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The Rabbit Hole of Remotes (Just Ordered a URC MX-890)


Youthman

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I can remember when I first was getting into HT that it was dumb spending over $100 for a Universal Remote.  I decided to purchase a Harmony One and now I can't see not having one.  It truly has made it so convenient (especially for the family) to be able to hit one button to turn everything on and one button to power everything down.

 

Rich_Guy has been "encouraging" me to upgrade my Harmony One to one of the URC Remotes.  He owns several of them and speaks VERY highly about them.  I've been very pleased with my Harmony One but you how curiosity is.....

 

Last night I received a notification from Ebay about an MX-890 for a great BIN price so I figured I'd jump on it. 

 

Apparently the URC's offer much more customization than the Harmony. 

 

Since I'm a graphic designer, I love the fact that with the 890 I can design my own buttons, background and menus in Photoshop to use for the touch screen.

 

I also like that it has the capability of RF by purchasing the MRF-350 and the RFX-250.  I don't need this feature up front so I'll keep an eye out for a good deal on a used set.

 

Once I get it setup, if I like it better than the Harmony One, I will likely put mine up for sale here.

 

urc-mx890.jpg

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Does your new remote have the Klipsch Wireless HD Controller in its device database?

Rich_Guy might could answer that for you.  I haven't received the unit yet so I'm not sure what it supports.  I would think it would.  I've yet to find any component that my Harmony One didn't have in it's database.

 

So you're going to let one of us have your second best?

Second best sure beats this.  :P

 

universal-remotes-300x200.jpg

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Does your new remote have the Klipsch Wireless HD Controller in its device database?

 

Probably there are quite a few Klipsch codes in the data base but many have a generic title for the grouping like KLIPSCH 1, KLIPSCH 2, etc. plus many with names of Klipsch products I am not familiar with and I'm not familiar with the Klipsch Wireless HD Controller at all.

 

The only Klipsch IR controlled products I am familiar with are their digital subwoofers and I do know for sure those codes are in the data base.

 

Also pretty much any IR code can be either learned or imported by hex code.

Edited by Rich_Guy
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You'll really appreciate those RF capabilities down the road. The ability to hide all your gears lights behind cabinet doors, false walls, screens, etc. while watching movies is a much better viewing experience imo.

That's what pushed me to upgrade from the harmony One.

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The ability to hide all your gears lights behind cabinet doors, false walls, screens, etc. while watching movies is a much better viewing experience imo.

I don't "need" RF capabilities because all of my new cabinet doors will be like they are now with grill mesh.  But sometimes my daughters will hit the Off button on the Harmony and immediately put the remote down (not facing the equipment) and certain things will turn off and others will not because the remote isn't facing the IR Sensors.

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Gotcha.  I'm diving into the URC Software now and it's definitely more complex than the Harmony Software. I have a lot to learn but Rich Guy seems to be VERY well versed in the URC Remotes so I'm certain I will be asking him a lot of questions along the way.  I'm pretty excited already to get it setup to see what it can do and how it compares to the Harmony One.

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LOL the MX-890 is not for the complete beginner, but it looks much more daunting at first than it really is.

Yeah, I like jumping in Head First! 

 

It's like anything else in life....if you are unfamiliar with something, it's seems totally confusing.  But once you get an idea of how it works, it becomes easy to use.  Like when I first began learning HTML and CSS.....I fought it for soooo long because it seemed complicated and at the time, Dreamweaver wrote the code for me.  I quickly realized the importance of being able to work with code, even if you have software that is creating most of the coding for you.  Now I'm comfortable modifying style sheets and working with code.

 

I'm actually reading through the 63 page and 27 page URC manuals.  Definitely not much help on Youtube. 

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Interestingly enough....Panasonic is not listed at all under Projectors category.  I looked under the TV Category and Panasonic is listed, but not projector models.  Will I need to "Learn" the buttons on my Panasonic Remote?  It's probably not that big of a deal but that kind of stinks considering the 890 is 3x the cost of the Harmony One.

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