What I meant was that there is nothing matching this product at the same price point for processor/remote/iPad license. The TRC820 and MRX8 are $1K retail. They may be using this as a step-up feature..."Oh...you want back-lighting and more automation options...go with TC."

I wonder how much more it would have cost to have lighted buttons.

I'm sure it cost quite a bit to develop.

They're missing out on a lot potential profit by this one shortcoming.

I was pretty impressed overall and was ready to spec them until this issue arose.

I'm out.

Sadly,I think I better take another look at the harmony equivalent....

As far as button lighting, the mx990 is a rock star...

Well, if that was their intention, then they missed the now-obvious fact that another brand could stick a knife in their ascending list of price and features, or worse yet, that another remote already existed that would have people switching away from URC.

That would be a ridiculous reason to put back lighting on one and not the other- not all dealers who are well-versed in URC's remotes will qualify for TC and some will decide to not sign up because of the requirements. It also adds to URC's manufacturing process- if the two remotes are actually the same, why not make them the same and slap a different number, based on TC or CCP?

FYI- Harmony has an Elite Pro, which is NOT available through Best Buy, Amazon, etc. Comes with a 2 year warranty, the box is tan vs blue/white and one end of the remote is silver. The IR out jacks can drive more than one emitter and it works with IR distribution hubs like Xantech, as well as having a robust emitter on the hub. The last is irrelevant if the hub is in a metal cabinet because the remote and hub communicate via Bluetooth, but the hub also controls some devices via BT and IP- their web site has a compatibility area and many AVRs & streaming devices are included. I just set up an Elite and the AppleTV works perfectly via IP, as do all of the other components.

The hub connects to the WiFi and this allows using a smart phone or tablet to control the system.

One difference between the Pro model and the consumer version is the Second Zone control- in the past, the Harmony remotes looked at this as a separate device and the only way to control Zone 2 without disrupting the Main Zone was to use button mapping, which can become cumbersome and prone to avoidance because it might be a PITA to access. Now, it's done through a finger swipe on the touch screen. I haven't worked with that, yet.

They also have a dealer portal and one of the things that is capable of is keeping all of the accounts organized, in one place, so the dealer can just open a single web page to make changes to the setup.

I think URC has a tendency to "de-feature" remotes in order to create more incentive to jump to the higher end models.

It might be smart on their part if their profit margins are higher on the high end stuff.

But that can price the remote needed by the customer out of their 'acceptable' price range. The fact that it COULD have back lighting means that it should. I can't think of a good reason to leave that off and when people age they need it more.

IIRC, every remote with RF has an FCC license number on the back. On some of their remotes, that's the only place you'll see the remote's model number! Anyway, they couldn't just slap a different number on some remotes. They'd have to do different silkscreening or whatever to put the label on the front of the remote, different FCC stickers on the back, store and track two SKUs that they couldn't substitute for one another, but to the point, they'd have to pay for separate FCC approval and licensing.

Simple to you and me isn't necessarily simple.

Update:

We found that the hub drops connection every time there is a glitch with your WiFi. It won't reconnect once the WiFi is back up. For our clients that aren't very tech-savvy (which makes up the majority of ours), this wouldn't be a good option as they would need to hard boot the hub every time the WiFi drops for 2 seconds.

When I looked at the training, this seemed very 1/2 baked at this point. Hardly any modules to use, not a lot of products that you can 2way with at all.

With the back lighting issue (unacceptable & deal killer right there), the lack of any real 2way database yet (might be year+ to get variety, if ever), and if the WiFi issue is widespread (another unacceptable deal killer) - I didn't even bother to take advantage of the huge deal off dealer cost training special. I wouldn't take this system for free right now, don't want to waste my time.

Wow, that is not good.

Don't forget that you cannot run a macro on a 2 way module. So even if you have a 2 way module, it would be a few button presses to fire the system up and enter the 2 way module.

I asked the regional sales engineer how often he's asked about the backlighting on this remote and he said "A lot". Also said it would have put it out of the price point.

I think they would rather have people use their phone or tablet- I'm going to MX Home training tomorrow and will verify this.

The silk screening is the easy part- they install a different stamper and load the parts. Done, and with Just In Time ordering, they wouldn't have a ton sitting on the shelves, anyway.