I recently switched from a Sony RM-AV3000 to a MX-900. I must say I love it thus far.

With the Sony, there was the paradigm of pressing "System 1" and that macro would turn on/off ALL of the devices. This is the behavior that I want for the MX-900 - not the Harmony method of turning other stuff on/off.

So do I program "Power ON" on all of my "Watch" devices/macros, or maybe just one of them (such as "DirecTV")? Do I program the Red/Green buttons on the top left of the remote? How do I program the System Off?


Best practices would be helpful!

Listen to me . . "Paradigm" "Best practices" you would think I'm a consultant . . .

Sounds like you're in way over your head. Try downloading the programming tutorial manual available on this website, read through it and see if it helps you to better understand the software and how to program the remote.

[Link: remotecentral.com]

Actually, I have everything programmed and working fine *except* for the system power on/power off. That and my Xbox . . .

I did RTFM, and I wouldn't have posted unless I still had questions - which I do. I'll re-read the manual though . .

Typically the "green" and "red" power on and off buttons on the left side are pre-programmed to be the individual power buttons for whatever device you are on. So, if you're on the "Satellite" device those are the satellite power commands, if you're on your dvd device then they are the dvd's power buttons, etc... These are automatically assigned when you assign devices using the preprogrammed IR database. Sometimes these end up being discrete power commands, for some devices they are just power toggle commands and the same power button is actually put into both the "On" and "Off" button.

Now, if you haven't done anything to them yet, on the Watch and Listen pages those On and Off buttons will be empty and you can put whatever you want on those. When I program a remote for a client I typically make one of the LCD buttons on the watch and listen pages say "All Off" and then program that to turn everything off. So on the Watch page the LCD screen would read something like:

Cable
DVD
VCR
AUX
ALL OFF

I may also program the OFF button on the left side to be a all off macro when on the watch and listen pages, but I typically leave those to be power buttons for the individual pieces of equipment.

Anyway, you have to manually create the off macros, but you can put the macro on any button you want. You don't necessarily need an All On macro, you could program each device button on the watch and listen pages to be macros and to turn on the required equipment.

I don't think 8ate8 meant any disrespect, but I do agree that you need to find a programming tutorial, not necessarily the remote's manual. If you do some searching online look for a programming walk through pdf or powerpoint presentation. You may have experience with other universal remotes and even though that sony system off feature is a macro it's kind of preconfigured on sony's equipments and remotes to work with their equipment. It sounds like what you've done so far on the mx900 is add you're devices and tell it which models of equipment you have, that's really the easy part. Programming the macros to be easy to use (one button operation) and to work well is the hard part and the part that is different from a lot of the "consumer" level universal remotes, it really just takes experience and time spent playing around with the remote.

Thanks, NickKO. That was the assistance I needed.

Right now, I have "Watch - Green Power" as being a "System On" button - which turns on everything except the DVD player. The DVD Player is turned on if you select "Watch - DVD" and the DVD player is turned off in every other macro. This is because we rarely watch DVD's. Our ReplayTV is turned on with the "System On" because it doesn't have discrete on/off, plus I don't want that thing being turned on/off more than once per session. The TV and Amp are turned on with the "System On" b/c ostensibly they will always be used.

The "Watch - Red Power" is a "System Off" button, and turns off everything. I have this duplicated on the "Watch" page.

So the proof to how well this works will be this week when the wife uses it and I'm not around to assist. I've given her the walk-through, I guess the validation is when she actually uses it.

Thanks again.

You can do it however you like.. I personally program the remote so that when you selct any item in the watch or listen page it will turn on or off all the appropriate devices and when you hit the Off button it turns everything off. I usually then program the on button to turn on and select the most frequently used source such as Cable TV or Satellite TV.

although i'm not a programmer, I found that i jumped between devices fairly often. Say listen to radio and then want to watch some tv or a cd. my issues was that i didn't want to have everything turn off and then turn back on when i selected my new activity.

so whether i'm listening or watching, whatever i choose to do turns only those devices needed on. i created a page such as watch dvd which references all functions i might need to watch a dvd. but lets say i now want to watch a cable show. on the bottom of the first page of every watch/listen activity i have a button that says "go to a new input'. i press that and it takes me to a page that allows me to switch to any activity that is available in my watch/listen page. it then turns off whatever devices on was on that aren't needed, switchs to the appropriate audio/video inputs, and turn on any new devices that might be needed and then goes to that specific function page. sounds like a lot of work but it actually allows me to circumvent a device or two that doesn't have discretes and is bulletproof in terms of getting everything on or off based on what you are doing.

now since i'm not a programmer, there might be a easier way to accomplish this but i decided i didn't want to have to turn everything on just to create an easier way of programming. plus it was kinda fun.

I would suggest only using the dvd off in the all power off and not in every other source select macro. It is alot of extra work for the remote that is not nesessary. If you have discrete on and off for the dvd, then it's already off most of the time anyway. The dvd can always be turned off when the dvd is done playing by using the the power off botton on the dvd page before selecting a new source. This way if you wanted to check the remote for all sources then the dvd is already to go.

BNC

I recently got ahold of some XBOX360 Power Discreets that I'd be willing to share if you are interested. Send me an email with subject: RC XBOX Discreets or something to that effect, otherwise it will get junked.