Customer Reviews

Universal Remote Control MX-500 10-Device LCD Viewscreen Remote Control with Joystick Operation

5 star:		(116)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I highly recommend the MX-500 for anyone trying to control 4+ devices in a home theater system. You can program it to control almost any device with the built-in codes or use the original remote that came with your equipment to "teach" the MX-500 the necessary codes. I use it to control a Directivo, Zenith TV, Panasonic DVD player, Mitsubishi & GE VCRs, Yamaha CD player and a Sony digital receiver.

Customization is very easy, with the ability to edit button labels (on the LCD screen) with the names or types of your equipment, and the ability to program buttons for 50 of your favorite channels (a must if you have satellite or cable service of 150+ channels). The MX-500 also permits macro programming, i.e., the ability to execute multiple commands with one button. For example, the "Power" button can be programmed to power on all your home theater equipment; the "System Off" button can be programmed to turn it all off. Three other macro buttons are provided for other customized, multiple commands.

You can also teach it, like most higher-end remotes, to "push down" certain commands, e.g., the volume buttons can be set to manipulate the volume of your home theater receiver, regardless of which device you are using (DVD, VCR, TV).

The IR range of the remote is excellent: I've changed channels across the room pointing the remote at the wall !! Battery life is also top-notch (it uses 4 AAA batteries) and the user manual is well-written.

The one weakness with this remote is that the "select" button (the black center bezel) is a little awkward to use because it's almost too stiff. I tend to use the joint of my thumb rather than the pad to engage it because otherwise I was inadvertently hitting the up, down, or left/right arrows.

End-user support via discussion forums and dedicated sites like remotecentral is excellent so you can always find an answer to a question you may have that the manual doesn't cover, as well as tips and tricks for using/programming the remote.

If you want absolute customization in a universal remote, then buy the more expensive Philips Pronto (or the costly Pronto Pro) which with available software, permit you to use your PC to edit every aspect of the remote. But if you want near perfect customization at an affordable price, then you can't miss with the MX-500.

I gave up on my Sony RM-VL1000 and got an MX-500, and am *very* happy with it. The remote is customizable in all of the ways I wanted. There are several macro buttons that you can hit on the remote without having to go through any menus. The volume buttons can be customized to pass through to your amp. It's got a nice joystick. I found the setup process to be very easy and intuitive (I don't think I'll have to reference the manual to tweak things in the future). There's good feedback on the LCD as you do things. It's easy to customize what's shown on the LCD for different buttons.

It's got a backlit display, and I like the rubberized feel of the remote.

Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase.

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.

OK - I checked all the reviews before purchasing and everything that is said about this little puppy is true.

* It works!
* It controls all kinds of components / devices
* The learning and punch-through features are cool, quick and powerful.
* It is relatively easy to use but has complex features
* Feels good in the handle - feels like high-quality

But there are some key shortcomings (that assuming the Harmony remote works) might make you consider the Harmony remote.

1) More space to name/describe a component or function - The remote limits you to six characters or so -- perhaps pre-2004 six characters or so to describe a function would be OK but with today's complex functions this is a shortcoming.

2) More pages should be provided - each component can contain two pages worth of commands - I have seen other models by the manufacturer and these remotes have up to six pages. I know for $100 bucks or so you cannot have the world but three pages seems to be a minimum.

3) No defined 10+ key -- for skipping to say, track 15 on a CD/DVD quickly (sure you program a key to be 10+ key but all the other keys are suited for other purposes. This may seem like nit picking but wait until you are in the middle of a CD/movie and want to skip ahead quickly. You will then remember this review. ;-)

Truthfully I cannot say enough good things about the remote - one of the best purchases for our home entertainment. You will not be disappointed - I just want to inform you of all the features & limitations the product offers.

Enjoy!

Before buying the MX-500 I tried many remotes. I bought and returned the 1 for all Kameleon.(Far too confusing and not enough buttons.) I then bought and returned the Sony AV 3000. (Again, not enough buttons, no way to label those that are there properly and a touchy touch screen.) I then tried the Phillips Pronto at a dealer. My God - how many screens do you have to go through to find the one you need?

I finally started doing some research on the Internet and decided to try the MX-500. Every once in a great while someone hits upon a design that is so simple and elegant that you wonder why nobody ever thought of it before. The MX-500 is one of these classics. I won't go through all of the things it does so well which other reviewers have eloquently described except to say that I have been able to program every command from every remote I have in such a way that I am able to know which button does what and to access them all quickly. I can also, for example, go to the VCR device and control some necessary TV functions (such as changing the TV input) from the VCR device. And I don't have to guess which button to press because it's clearly labeled. In fact, the MX-500 is easier to use than some of the original remotes which it replaces since some of them had tiny or confusingly placed buttons.

