RC User Reviews: Home Theater Master MX-500 Remote Control (3)

The following page was printed from RemoteCentral.com:

User reviews for the Home Theater Master MX-500 from Universal Remote Control Inc.

Ratings	Reviews	MSRP (USD)
Average: 4.80/5.00 Median: 5.00/5.00	157	$149

The MX-500 is a 10-device all-buttoned remote control with an LCD screen for custom labels on 10 adjacent buttons. It includes full infrared learning capabilities, a preprogrammed database, 5-way joystick, macros and more.

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the Home Theater Master MX-500 remote.

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Written by Indy Bill from nyc, ny.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-2 years.

Review 143 made on Thursday July 1, 2004 at 3:20 PM.

Strengths:

I'll add to the great things said about this remote. Controls everything, easy on batteries, lots of features, good build quality, low price, strong IR.

Weaknesses:

OK there are a couple of very minor things:
1. LCD should have more than 6 letters per button.
2. Back light on the LCD screen is hard to read.
3. Looks like a plain vanilla remote belying its greatness. (your friends color touch screen may get the looks)
4. I would like to see a couple of buttons near to top for say: watch tv, watch dvd, etc to avoid having to go back to the main screen all the time.

Review:

Used for my Pioneer Plasma, Sony DVD changer, cable box and track lights. Easy to customize so for example when watching DVDs you can use the volume controls to adjust on your AMP. I have had this remote for over a year and have never found something bad to say about it. My weaknesses listed above are really nit picking and observations as I would not trade this for any other. I had a Marantz RT-2000 and the names rubbed off the buttons after a while. This one had the nice hard buttons which show no wear after many presses.

I have two sets of rechargeable AAA batteries to thats no problem at all. Unless you want a super gizmo touch screen for the WOW factor this thing cannot be beat.

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Written by Adam from Missouri.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 142 made on Friday June 11, 2004 at 11:29 AM.

Strengths:

Hard Buttons w/LCD Features.
Flexability
Ease of Use

Weaknesses:

None that I have noticed.

Review:

There is little I can add to the information about this remote, but I felt I should comment on a couple of things.

As a total newbie in the world of "fancy" remotes, I found the entire thing slightly daunting. Finding a remote that would work with everything, make me happy, AND make the wife happy seemed a task that was going to be impossible.

Based on the many recommendations here, I took a stab at the MX-500 and have not been disappointed.

The combined hard button w/lcd makes this remote a joy to deal with, there is just something about tactile feedback from a remote that I'm just not willing to give up yet, but the LCD menu system adds the flexibility required.

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Written by Mike from California.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 6-12 months.

Review 141 made on Friday May 28, 2004 at 12:12 AM.

Strengths:

My wife loves it!!! Enough said.

Weaknesses:

Could have more macros on main screen.

Review:

I was able to make all the macros work. The screen LCDs were easy to customize and the layout was familiar to all. Since it has been in service my wife cant stop recommending it to all her friends. Their husbands call me and I tell them which one to buy.

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Written by Serghei Timotin from Ontario,Canada.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 140 made on Monday May 17, 2004 at 12:12 AM.

Strengths:

Ergonomic.
Easy to program even macro buttons.
Very Light.

Weaknesses:

Not at all for me as 2 weeks user.

Review:

I like this remote control very much.
This is the third remote I bought and it's real universal remote control.
The previous two(Sony and Jensen) that I had I could't program most of the functions for the Cable Digital box(Motorolla) and volume buttons for Samsung TV.(to increase or decrease volume I had to press buttons continuously).With the learning feature of MX-500 I programmed TV volume buttons within seconds. Macro programing is amazing. It allows you to perform some combination by pressing only one button i.e. to turm on TV and Cable Box.
The price + delivery,conversion to CAN dollar,the product became quite expensive. But you have to pay price for good product.

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Written by Michael Walsh from New York City.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 139 made on Friday April 2, 2004 at 5:24 PM.

Strengths:

Near-perfect integration of a familiar hard button layout with configurable LCD labels.

