiver and switching input to a wii (cant control a wii as far as we know, but why would you want that?). as far as build and functionality goes, it gets 5 stars. i really like the remote a LOT. it makes complicated functions really easy.

Bad: as others have said, there is NO documentation ANYHWERE on how to program this thing. ive looked all over the net and cant find a thing. im the kind of person that likes to work on my own stuff, i like to know how everything works, and it bothers me to no end that i cant program my own freaking remote control. i dont even want to delve into it because im sure ill screw something up. i dont even know where to begin with it. i dont mind at all having the same wonderful company that installed our whole home theater come out and redo something when i need it done, but i would really like the option to know how to do it myself, or at least have some documentation to point me in the direction. if i want to change one tiny function i dont really want to have to pay a service fee for them to come out and do it, ya know? reprogram the remote from scratch? ya ill call them.


cliff notes: excellent remote regarding build and functionality, NOT end user friendly AT ALL regarding programming.

****update****

ok, so i decided to try and do some programming. i didnt start from scratch. perhaps if i did i would have had even better results, but i just did some editing on what i had. we pulled the satellite receiver out and put in a mac mini for internet streaming and dvd ripping. setting up a device is fairly straight forward, not that hard, and setting up macros are SIMPLE. i thought it was gonna be tough, but you just literally start making a macro, the remote has a little "record" icon, and you punch in what you want to do on the remote for what you want the macro to do. hit done, and its finished. i did, however have problems getting volume control of our denon receiver to work after i got the new device setup, so after an hour and a half i called my installer and he told me what to do. i still really dont understand, but it works now so horray. again, if i would have started off fresh from factory defaults im betting i would do better now as there is a built in help guide that has been turned off on mine.

after all that, im bumping it up to 4 stars from 3. programming really isnt that hard.

It should be made much clearer that this remote comes with NO programming documentation. The "owners manual" recommends, in no uncertain terms, that the purchaser should find a professional audio/video installer to program the remote. That's all well and good, but should be stated up front. If it is being sold on Amazon, I expect it will be user friendly enough for someone reasonably technical to program it. Otherwise, just sell it from local dealers with installation specialists, who will tell someone up front what the additional cost will be.

This is a great remote my customers & I Love it.
It is easy to operate, navigate, and is quit stylish. This remote also has the ability to backup the programming and update the IR data base, and yes even for End Users.
It works great for a simple setup.
If you have additional room/s or back yard speakers, I would recommend the MX-880 or MX-980.

First let me say that I bought this remote after my Harmony 890 stopped working well after about 2 years of use. If it wasn't for the fact that some of the buttons stopped working (like the flimsy volume and channel select buttons), I probably would still be using that remote as it worked great for my needs (I have my equipment behind a wet bar cabinet so I need the RF feature). Macros worked great, and the RF worked great for me. The problem was that the buttons simply stopped working (pushing on them didn't elicit a response almost like there was a bad connection -- you had to really mash on the button to get them to register). I wrote a full review on this already.

This led me to look for another remote but I was wary of buying another Harmony (namely the 900 or the 1100), mainly because I didn't want to spend another $200 or so for something flimsy that lasted only another 2 yrs. The 1100 wouldn't probably have this problem but I didn't like the idea of using a tablet and wanted more of a traditional handheld remote.

After researching universal remotes, it seemed like the major players in the universal remote industry are Logitech Harmony and Universal. I was intrigued by the Universal brand after my experience with Logitech and I wondered if perhaps the build quality might be better. The only thing that concerned me, and this was a big concern, was the need to 'hire' someone to program the remote for you. For some reason, it feels wrong to me to have to hire someone a lot of money just to program your remote (I already have a bit of a problem spending over $200 for a remote let alone paying someone to program it).

After deciding to buy this after reading some of the reviews, I am pleased to say that this remote is all that I have hoped it to be. It feels more solid than my Logitech did in how the buttons feel and the quality of the build materials seems better to me. The buttons seem a little more solid and substantial when pressing on it. There is more heft in picking up his remove as it is a bit of a heavier remote but not heavy by any means -- this could be due to the batteries (which it uses AA batteries instead of a rechargeable battery). I think the battery is a plus as my Harmony rechargable battery actually died after about 1 year and I had to replace this also.