The MX-500's display is crisp with excellent contrast even in dim room lighting. If you have even a dim lamp on anywhere in the room you will be able to read the display. I never use the backlight. In fact,if there's anything bad to say about the MX-500 it's that the backlight is useless except in very dark surroundings.

In short, I think this is the best universal remote AT ANY PRICE.

I've had the remote for about 8 months now. It has been by far the best remote i've ever used. It looks really cool, feels great in your hands, and operates nearly perfect. I've bought other crappy, cheap, $30 and under universal remotes and always ended up not even using them and just using 4-5 remotes instead. With the ms-500, I've finally put the remotes away for good. Haven't used any of them since I got the thing fully programed.

There are just a few negative things about the remote, which don't really take away from it:

1. I've noticed that sometimes the volume on the tv mode won't read through fully and will take multiple hits of the button in order for it to work. These are the only buttons that do this for me, it may just be the TV itself.

2. This is really just a minar pet peeve that doesn't really bother me but it should be noted anyway. The numbered buttons (1,2,3 etc.) are located at the bottom of the remote as you can see in the picture. If you're trying to operate them you have to grasp the remote all the way at the bottom which feels awkward. Or you can use two hands.

Many people complain about the middle joystick portion, but I really like this feature.

Bottom line: If your looking for a suitable universal remote for 3+ devices, don't waste your money on a cheap one because you'll probably not use it in the long run and you'll regret the purchase most likely. Go with the mx-500 - you won't be disapointed!

**********UPDATE***********
Decided to re-visit my review and see how its aged overtime :)
As I write this it's 2/05 - i've now owned the remote for about 2 years, and it's still going strong and running perfectly! Someone else mentioned that they're a hero around the house for making it so easy to operate all of the devices, and it's the same for me. I'm thought of as some kind of genius for progamming the thing; of course I never argue with that and don't mention that it's overly simple to program it in the first place. ;)

Looking back, I think I should have listed the devices I have the remote synched to, so I'll do that now.

1. HD Television
2. DVD Player
3. Audio Receiver
4. HD Cable Box
5. VCR
6. Camcorder

As a victim of countless remotes I tried in vain to consolidate as much as possible to the "universal" RCA remotes that come with satellite TV or DVD players. Unfortunately this left me with at least 2 remotes on the coffee table. I did some research but because of the hefty price, waited for someone to buy it for me as a gift. Now that I've had it for 2 months I wish I'd bought it for myself a long time ago!

I can easily say this is the best universal I've ever had. The preprgrammed codes as well as the learning feature means you're going to have this baby doing everything you want and in as little time as possible. Starting with preprogrammed codes and editing to my liking, it took me about 3 hours to program nearly EVERY BUTTON from my 5 other remotes, including macros. I currently have the remote controlling my TV, VCR, DirecTV satellite with TiVo, audio receiver and 300 disc DVD player with ZERO problems. As you can imagine, each of these remotes has a few dozen buttons and they're all stored in the MX-500. I've even set up a macro to turn the entire system off/on with the touch on ONE button as well as a macro to switch the audio input and turn the DVD player on/off to easily watch movies. To get around the permanent labels for the non-lcd buttons I've used a hand-held labeler and overlayed the new text. Some of the LCD buttons can be a stretch for smaller hands but that is minimzed by the majority of often used buttons being assigned to the "hard" buttons. There's also the issue of re-learning what buttons are where but this is a problem with any new remote. Fortunately, the problem is minimized here by the similar layout to the most common universal remotes packaged with electronics these days.

After two months my wife is still commenting on how great a purchase this thing was. If you have the money and the relatively small amount of patience to program it, it's DEFINITELY worth every penny. It will take some logical thinking and know-how to maximize your benefit but the result is worth it.

Pros: highly customizable, good mix of "hard" and "soft" buttons, pass through function, macros
Cons: price, limited space for lcd labels, permanent labels for "hard" buttons, ergonomics not ideal for smaller hands

This remote is very good. I had purchased a Sony universal remote for about 1/2 this price and it didn't hold a candle to this device (backlight didn't stay on long enough, buttons on the remote weren't in line with LCD text in display, etc.)

But Universal got it almost perfect on this unit. It's extremely easy to set up. The instruction manual is pretty complete (although some of the instructions are just a little confusing and causes you to have to think about it but you get it figured out.

The only device that was a flop was my Scientific Atlantic Cox DVR Box. When I put in the automatic code that worked, it had very few of the commands pre-configured. But not to worry, they make it VERY easy to change labels and for it the learn the code from another device.

Don't hesitate to get this unit. It is wonderful and I just bought a second (and Amazon's prices were the lowest I found.)

Pros:

* It works great either with automatic codes or by learning codes.
* Buttons and LCD text are in-line.
* Easy to use and works great.
* Really easy text entering.
* Backlight can be manually turned on and you can set it to stay on a reasonable time (up to 99 seconds).

