Customer Reviews

Universal Remote Control MX-700 Home Theater Master 20-Device Universal Remote Control

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As of August 1, Universal Remote Control products have become unusable unless purchased from an authorized dealer -- which Amazon.com is not.

Universal Remote Control has removed the software needed to use the remote from the box. They have also removed the software from their web site. URC has said that only customers who purchase at list price from an authorized dealer will be given access to the software. Without this software, the customer has no way to update their remote or program it.

Announcement from URC on this issue is here:
[...]

This is a nice remote, but if you want it, make sure you purchase from an authorized dealer that can give you access to the software needed to program it. A list of authorized Internet dealers is below -- you must purchase from one of these dealers to get a functional MX-700:
[...]

Buyer beware! - Universal Remote has recently changed their support policy and no longer provides the programming software REQUIRED to operate this unit to customers who do not purchase from an Authorized Dealer. And sadly, Amazon.com is NOT considered an authorized dealer in the eyes of Universal Remote Company.

This means you will be unable to use this remote until either Amazon.com becomes an authorized retailer (Expect prices to increase about 50%) or Universal Remote changes their stance on obtaining the programming software.

Aside from the support issue described above, I have no issue recommending this remote. I've used this unit for several years with no major issues, and it is highly durable, laid out well and has great range.

As of 1 August 2006, Universal Remote Control will no longer allow consumers to download the software needed to program this remote. You might as well flush your money down the toilet. Pronto - here I come.

Update: as you can see from the more recent reviews, software for this remote is no longer available online. Fortunately Amazon has stopped selling this device, otherwise you'd end up out of luck.

Original review:

Finally, a universal remote that is truly universal- I was able to put all my remotes in a drawer and have not had to dig them out in months.

You program this remote by connecting it to a serial port on your PC (maybe they'll use USB someday). An app runs on your PC that includes an emulator and various configuration functions. You can download a device database to handle many common components. You can also train the remote using the original remotes from the components. There are 10 configurable buttons with LCD labels, and you can set up four pages of functions for up to 20 devices. In short, you can program just about any button or combinations of buttons you can think of. ANY button can be overridden, so you can make the "fast forward" button be FF for VCR and DVD, but "page down" for your onscreen cable menus, for instance. Once you get the configuration the way you like it, you can save it to your PC then download it into the remote.

The configuration app takes a little work to figure out, and is the ONLY way to configure the remote. However, once you get the hang of it you'll be making those buttons dance.

Ergonomically this device is a treat- it seems a bit large, but fits the hand well and is well balanced. Buttons are well placed and have a good tactile response. A blue backlight is switched on using a side mounted button.

One final caveat- when I bought the device (elsewhere) it included the cable but not the software or programming manual. I was able to quickly download them from the Universal Remote Control website.

I purchased this remote in early 2006 and it is a wonderful remote. I cannot imagine a better universal remote. You download device information from a website for most popular devices. These are easily configurable. Too bad you can no longer do this.....

However, as others have mentioned, unless you purchase this from an authorized dealer, the remote is more or less useless. This new policy from URC is as of August 1, 2006.

Although I love this remote, I strongly suggest you look elsewhere for a remote from a friendlier company than URC - or make sure the remote dealer is authorized by URC AND stays authorized since you need to go to your dealer for all future software device updates. So, if the dealer is no longer authorized at the time in the future when you buy a new TV or DVD player and you wish to use this remote to control it, you are out of luck.

I imagine this remote control is quite nice. That is, if you purchase it from an AUTHORIZED dealer, which reputable companies like Amazon and Newegg are not. The reason being that the remote does not work at all, period, without the software. Said software is not included and is not available for download ANYWHERE. You recieve the software along with your remote when you purchase from an 'authorized' dealer.

In August of 2006, "Universal Remote Control" the maker of the MX-700 discontinued the software downloads/upgrades for MXEDITOR which is ESSENTIAL for programming the MX-700.

So this otherwise wonderful remote controller cannot be programmed, and is therefore USELESS to you.

The software is still available to professional installers, authorized distributors. Amazon is not one of them. This seems to be URC's way of discouraging web sales and protecting the much higher price for the professionally installed market.

This is very disappointing because this is a GREAT remote. The extremely flexible programming capability, strong IR driver, ergonomic feel, make this a stellar product. It is a shame that URC has made it inaccessible to the general population. (There is a message on [...] that URC will allow a 1 time, non-upgradeable download of MXEDITOR for owners with a valid serial number. There is no corresponding message on URC's website however, or any automated way to do this.)

Good Points:

- It connects to your PC

- Every button is re-configurable

- Standard buttons for the most common tasks, "modifiable buttons" for the device-specific tasks

- You select the make and model of every device

- The software has a "live-update" to obtain the latest settings(Can't do that if the remote doesn't connect to the computer!)

- Software makes configuring the remote a piece-of-cake. I have had configurable remotes in the past... what a relief!

- The display is sharp and easily readible. If that isn't enough, there is also a light (although you bearly need it)

- A favorites button: allows you to store up to 50 favorites (don't need 50.. but hey, it can do it)

- Remote fits nicely in your hand. Any bigger would be too big. Any smaller and you would cramp the buttons and the display.

Bad Points:

- Serial connection??? Why not USB??

