I am looking for ways to connect my MX-500 to a PC. My main goals are as follows:
1. Backing up the configuration of the MX-500, just in case
2. Being able to program direct codes that are not available in the original remotes.
So far, I dentify 3 options. I am not sure which one of them is the best. Any advice will be greatly apprecited.
Option 1: connecting the MX-500 to the PC with some cable. It seems to have an 8 pin connector (one pin of the eight is missing) under the battery. I am not sure though if this is a JP1 compatible device or what cable and softwrae I should use.
Question: what cable and software can be used with the MX-500 8 pin connector under the batteries ?
Option 2: Buying a cheap JP1 compatible remote control (e.g. URC-8811), programing the direct code into it using a JP1 cable and then having the MX-500 learning the codes from the cheap remote control. (no backup solution with this option).
Option 3: Using the IRClone-MX hardware and software. This is a proprietery software so I don't know how good it is compared to the free JP1 software and will I be able to use codes that are avaialble to the JP1 community.
Question: how does the IRClone-MX compares with the free JP1 software? Does it allow to add codes that are not preprogrammed in the MX-500? Can I use code published in the JP1 community with the IRClone-MX?
Any help or suggestion will be greatly apprecited.