One day of almost no use! I opened it, charged it, programmed it put it on the charger and left it alone as I have an MX-800 for daily use. Went to pick it up today to mess with the programming again and lo and behold, IT IS DEAD! And I mean DEAD. I left messages with support and we will see how long this takes to resolve the "dead $700 remote issue..." I have to figure THIS should be quick! They ought to fly someone out here for the price!

Hold the phone. The charger allows the thing to rest without charging. I had to push it down a little to get the other light to come on. It is back. THANK GOD! I was ready to throw it in the pool!

God these are great remotes. I set up my MX-800 with a room rather than a device metaphor, with monster macros for different "activities" in each room. The macros usually jump to another page at the end for context-sensitivity. Why did I ever buy those $100 remotes year after year? What a waste. God knows they don't work at all for complex setups (always ran out of memory.) Anyway, one shortcut in each "room" is "Lights", which jumps to my X10 shortcuts. I am sure I will never waste money on another X10 "garage door opener" remote control for lights/appliance control! As mentioned in another thread, these remotes can control all 256 X10 addresses with the correct (modified) IR controller. Say goodbye to the worthless ActiveHome Pro USB controller as the HTM can control everything and the macros actually work. One more over-priced piece of plastic clutter in the garbage!

Here is a tip for those starting to intregrate an HTPC: Get a $10 PC remote off eBay and download uICE. Now you can have "virtual devices" that are actually software programs (WinDVD for DVD, Rhapsody for music, etc.) I also created Web favorites and buttons to launch voice mail, play back messages, etc. It doesn't get much better than this as you can write your own scripts on the PC and control them with great precision from the HTM.

As for indexing DVD's, I think the AirPanel is the best way to go (or just use a wireless mouse!) Having them all on the remote is a cute idea, but I think just having a few "favorites" is all that I need on the remote control. Speaking of that, anyone know how to "back up" DVD's to the hard drive for random access? Most of them won't copy. Cheap ones always will (like Beverly Hillbillies), but you can forget major releases. Barring that ability, is there a good DVD changer out there with a firewiire interface (and decent software?) Short of IR blasting, I don't understand how people in these threads are controlling their DVD changers with their HTPC's...

Thanks in advance for comments!

David:

There are a few changers that have RS232 control, and can be directly controlled via PC, also if you have a Sony changer with S-Link it can be controlled (One way communication) with a SLinke. This is a RS232 to S-Link convertor. I have used one of these and it is a very reliable means of control.

I just got a Sony CX777ES for christmas, which has RS232 control. I am already most of the way through coding the front end for control from PC. Works great as I am able to bypass all of the Warnings and intros and skip straight to the movie on loading.

There are plenty programs out there that will let you rip DVD's to Hard Drive (HD). I started copying my DVD's to HD a while back and IMHO I dont think it is worth the time or money if I have to lose any quality or any of the extras. I have roughly 250 DVD's with an average size of 6GB each (9GB max). Now take the 400 disc changer I just got and you have 2.4 TB (TeraBytes) of hard drive space needed to match its storage capability (assuming all discs are single sided). Now I paid $500 for this changer, and even with HD space being as cheap as it is now, you just can't get 2.4 TB for $500.

-Bracken (triple B)