The color graphic screen is very nice on this remote and you can customize the icon used for your DVD/satellite box/TV on the customizable macro buttons.

The biggest concern for most I suspect who are thinking about the Universal brand is "Will I need to hire someone to program this, or can I do it myself?". I really believe that with enough patience and a little logic, you should really be able to do it yourself and I believe that this specific remote was designed somewhat with this in mind.

First of all no special software is needed to program this (unlike other Universal remotes). The remote does contain some template 'code sets' of remote functions for devices of different brands of equipment like Sony, Denon, Yamaha, Samsung, etc. that you can try and some of these work adequately for your remotes. But the way you truly get an accurate 'translation' of your remote is to do the "LEARN" function which is basically pushing a button on the MX-450, then pushing the corresponding button on your old remote and then labelling the button if it is a button not already on the remote. This is actually very simple not difficult at all once you get the hang of it but it is a bit time consuming. I will say that although this step was considerably more time consuming than programming the Harmony (which bascially consists of plugging in the remote to the computer by USB cable and downloading the codes for your specific model from the Logitech website), this did result in a more accurate depiction of the remote buttons as the Harmony did not always have all of the correct labelled buttons for certain models of my equipment, which never really bothered me much before but I realize now that I have this remote.

Macros are really not all that difficult to program either once you figure out a little trick (I will describe below). But basically a macro is just a series of button pushes you teach the remote to do in order to perform a function. For instance when you want to watch TV, you normally have to push the TV power on, the receiver power on, the receiver to go to HDMI-1(or whatever HDMI port you use), then the satellite box power on. You can basically program the remote to assign a button called 'Watch TV' to push all of these buttons in order and even program a delay between pushes if necessary to get it to work properly. It is really not that difficult. You can also program a 'power off' button as well for each device in a very similar fashion.

I will give you what I think is a very key tip if you are doing this on your own and will be INVALUABLE IF YOU PROGRAM YOUR OWN MACROS. If you want your macros to work properly, you need a specific POWER ON and a specific POWER OFF button for each device (not just a 'power toggle'). Most of our remotes don't come with these as a button (most of our remotes just use a power toggle), so the secret here is to use one of the preprogrammed code sets and just do trial and error and look at the special buttons which often will have specific power on and power off buttons which will often work in this fashion (meaning pushing 'power on' won't turn the device off even if pushed multiple times). Once these buttons are found the rest of the remote can be programmed with the LEARN function.

The reason this is so key is to make these macros work properly you really should shut off the devices that you are not using. For instance when you want to listen to a CD you'll want to turn off the TV. If you use a power toggle, this will turn off the TV only if it is already on. But what if your TV happens to be off? If your macro instructs the remote to power toggle the TV, then your TV will turn on, which is not what you wanted. This is why you want your remote to have a specific POWER OFF and POWER ON button to do what needs to be done when you want it.

This last tip I shared was my biggest problem in programming the remote and did cause me a considerable headache in having to reprogram the remotes until I finally got it right. One reason I actually knew how I wanted my macros set up was because I did just come from the Harmony 890 which had its macros work in this fashion, only it was much easier to set up because it did it automatically.

However, once I got everything programmed, the customization of this is I think superior to the Harmony 890. I was even able to set up a macro to turn on a 2nd zone (my kitchen speakers) which I wasn't able to do with the Harmony. And as I mentioned by programming all of my remotes with the LEARN function they are more accurate in having all the buttons represented by the MX-450.

I am using the Universal MRF 260 for the RF function (this is another downside to Universal in that you have to buy this RF 'receiver', an additional expense -- the Harmony came with this included). But the RF works great and is also relatively easy to program once you figure out how to do the MX 450.

I sense that my macros also seem to work more consistently and accurately than the Harmony as well. Sometimes the Harmony would 'miss' something, like not turning off the TV when it was supposed to.

Although I feel like this remote is more solid in build quality than the Harmony, only time will truly tell. I'll need to see how this remote functions in 2 years from now to be fair in my assessment. But for now I am very satisfied with my purchase.

