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Full user review
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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Customize EVERYTHING! Make your own modern piece of art that will control with sound and graphics."
Pros: Instant response from home theater components, operates flawlessly, BIG touchscreen, CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING, compliments the best TVs perfectly/home theaters
Cons: EXPENSIVE! No real support, unless you pay BIG BUCKS FOR IT, You will have to learn how to PROGRAM THIS remote, and it will take you some time, unless you pay a lot of money ($300); fingerprints,
Summary: This remote is expensive; retails for $1,000, plus tax. That may be the number one reason people would not buy this remote, but the sales guy was telling me ?they were flying off the shelves like hot cakes.? You can find them on eBay, but that is up to you (mine is flawless, but you won't have any protections that you might get in the store). The programming is another thing, they told me you could try to program it yourself, but they highly recommend that people pay for a pro to program this remote at a humongous price of $300. These factors might make you reconsider buying this remote, but if you owned the Harmony remotes, you know they are crap and die constantly, have power issues, and very poor designs, etc?
The MX-3000, is made in Korea, made out of plastic, lights up magnanimously when you pick it up, if you desire, all settings are customizable and can be adjusted. How bright, how much contrast, how many touch screen buttons, how big the buttons are on the display, what they look and sound like, the list goes on and on. I don?t nearly have the devices this remote can operate.
This remote can control so many things, like lights, and other home comforts, in the theater and outside of it, and of course can control the TV and satellite dish and stereo/entertainment center. The trick is, to create macros/program everything to your liking. In giving us freedom, this remote also makes it difficult to be completely satisfied. What I mean by this statement is that I feel that I will always want to tweak something and make it that much better. Like, for example, I already want to change the background of the first screen, use a different template (which was included in the software download from official website) along with other templates; change the buttons, their sizes, which pages certain commands are on. Anyways, you will no longer be trapped by the software programming or visuals of a remote that a company installed on their remote for you to use until you throw it away. I have already removed certain buttons on the main screen moved the buttons I left, around the screen in the order and position I wanted them in and now I need to add a time & date display (I think that is possible, have to look) since it asked me if I wanted to sync the time and date on the remote to my computer.
Now, I need to increase the size of the buttons, turn off the RF (if I can) and use macros included in the software; first find them and assign them to a button that is also available in the templates. Make one button turn on my entire entertainment system and another turn it all off (if I want to watch TV/satellite, turn on my big screen, turn on my satellite receiver, turn to video # x which I have set to HD viewing and then go to my control template for using the satellite services[direct TV] controls, the guide etc?) Thinking about it now, I can create the following: simply move a button to the main screen in the template in the editor, call it ?Watch HD TV? and have it do all the above. It is that customizable.
Right now, I simply need to press my ?TV? button, turn it on, usually on the right video channel, press the ?main? button, which is a hard button on the remote, then press the ?Sat? button on my touch screen and then turn on the satellite and bam, I?m watching satellite TV. However, the small bug I created is it that is now able to control my other TVs in other rooms (they use RF, or radio frequency) and since I have Direct TV everywhere, it controls them and that is causing the biggest problems. There is probably a fix, I just need to look in the editor some more, having fun doing it too. The DVD is controlled in a similar fashion, just need to go to the main screen and select it, same process as above.
I haven?t animated the buttons yet, that sounds really cool, and you can adjust the amount of volume you want the remote to work with. I got everything operational without paying $300. However, like previous reviewers stated," there is a learning curve." If you are not technically proficient in computers and have problems using your computer, like you don?t know how to connect a USB, pay the $300, but know what you want, because I know the programmer is going to have a lot of options for you and it will take a lot of time for them to customize it, regardless if they had training. Or, they might just put the simplest template on for you and run away with your $300 and you will not be happy. I don?t have my home automated, but when I upgrade the swimming pool, I am positive this remote will be able to control it. It had a default template which had things like lights, and I know blinds are controlled by remotes, this one will be able to handle those tasks. And, I know I won?t need to look for four different remote controls anymore. This however, is not one of those remotes you will be able to throw around, unless of course you don?t care about losing $1,000 and or what happens to the screen when it breaks (I have no idea about the dangers). So far, so good, it controls everything like it should (turns off components when I press the off button, and turns them on when I press the on button, instantly). The Harmony remotes sucked, in that respect and other simple every day commands. They would have these macros for you, where you could assign a button to operate everything in a sequence already preprogrammed; you just had to tell the remote what devices you owned (to the software). The software was not easy to download for the Harmony; this one was relatively easy, aside from it asking you to register your product, effectively, where you bought it, the location, your name and information. And, you would be able to set it up easily with the software, but constant glitches that make you press the help button were annoying as hell. YOU WILL NOT NEED TO PRESS ANY SUCH STUPID KEY ON THIS REMOTE. ONCE YOU GET IT PROGRAMMED, EVERYTHING WORKS! The only problem, like stated above, you will not know how to better customize everything, always want to change something. I guess you could hire a graphics artist and really make something cool,your own modern piece art, with sounds and graphics.
Will continue to update on here, every few months or whenver I experience something new, but this is a good replacement for my Harmony remotes that constantly died on me and had to be replaced. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!Updated
I wanted to let everyone know, it was absolutely simple to fix my RF problem where in which it controlled my other TV's Satellite receiver. Other pre-programmed macros are available at
http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/files/rcfiles.cgi?area=mx3000
the root is www.remotecentral.com
just incase you have an issue copying and pasting the web link (a sales guy from Tweeter told me about it). I haven't tried their templates yet, just using the standard ones in the MX-3000 editor software. The only thing that would confuse some people when using the editor, remember you "Download" TO the remote and you "Upload" FROM the remote, that still gets me.
Where to buy
URC Home Theater Master MX-3000 - universal remote control:
$1,099.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$1,099.99 | Yes |
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