Allen: This whole site is designed for Dummies through to Geeks. Go to the Home Theater Master Forum for your information. Check out the review of the MX-500 for more details on setup, as well. Do searches on that Forum for anything at all.

You would only need another remote (such as the very capable and popular RS-1994) for discrete codes that your original remotes do not have. The 1994 is the remote of choice because it has been tweaked to death, and has many discrete codes that are available nowhere else. (Go to www.hifi-remote.com to see our very own Robert's colossal website on the 1994.)

Note, though, that even the 1994 doesn't have everything. And of course, Robert and his cohorts have solved that problem, too: they can show you how to build an adaptor that will let you get any codes you want onto the 1994.

But back to the beginning: you may not even need all those discretes: after all, most people are looking for only two kinds of discretes: On/Off, and Inputs (changing between video inputs on your set or receiver so you can switch between TV, VVR, DVD, etc. without need a macro).

With the MX-500, the only real way to find out if specific codes include Discrete codes is to program them and test them. Alternately, there will be some users in the Forum that have the same equipment you do, and may be able to tell you. ... Mike