In summary, I think the Harmony remotes are very nice and user friendly but aren't built to last in my opinion. If you are looking for a good alternative, consider the MX-450. Although more difficult and time consuming to program, it is do-able for one with some patience and logic (and perhaps some courage to buy it) without needing to hire someone. In the end you'll have a solid, well built remote that can do everything you want it to, and won't be obsolete as it is potentially adaptable for any new devices you might buy in the future.

This is a great remote. Couple it with the MRF-260 base station (see my review) and it is the most affordable RF control system on the market. The only complaint I have what so ever about the remote is that you cannot learn commands for the hard buttons. I understand this is what sets apart the next model up but nothing goes without a critique. The instructions are not user friendly in the sense that all they say is these are the buttons put in the batteries and program remote then poof done! Here is a quick and dirty tutorial for anyone who wants to buy the remote but is afraid of programming.

Go through basic setup. This entails telling the remote what brand of tv,reciever,cablebox, bluray etc you have and testing the code set. It is important that all the functions you will need work in that basic testing or more advanced macros will have nothing to work from. The most important functions to test on your tv are usually power,input,aspect ratio. On a receiver it's all inputs you are using regardless of naming convention and volume.Blu ray and dvd players are usually in the remote already. If you do need to learn a specific button do so in the Learn section of basic setup. There are instructions on screen describing the process. This is necessary if you find a code set that works power but not say input just teach it the input button from your original tv/receiver remote. Make sure to check that the button/function you are looking for isn't a soft button on the 2nd or 3rd page of the remote screen. When adding devices put the tv and receiver on the left hand side of the remote screen. Add all devices including game systems even if you don't have the adapter to actually control the device with the remote say an xbox or wii still add the device so you can program it as a macro button to say switch the tv or receiver to the proper input to play said device. I put my cable/sat top right of the screen then dvd/bluray then game systems. The reason behind putting the tv and receiver on the left is so that after we use them to program macros we can hide them since we don't actually ever choose to watch tv it's more like watch verizon or comcast cable box, Play Wii etc. When naming a device add either Watch or Play to the device name so that you can do an event like adding a comcast cablebox I would name it Watch Comcast as the device name.

Copy and Paste volume. What this means is volume is always controlled either on the tv or at the receiver so when you are in Watch Cable or Play wii when you hit the volume it will control the proper device. The process is hit copy and paste from the menu select volume, all devices then FROM which ever you use TV speakers or av receiver.

Advanced setup/Macros

Master on/off for all devices from the Main Screen. Basically the first 2 macros to program is all the devices to the on and off hard buttons. They are located on the remote in the top left and right. Go to the macro menu and it will say start macro press done (located at bottom of screen) when complete. You will also notice a flashing red dot like the rec button at the top of the screen when you are in learn mode. Learning a macro is just the remote remembering the multiple steps you just took to complete a task and making it repeat upon a specific button press. Go to the Macro section and start recording by pressing the On hard button (located at top left of remote) now go through all the devices you added by selecting them one by one and hitting the on button once you are in the device menu then Main to get back to the main menu. Devices that should be added to this All On command are essential devices your ie. tv,projector,cable box,reciever. I usually leave bluray/dvd On command to the macro I make when I select to watch that device. Leaving your cablebox on won't hurt it but leaving a dvd player on and spinning a disc to keep it at the menu for hours and hours(while you watch cable) will kill it prematurely. Repeat the process for the Off button. The same exception applies to the dvd on the off macro I make the off command for the dvd inside the device menu when you hit Menu to go back to the main menu on the remote from watch dvd it shuts off the dvd player. Test and tune it so it turns all your essential devices on and off how you want. Now that we can press ON from the main menu and get say the tv, cablebox and receiver on we can move on to event macro programming.