- Can't find the remote for you. #$@%@# (But this is a problem with every remote... wish there was a page like the cordless phone)

- Not every make and model is offered.. Not a real problem because I found models that were very close and all functions seem to work properly

- No instructions on how to setup the remote are provided with the remote. You need to visit the website... which wouldn't be a big deal if they would at least tell you what the website is!!!

Overall, the problems are more of a wine-list then real issues.

If you are looking for an all-in-one remote... this is it!

This remote is part of Universal Remote Control's "Professional" line, and you can only obtain post-sales support for the associated button-programming software from Authorized Dealers, who are equipped to do so via agreements with the manufacturer.

That's a business model which is not unique to URC for this type of product classification or even within this industry (e.g., look at high-end software). If you obtain the MX-700 through other channels, the manufacturer still offers a means to request access to updated software . . . though that is no guarantee you'd get such support in all cases (at least they have a means to ask for software updates if you purchased a MX-700 before the "open" professional products software download links became hidden at their website). There are also places on the Internet which still circumvent URC's professional products line policy and provide download of the programming code, just FYI.

URC has a complete line of "Consumer" remote controls, too - you can get those products everywhere, and they are supported as one would expect. They also have loads of functionality, but are more oriented towards start-up-and-go operation, which is what most of us want with these products.

Poor ratings here at Amazon for the product seem primarily due to the fact that Amazon.com is apparently *not* an Authorized Dealer for the MX-700. I find that rating choice to be ridiculous: we should be rating the product and not Amazon's relationship to URC, I feel.

Aside from all of that context-setting, I owned a MX-500 before this remote and found it wonderfully easy to configure the LCD buttons and program the buttons (including using the remote control learning function) to replace 4 other remotes. When it came time to eventually use more advanced macros, the MX-500 didn't have all the discrete ON/OFF, Line 1, Line 2, etc. codes for my devices in its stored database of device codes, so I had to come up with workarounds for my unique design needs. Not a big deal, but I eventually decided to see if there were easier and more capable options, because I'm just being particular and choosy - I wholeheartedly recommend the MX-500, overall. The MX-500 can be programmed for new discete device codes that are NOT in standard remote controls, too . . . but, you would need something like a JP1 setup (search for that term to find out what it references) and I desired something which had these capabilities out-of-the-box. There are no software support considerations with a MX-500, because everything is easily programmed through the buttons on the remote, itself.

The MX-700 is essentially a software-programmable MX-500 with a much larger database of device codes, three less macro-dedicated keys (you don't need them), different backlighting and case colour, plus what appears to be some further capabilities on the LCD in terms of adding pages. The associate cable for hooking up to your computer's serial port and configuration software from the manufacturer (again, obtained with the purchase from an Authorized Dealer) are required to make it work as desired, but do so quite easily.

The software interface allows for extremely fast and flexible programming of almost every button on the remote, in an easy, graphical manner. You view an MX-700 in the main panel and just assign functions to the buttons, create/change/delete pages for the LCD buttons, etc. with the mouse - that's the essence of it.

It's amazingly straightforward - I came up with both device-oriented menus and "action-based" menus within my first day of programming, even before even hooking up to the remote control unit for loading those codes and testing it out. The software comes in versions for Windows and Linux and is standalone on your system - it doesn't require connecting to an Internet site and everything is stored on your local hard drive for ease and speed of access.

I now have top-level LCD menus for my separate devices, with some sharing of button fuctions across devices that seemed logical and convenient (e.g., place the cable box channel Up/Down device controls in the television menu, since the television's channel and input never change). The televison, cable box, DVD player, DVD-recorder/DVR, A/V receiver, etc. all have their own, unique menus which fully replace their unique remote controls. I did the same thing with my MX-500, but the MX-700 actually has more codes to easily use via the software package.

Then, I set a number of LCD buttons to perform one-step "actions" for my family, e.g., turn everything ON that's needed for playing DVDs, then configure the televison and DVD player for playing mode; turn everything ON that's needed for watching live tv with a timeslip function, and start the DVR timeslip automatically (i.e., unlike in TiVo DVRs, my Toshiba requires being placed into timeslip mode); turn everything OFF (very convenient!), etc.

Again, the MX-500 could do these action-based macros, too. But, some of the needed "discrete" codes were not learnable from my television and other remotes, because those functions weren't exposed on those controls to begin with. The codes I needed *did* exist, but you would need a special remote - such as a JP1 setup - to help teach them to a MX-500. Instead, the MX-700 had a big database with the codes I needed already present, and the graphical interface made assigning them to buttons, giving LCD menus the text I wanted, etc. very fast and convenient.

Finally, back to some of the 1-star ratings for this product . . . you might consider some additional context. Take a look at the "Sponsored Links" within this page: at the time of submitting this Customer Review, there's an *Authorized Dealer* offering the MX-700 for a terrific price. Right here, on the Amazon product page!

My understanding is that you can also discuss obtaining discounts from the advertised prices offline with any Authorized Dealer, with a reasonable expectation of success. They have mandatory minimum prices to display on their sites, set by agreement with URC - that doesn't imply that they must *sell* at the same price, though.

The remote comes with no instructions. You have to email universalremote.com for a programming manual, then you have to email again for the software. They have a Live Update feature, but it does not work. Also the light on the universal remote went out on the first day. I have been waiting for over a week to get a response on that. Do your self a favor and keep shopping