I am new to this forum as a member but have visited before as a guest as I have investigated Pro type remotes in the past but never pulled the trigger to buy one.
I have the following setup below in my home and would like to purchase a remote that can do both IR and RF, but RF really well. From what I have read on the consumer remote which I was considering, the Harmony 900, the RF portion is not on par with its specs as far as range and has gotten a lot of bad reviews for this feature alone, and rebooting issues. Therefore I am leaning to the pro side of equipment and have always been keen on URC products. Therefore looking to find a URC pro counter part to the Harmony 900, I have found the MX 880, 810, and 450.
In hopes to pick up one of these remotes with the RF base station, I am confused about how I go about getting it programmed. I am confident I could do it myself with the proper tools however I hear a lot about how URC doesnt allow everyone to use their software to program the remote. They also don't allow everyone get updates and such, so I am worried what would I be missing out on compared to a pro installer in terms of these items - URC software to program the remote, updates, firmware, etc.
If I go with a MX-450 for example which I believe does not require the programming software, since its all built in the remote, would I be better off since I would not have to depend on URC to give me the programming software? Would I still be missing out on other items like the updates and firmware, etc.?
Lastly, in my setup below, I wish to use the one pro remote to control more than one TV (3 total), one of which is the main living room TV that is connected to all my HT equipment with a STB w\DVR. The other one is just connected to a STB and a standalone DVD player, and the last one is just going to have the output of the 2nd TVs STB going to it for TV watching only without having to rent a 3rd STB.
What I was hoping to do is take the one pro remote and have it control all my equipment. In the living room have it do what it was mostly intended for, running activities, or macros, etc, so I can just have everything turn on that is necessary to watch a DVD for example.
Then with that same remote, have it operate the 2nd TV with the STB box (which is the same as the 1st TVs with the exception of it not being a DVR).
Then with that same remote, have it operate the 3rd TV which is just getting the output of the 2nd TVs STB via a coax splitter. This would ecorporate the RF base station to allow the 3rd TV user to be able to change the channels on the 2nd TVs STB without being in that room.
In the above examples I am under the impression I could do this with either the Harmony 900 or the URC models listed above. However I remember reading a post saying that if you have multiple rooms to control you should go with a remote that supports this, like an MX-890. What am I mssing here? Is this true?
Thanks in advance.... Jimmy
LR TV - Toshiba LCD LR STB - ATT Uverse VIP1260 Other HT equipment
BR TV - Toshiba CRT BR STB - ATT Uverse VIP1200 BR DVD player