Setup for the macros is to go through your current routine to actually get say your cable or satellite box up on the screen. Write it down on a piece of paper and make sure to locate and test all buttons required for the proper code. Here is an example. Say we want to watch our Verizon Cablebox. Everything is on already so we can skip to making sure the tv is on it's proper input we'll say Input 3 we'll make sure our Denon a/v receiver is set to Input-Cable or what ever input you have it plugged into. So in the Macro section we'll start the recording by selecting the "Watch Verizon" button on the main screen then press Main to get back to the main menu then select the tv and push the corresponding button for Input 3 then hit Main then select the Denon receiver and hit the Cable input button then hit Main and hit the "Watch Verizon" button again then hit Done. This makes it so upon pressing the "Watch Verizon" button from the main menu everything will switch to the proper input and the remote will stop on the Verizon code set which will have all the features the original Verizon remote had such as Guide,Cursor funtions and Page+/Page- etc.

Repeat this process for all devices. After setting up and testing that when you hit "watch..." it goes to all proper inputs and stops on that devices original code set. The reason we don't program everything on and off independent is that if you are switching between say "Play PS3" and "Watch Verizon" everything would have to shut off wait a sec then turn back on. After you are satisfied with the macros go to the Hide/Add pages section. We want to hide the tv and the receiver from the Main Menu since people unfamiliar may choose these and get confused. "I'm pushing TV but nothing is happening" that's because this just goes to the TV's code set where as the "Watch Verizon" is what they should be pressing to watch television.
Add Aspect Ratio control to events by selecting to Learn a button inside a device. Learn the aspect ratio/size button from your tv remote to all your devices. This way if you were watching standard definition television and you had the aspect stretched so it filled the screen (ie. no black bars on the sides)then switched to something in HD you would have the Aspect/size button right there on all devices.This isn't necessary on some tv's that auto stretch automatically.

Operation is easy.
With everything off pick up the remote and press On(top left) everything should turn on (tv,receiver,cablebox etc). You will be at the Main menu on the remote. Press the corresponding button for the event you would like to do like "Watch Verizon". When you are done and want to shut the system off press Main to get to the main menu and hit Off (top right). As long as this routine is followed every time you can come into the room to watch tv and the remote should be at the main screen and the ON macro will turn everything on. If a device get's left on but everything else turns off or vice versa. Set everything to one state either on or off then just choose that event/device from the main screen and when you are at that device menu hit power on or off pending on the state of the rest of the equipment.

This is a basic example to get you started and thinking in a macro sort of way.There are websites that talk about other more advanced practices to sort stuff into locations and zones. The difference between Hard and Soft buttons is that hard buttons are fixed some examples are guide, exit, menu. Their name is printed right on them and they are considered hard buttons. Soft buttons are on the remote's screen and can be edited so they are known as soft buttons.

This is a great remote, but just be aware that any updates are not available for the end user at all.

I just got this remote and it's great, especially the ability to edit macros right on
the device.
This remote is almost exactly the same as the "retail" r50 from URC, the major difference being the
R50 does not have the ability to edit existing macros, so it without a doubt does
not need to be programmed by a "professional" installer.

The only downside is trying to find the exact codes for your devices, in some cases, like a xbox 360 it was right on the first try, but for my 4 year old Samsung plasma I had to search for the exact one that had the correct discrete HDMI input codes. It would be nice if URC had a web page at least where you could enter in your model number to get
a code based on the model name of the device.

The build quality is top notch, far better than the flimsy/creaky harmony models.

Overall I am glad I got this remote vs a harmony.

I placed an order for this item on December 18 to discover that same day that there was a possibility that this vendor (Home Electronics) was not authorized to sell this product. I immediately contacted the vendor that same day to tell me if they were indeed an authorized reseller. To date, I have heard nothing from them. I wold take it that they don't really wish to answer my concerns. It appears that I am now stuck with a remote that will have no manufacturer warranty or support. Furthermore, this device is, according to the manufacturer, a professional installation remote only. It is not meant for retail sales and therefore I am not entitled to obtain the software used by the manufacturers associated professional installers. I am not saying that I cannot get this remote to work with a great deal of effort, however I am saying that this vendor (Home Elctronics) has clearly misrepresented their abiltiy to sell this product with a manufacturers warranty. As they say, caveat emptor. I for one, will never do business with Home Electronics again.