I believe you Goldy. For me the MX850 works because I have a simple Denon receiver and TV based home theatre. It runs those, my Tivo, my Roku and Bluray just fine. Unlike the MX780, the display on the remote is always on. I like that. I also have more than a decade of finding the buttons without looking :). You are the pro and I am sure you also know tricks that I don't. I should learn more about the features you are describing.

Years ago I came up with a macro that turns the system on, gives input commands immediately, and then repeats the inputs after 3 seconds. That way there is no delay in switching inputs if everything is on.

Thanks for your response. BTW, the serial to USB adaptor use to give me fits, but my current Win10 computer seems to find the correct port setting every time.