i purchased my first URC MX-500 after reading the review done by remote central.
i used to own a logitech harmony 1000. loved the design but hated using it. it seemed it would never work right. anyways, i received my mx-500 today and programmed my samsung plasma and onkyo receiver, but cant find the setup codes for the comcast motorola HD-DVR and samsumg blu-ray player. does anyone know where i can obtain the codes? thanks in advance.

If the codes aren't there (and I assume you've done a code search), then you can learn them from the original remotes.

thanks daniel!

on the main screen, how do i remove devices i dont have? for example:

cd, tape, aux, cable, and sat?

It's been a long time since I programmed my MX-500, but I believe the strategy was to program in a device that had relatively few codes (basically an "empty" device) and then erase the label on the main screen (set it to all spaces or something)...

If you just want to remove the Device Name for those devices that you aren't using from the main screen, you can erase the text for those unused LCD buttons. On one of my bedroom MX500's, the only devices on my main screen are TV, DVD, and CABLE. I've left the other seven device positions blank.

From the SETUP screen, press EDIT, then press PAGE, then press the LCD key that you want to erase the Device Name from. The first digit should be blinking - if so then it's ready for you to edit that line of text. Press the down arrow on the circular navigation ring and that deletes the first digit, then arrow right to the next digit and arrow down, and repeat this till all the digits are erased, then press the LCD key again to save your changes to the text. Press MAIN to return to the SETUP screen, or press it twice to completely exit the setup menu.

If you want to also erase or change the text on each individual key for that device, skip the PAGE button above and you'll get thrown into the text for the various pre-programmed commands and you can erase each digit the same way as above. Pressing PAGE first just takes you to the Device name, but not pressing it gives you access to the keys within that particular device.

So does that mean there is no way to actually get rid of the device? It'll just be a blank LCD button but when you press it it'll still go to page 1 of the hidden device? That stinks. Is there no way to restore it to a factory default with no devices? Wow, I'm never getting a remote that isn't PC programmable again.

I have MX-850's at my house and I wanted to get something for my girlfriend that was 1. cheaper and 2. could be set up in similar fashion because she's used to my remotes. I got an MX-500 off of eBay not thinking to look at the specs because I assumed all the MX remotes had the same serial interface.

The default Devices on the main screen when the remote is new aren't actually devices, they're just the default locations of the stored codes for that particular type of device but you can rename them as other devices. I renamed TV at the upper right to 8300HD (my cable DVR), and renamed AUDIO at the upper left to Tivo.

You can erase all learned commands for that particular device. In Setup - choose ERASE, then LEARN, then it gives you the option of DEVICE or ALL (or exit). Choosing DEVICE erases all the learned commands for that device, but if you used a stored device code to create that device in that spot i don't know if this procedure also erases the default commands or not. Try it and see.






I also set up an MX-500 for my GF just for her Cable DVR and DVD player, and i erased all the text for the remaining eight devices and she has no problem ignoring the blank device spaces on the main screen so i'm not sure what your concern is. She's not tech savvy at all, but she uses her MX-500 just fine as there's only two devices on her screen, and i put macros on M1 and M3 to switch between DVD and cable DVR. I do have her TV set up in another space but i hid the text from her since i'm the only one that fiddles with her TV's setup menus.