PLEASE POST ALL QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE MX-500 IN THIS THREAD UNTIL THE UNIT/REVIEW ARRIVES, AND WE WILL ENDEAVOUR TO HAVE THEM ANSWERED BY HOME THEATER MASTER.

ALSO, ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE ADDED TO THE REMOTE (WITHIN REASON), PLEASE POST AND WE'LL SEE IF THERE IS TIME TO GET THOSE FEATURES ADDED INCLUDED!!!

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Information as received from Home Theater Master:

When will the MX-500 become available?
The MX-500 will become available towards January, 2001 - we have information posted on our website in regards to this remote.

What will the ultimate cost be? - is it expected that the actual ship date will be in December of 2000?
The ultimate cost on the MX-500 will be $179.00 retail, plus $5.00 shipping, and the remote will become available in January, 2001.

Will it be offered through stores, and or web dealers (e.g. Etronixs)?
Availability of the MX-500 will primarily be specialty A/V stores, distributors, and through our website.

Will it be able to command "full secondary functions", such as the type listed for the SL-9000?
It will have all the functionality of the SL-9000, including secondary functions which exist on your original remote controls.

Are all individual buttons "teachable" or "programmable", and with what exceptions?
All buttons on the MX-500 are learnable.

Using the "20 favorite channels" function, will it scroll through a list, or must the fav channels be selected individually via the touchschreen?
The MX-500 does not have a touch screen. It is a re-writable LCD, and the favorite channels can be accessed individually on the LCD. Please note the FAV button located on the lower right-hand side of the MX-500 LCD screen. This is the equvalent of a SHIFT key. Once depressed, the LCD will enable you to access individual favorite channels.

Will Macros be programmable to the remote, or just to the M1, M2 and M3 buttons?
The macro commands can be created on M1-M3, and they send up to 14 commands each. The 20 favorite channels send up to four commands each, and the ten device buttons can be programmed to send out both power on and audio input commands.

Are LCD screen labels user-definable by alphabet and/or graphic images (for example, >> for FF), or are labels chosen from a pre-determined group?
There are no graphic images on the MX-500. The LCD screen is rewritable, so you have the option of creating your own text.

Would you know specifically if the remote can handle Sony receiver Surround and EQ modes directly? This is one area that has befuddled URC designers the world over... including Sony.
In regards to Sony, if their original remote controls were able to handle surround and EQ modes directly, then our remote controls can duplicate the effect.

Will the remote accept so-called "Advanced Codes" to individual buttons, a la the RS-1994, or strictly "learning" from OEM remotes?
This question has not been answered yet, but we will keep you up-to-date.

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NOTE:We also suggest that you read the review of the Home Theater Master SL-9000 that is on this site in order to have an idea what "full functions" and "secondary functions" will be included in the MX-500.


... Mike :-) & Greg :-)

I've noticed that Etronixs already has a listing for the MX-500, but no price yet. So, it looks like it will be available via the net.

... Greg :-)

Daniel: Any chance of removing the first post in the thread that is in all bold. One silly HTML error! The second post is the correct one!!!

Thanks! Greg :-)

I like what I've seen so far. I think the best improvement that could be made, however is to allow full macros on the main screen. To have to turn on each device separately would be a major pain. If I didn't use all 10 devices, I could even create macros and name them something appropriate. This would be a big selling point to me and worth extra cost. By the way, if you select each device to turn the power on, what would the separate power button do?

I would think that the separate power button would turn the unit off after you've used the "device with power on" mode to turn on your device.

I'll try and get more info on that.

Greg :-)

I'd say macros on the DEVICE buttons (hold them for 2 seconds to transmit) and also the dedicated macro buttons would be enough. Ideally the dedicated macro buttons would allow "device specific" macros, or a "system wide" macro if none is specifically assigned (copied from Receiver or TV).

Eric at Etronixs has just informed me that the price for the MX-500 has been posted on their website... $179:

[Link: etronixs.com]

Sorry, here's a better link:

[Link: store.yahoo.com]

With regard to the power button, I must repeat the same comment I had about the MX-1000. It should be able to power on multiple components through a power macro. I noticed there's a "system off" button on the other side of the remote which presumably would accomplish the the other half of the operation, so why restrict the user to individually powering up components if their system could be powered up with one button push?

A couple questions/comments:

1) I agree with mroll; it would be ideal if the Power and System Off buttons could be used as macros for turning the entire system on or off (ideally by programming in discrete codes.)

2) How about mapping at least the discrete on/off commands to the remote during device setup? This would be a novel concept and would facilitate the building of macros, without having to go through the effort of learning them from the Cinema 7 later. In other words, have these commands already built into the MX-500 command library.

3) And my question from a previous post: will the device keys only learn Power On and Audio Input, or could the Power command be replaced by another command, say the TV video input code.

Thanks Mike and Greg for helping us all out! I really appreciate your efforts!

Scott L.

I guess no one believed my news report from October 19th that claimed the MX-500 was $179? :-)

Daniel! I believed you when thousands wouldn't!!! ;-)

GregoriusMX :-)

Come one, people! Any more ideas that you'd like to see in the MX-500??? - Greg

Come one?!? Come all!!

If someone is putting a home theater system together today, it is a very good chance that a high definition TV and HD STB will be part of the system. The HD video signals (RGBHV, VGA, etc.) cannot be switched by the audio receiver.

As a result it takes more than a power and receiver input command to switch video sources. Whats wrong with these remote control manufacturers? Put another $20.00 into the mfg cost and give the device buttons full macro capabilities.

Had they done this it could have been the best remote on the market.

I have a pronto and an HK that I can program any way I want but the touch screens are worthless.

My $0.02

Ron