Weaknesses:

Would have preferred the original buttons over the shiny new "gemstone" buttons, but that's a small point. A bit large perhaps, but the payback for that size is having enough buttons for near-perfect functionality.

Review:

I got my MX-500 yesterday and was going to wait longer before reviewing it, but am so impressed with even the little I've seen so far that I must give it the requisite five stars. I have used several universal remotes over the years but was always disappointed. The MX-500 design is different from that of every other allegedly universal remote I have seen in that someone apparently PULLED THEIR HEAD OUT OF THEIR LOWER COLON AND THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT THE HELL THEY WERE DOING. All the trade-offs of other designs seem resolved. The hard-button layout runs the functions you use most, and are layed out in familiar fashion, NOT AN EIGTH OF AN INCH FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE REMOTE, but near the center where the unit balances naturally in your hand. The LCD labels display whatever five or fewer characters you wish, and the corresponding buttons will then learn from another remote, so you can in fact control more than one device from any given device screen, so you can minimize the need to toggle the remote from one selected device to another, which has always been the weak link in universal remote design, IMHO. The backlighting goes on and off effortlessly and solves that old "tilt the remote down towards the blue glow from the TV screen and squint hard" problem. Punch-through of volume, channel, and transport controls works seamlessly in the manner of your choosing. Ergonomically and electronically this thing is wonderfully thought through.

It looks to me like the URC-100, 200 and 300 that HTM is introducing now are steps backwards, so I sprang for an MX-500 at $99, easily a bargain at that price.

One would almost get the impression that the engineers at HTM expected this remote to ACTUALLY GET USED BY PEOPLE.

This is the one to buy.

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Written by Brad Smith from Columbus,OH.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 138 made on Tuesday February 3, 2004 at 10:54 PM.

Strengths:

Ease of Use
Price
Directions
Ergonomic

Weaknesses:

None so far

Review:

I researched the BIG touchscreens(Pronto and Sony AV-XXX) but pricing and the lack of full customer confidence in the user reviews made me keep looking for the diamond in the rough. I then stumbled upon the HTM-mX500. The 4.81 average was impressive. I read all 140+ reviews and it seemed unanimous. I bought the product at bluedo.com(Awesome experience with them also). The result: I I have a modest HTF setup with 6 devices and had NO problems setting all of them up within 2 hours. Even the MACRO feature which seemed daunting at first was a SNAP! Plus, the features it didn't know were quickly learned. I even went to home depot and bought a $20 IR light for my room to be controlled by the MX. It works like a champ. I even have my two young kids completely impressed on how I'm turning the lights on and off from the couch! :) This thing works as advertised and the price can't be beat. This remote control ROCKS. I love it! It's been 4 years since I've found something that I liked and now I feel like I'm in heaven reducing 4 remotes into 1. Thanks remotecentral.com for all of your help and all the users who make this a great forum.

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Written by Casteels Mark from Belgium, Lokeren.

The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 137 made on Tuesday February 3, 2004 at 4:24 AM.

Strengths:

-Can read all devices.
-Macro buttons.
-LCD screen to program non standard butons (Like the sound subtitles when using a DVD)
-Complete programmable
-Using extra sofware you can programe it on your PC and even use CCF files from the pronto (other software, downloadable on this website)
-For me it was cheaper to get this than a Pronto
-Quality versus Price

Weaknesses:

-I feels to light. Like you have nothing in your hand
-It is a big remote (my wife has little hands, so ...)

Review:

This is great, finally a product that can read and control my Panasonic receiver/amp and LG DVD player. The only other remote that was able to do this, was the Phillips Pronto. But since I like buttons and not a touchscreen I made a choice to get this remote. (Price was also a big pro for this remote)

Programming was so easy that anybody that can read can configure it for normal use.

I used the PC software (IrClone) to further program the remote and used CC files (from Phillips Pronto) to get some discrite codes to work for me. Great product and just love the handling. Can be used by the wife as a normal remote and by me with advanced features, like programming the VCR, one button to activate all componants to play a DVD, ...

PS to setup a good macro you really need the IRClone program.

For all those that do not live in the US (Europe) you can get the remote via Bluedo. Great service and shipment.

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