I've only just picked up the 15-2104 so haven't had much time to play with it, but my initial impressions are not great.

1. The POWER button.
They have added a new feature here where if you press and hold the POWER button, it will invoke your power macro. According to the manual, you just press the device buttons that you want turned on or off. Even if you try programming a normal macro to this button, it will still send the power command for whatever device mode you are in.

You can't program the POWER button using learning or advanced codes.


2. Macros
They have slaughtered the macro feature. Rather than letting you put macros on almost all of the buttons as with the 15-1994, you can only program macros on the four "genre" keys! Furthermore, the "genre" keys cannot be programmed with key mover.

3. Button Layout.
Even though the 15-1994 had alot of buttons, the remote didn't seem over crowded because alot of though went into the design of those buttons. The arrow buttons were shaped like a wheel, and the volume & channel buttons were "see-saw" rocker type buttons.

For the 15-2104 they have replaced all of these with regular style buttons, the net result being that when you look at the remote, it's not immediately obvious which buttons are arrows, volume, channel +/-, etc.

For the first time in history, Radio Shack has included a dedicated "DVD" button on their remotes, but alas, they still couldn't bring themselves to include a dedicated "Receiver" button, so we are given another "AUX" button. Maybe next time...

Plus, the 15-2104 is really just a 6 device remote, whereas even though the 15-1994 was marketed as a 6 device remote, the "Plug & Power" button made it a 7 device remote, and in the JP1 world we are not limited to just putting CD/Home Auto codes on it.

4. Learning.
Learning is still possible on most of the buttons, although the manual still maintains that you can only use the smart keys for this. The memory limit is the same as it was for the 15-1994.

5. Volume Punch Thru (VPT).
This is called 'volume lock' now. When you set the VPT now, it still just sets the volume for the three video device modes (TV, VCR and CBL), but they have added a feature which lets you reset any device so that the volume buttons in this mode will not punch thru. However, as best as I can tell, the only device that you can set the VPT too, is still just the TV, which sucks.

6. Key mover.
The key mover feature is still supported (ie, you can use advanced codes).

7. JP1.
It does have a JP1 connector. It's quite possible that once I've had some time to play with the remote, we will be able to overcome most of these restrictions. Here's some of the features that I'm hopeful to be able to add via JP1:

• VPT - set to any device
• MACROS - 15 steps and programmable to any button

More to come....

Rob.
http://www.hifi-remote.com

This message was edited by The Robman on 01/18/02 14:27.14.