Hi. A friend gave me a MX-500 that I would like to try / use but I'm curious about the revision / version of this one. Inside the battery compartment I see the following:

02.01.11
VER 1.03.002

From some other posts it seems that this thing is pretty old? I'm wondering if it's even worth trying to program but I really do like the feel of the remote and all the hard buttons available.

My current equipment:
TV: Sony KP-53XBR200
RECEIVER: Onkyo TX-DS939 Receiver
STB: Scientific Atlanta 8300HD
DVD: Sony DVP-CX777ES 400 disk changer
DVD/VHS:Sony SLV-D201P (DVD/VHS combo)
HTPC: Microsoft Media Center PC

What I see already is that I can get codes (from table) and my TV or receiver will power off. But then using that code nothing else works.

I'm also unclear about to ensure I've done a reset. (aux / 155 ???) what are the keystrokes I should be punching in to do an aux/155 reset ... or is there a diff way to reset this older unit?

Thanks!

You only do a AUX155 to a device if you're going to teach it the commands from the original remotes. All it clears are preset commands, you still have erase any previously learned commands.

Anyways to program a AUX 155 to a device:

1. press and hold main & ent
2. P-PRO
3. press device key you want to program
4. press AUX device key, always the bottom left device key, no matter what it may have been changed to
5. enter 1 5 5
6. save
7. main
8. main

It has to be done to each device individually.

Thank you very much edmund. I'm going through that now and will try again.
I've also found the user guide on-line and am studying that now as well.

So does anyone have an opinion on the hardware / firmware version of my MX-500?
Should I be concerned that it appears to be pretty old?

I've got it working now, thank you.
Now I need to learn more about punch through and some more macro programming but I do already have a basic power up programmed to M1.

I really wish there were a way to more easily factory reset the "entire" remote though. I'm really not sure what step(s) make the remote start actually controlling my gear. Anyway, so far so good.

I'll also still take advice though on if I will have any issues with what I think is a older model remote.

My MX-500 is Ver1.01.001 (010413)

I have one of the first ones available without the gemstone buttons and with the original joystick/select button.
I sent it back for a firmware update once to solve a problem with learning some codes.
Still works fine with all of my equipment.

Any significant improvements in later firmware?
Can you still clone between newer and older firmware versions?
If I replace my MX-500 with a new one I hope I can just copy my current config and continue to use IRCLONE.

I don't have direct experience with that situation, but I expect that everything would go okay, EXCEPT for any pre-defined codesets that had changed between the two versions. So, for instance, if you were using a predefined codeset for X10 (Aux 183) on your old-firmware MX-500, and you cloned it into a newer MX-500 where it is known that the layout for Aux 183 changed around, then your newer remote would have different behavior. But I think all the learned codes would move over during the clone just fine. Macros would probably need adjusting if they depended on a changed codeset.

After I had mx-600 refreshed, the tivo codes were no longer under AUX, they were under a new PVR device that wasn't there before.

I did clone this remote to an older mx-600, because the newly refreshed was back to factory defaults, and I wanted both to be in this state when I sold them. But never tried the remotes again, so I have no idea how it came out. : (