Cons:

* No function that would automatically turn on light everytime a key is pressed. (You can manually turn it on by pushing a button on the side but an option to have the backlight come on on a keypress would be nice.)
* Kind of big and bulky (but it's "okay..")
* The backlit screen is VERY easy to read in total darkness but when there is a little light, it becomes hard to read. So you end up with this area between a room with no light (when the backlight works great) and when the room has a little light (where it's hard to read with backlight on and hard to read with it off). This is a little bit of a pain, but in practice, shouldn't really hinder loving the unit.
* Only 2 pages of commands for each device. This "should" be enough but a third page would have ensured always having enough, even on multifunction devices.

I second what most other users have written about convenience and programmability. Here are some additional points:

- I have had the remote for just over a year. It still works perfectly and looks almost like the day I bought it.
- The rubbery plastic that the remote is covered with means it is pleasant to hold, it doesn't scratch tables or become scratched itself.
- The remote's signal is very strong. I can point it in almost any direction in my living room and the signal still goes through to my devices. This is a relief after using some finicky remotes that had to be pointed EXACTLY at the devices they controlled.
- The batteries need changing every 4-5 months. Not bad, not great.
- Some remotes have LCD buttons (which give you no tactile feedback), and some remotes have regular buttons (which you can't change the labels on). The MX-500 eliminates the disadvantages of either approach by combining regular buttons with LCD labels.

This is by far the best remote I have ever encountered at any price. Rather than simply echo everyone else, I'll just pass on some tips.

1. When programming macros, the macros have to be built from buttons/functions already programmed into the MX-500. You can not program a macro directly from the remotes you are learning. This is not really made clear in the manual.

2. One of the annoying things aout Toshiba VCRs (standalone or in combo units) is that they require two buttons to be pushed simultaneously to record or set timer recording. You can cominbe this into one button on the MX-5000, though. Just pick the button you want to learn to and then press simultaneously the two buttons you need on the Toshiba remote. The MX-500 will learn the combined signal! So, on your MX you'll only need to use one button. This is fantastic engineering (or maybe just plain lucky.

3. The unit does eat batteries, so be aware of that. It does so much so well, though, that you'll gladly buy the batteries (or use rechargeables).

4. The only real delicate thing about the unit is the light. Drop the remote a few times, and everything will still work fine but the backlight will be dead.

5. If you're going to learn a bunch of devices, especially if you're going to combine functions from multiple remotes on one device (i.e. Device uses the signal for TV's volume control, but cable box's channel change), it's a good idea to sit down and plan a bit first. Decide what you want to go where in advance. It's also a good idea that similar functions on various devices (e.g. "Clear" or "Cancel") be programmed for the same button on each device you create. Will make your unit more intuitive and quicker to use.

6. Edit all your LCD buttons to get the labels you want first, then go back and program them all at once. This is much faster when you're settting up a lot. Tip 5 makes this much easier to do.

7. Don't be bound by how the original remote was laid out. Lay out the MX-500 in the way that's most comfortable and intuitive for you. Do that, and after a while you'll realize how incredibly clunky most OEM remotes are.

8. There is a device out there, IRCLONE-MX, which allows you to program the MX-500 via your PC. Essentially, you use a program to lay out your MX-500 and then load it into this devise. It then uses the "clone" feature of the MX to send all the derived codes to your MX-500. It also could serve as a backup for your MX-500 in case something happened to it and you didn't want to go through the whole programming process again. Can't say that this is worth it. The MX-500 is easy to program, and once you're done the first time, how often do you do extensive reprogramming? As a backup device it shows promise, but with Amazon's prcing of the MX-500, it's only $10 bucks cheaper than the MX-500 itself. Just go out and buy a second MX-500 and clone your first one.

9. Once you've programmed your MX-500, take the batteries out of your OEM remotes and stick them in a drawer somewhere. The only time you'll ever need to pull them out is if you later realize there's a function you want to add to the MX-500. This is also good because OEM remotes cost a fortune if you break one, and could be hard to get for out of production units. This way you preserve your originals.

This unit is so good that when I bought my first one, I went out and got another two days later, just to have in the drawer in case I broke the first one. Now, with some new equipment in the bedroom, I'm using two interchangeable (cloned) MX-500s, and have ordered another one to keep in "reserve".

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued and replaced by the MX-650. The 650 can do IR and RF (if you buy an auxiliary base station), control more devices, do more in its macros, display more pages per device on its LCD and will cost you more money (although hopefully it'll drop in price like the -500 did), but it still is the best thing around in its price range.

UPDATED UPDATE: Amazon has these back in stock, so maybe they re-entered production because so many people love it. Also out there is the NXG NX-RM505, which apparently is an exact clone of this.