Now that the MX-900 is out, I'm curious if anyone has used it yet and has any comments on it?

I hate bumping my own thread, but I'm itching to get one along with the MRF-300.

Is anyone buying this remote?

What are your likes and dislikes of the remote?

thanks.

well. first off it just looks better, but i really dont like the fact that you cant use variables with it like you can with the 950 and the 3000, other then that its just a nice looking 850......but with press and hold option.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a nice looking 850, since there are not 10 LCD buttons...as well as the addition of the Listen and Watch buttons. For those reasons, I still personally prefer the MX-850.



Thank you,
Damon DG
= = = = =
http://www.ProRemotes.com - Authorized Dealer & Remote Programming Services

I agree. The chapter skip buttons are a good addition but with the removal of the fav button and less lcd buttons, I'll stick with my 850. Honestly I'm not sure why I would want Listen and Watch buttons. I'd rather if that space were used to make a better dvr-friendly remote.

The "Watch" and "Listen" buttons decentralize primary pages of the remote, requiring more button presses. That is counterintuitive, in my opinion. If I wanted "Watch" and "Listen" buttons, I could just as easily program them to the LCD and create my sub-pages. Just my $0.02.



Thank you,
Damon DG
= = = = =
http://www.ProRemotes.com - Authorized Dealer & Remote Programming Services

I think those buttons will make it easier for outsiders to simply pick up the remote and go. This is what makes the Harmony simple to use (I have one, but still prefer my 500).

Right now when I have someone over, I have to explain to hit Menu to get to the main screen and if for some reason, the TV gets out of sequence, to hit Menu and then choose the task again. Not a big deal, but I think the Watch/Listen buttons will make it easier for them.

I still don't have a 900 since I'd like to see what others think about it, but I'm surprised there isn't more discussion about it.

It's nice to see the DVR transport buttons are back.. Whoever removed them from the followup models to the 500 probably didn't use a DVR.

Any plans for a full review of the remote in the near future?

I've got both an 850 and a 900 and I prefer the 900. I think it looks better and feels better in the hand.
It's taken a little bit of a different approach to make do with the different buttons but I like it alot. Both are a compromise so I'd rather the one that looks and feels better and I'll work through the missing buttons.
I kind of wish you could get replacement buttons for the "listen" and "watch" buttons, that way you could customize it more. Say, "favs", "shortcuts" "what to do" as well as the watch and listen. That would allow a little more customization while still having the hard buttons to direct you to major tasks. And a "back" function!

I program the 850, 900, 950, and 3000 as well as tsu 3000/7000/7500. Still sticking with my old reliable 850.

I'm using both an 850 and a 900, just to try it out. the 900 works better with my system, as I do use my system for both music and video, the 850 was always a bit on the heavy side of stuff on screen. The Watch/Listen works better for me. I do miss the "Fav" page on the 850, but we should see that function available for the 900 & 950 here in the near future. I don't mind having less stuff on the LCD, in most cases, I wasn't using half of it anyway, so it just goes on a second page. I think both have legitimate uses. It really depends on your client and what they want.

The difference are more devices 40 (Mx-900) vs 20 (MX-850), this can become an issue if you try to program an activity based remote for several systems (the front page is then only used for system description).

No limit for favorites, but they removed the button, not a big deal as it becomes a LCD button, but IMHO the FAV hard button was an elegant feature the way it was implemented.

The MX-850 is still a work horse for simple systems without many TOADS.

Like tweeterguy I program the MX-850, 900, 950 and 3000. The personally use the because the MX-850 works. If I switched it would be to a 950 because of the programmable variables and TOADS.

Cheers

"I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a nice looking 850, since there are not 10 LCD buttons...as well as the addition of the Listen and Watch buttons. For those reasons, I still personally prefer the MX-850"

If you'd never used the 850, the 900 would be fantastic, and vise-versa, but the 900 is a bit better for my tivo centric viewing, I like the extra 2 characters for family and visitors, and the feel seems a bit nicer...the database system and extra pages and devices are a bit better for us though. I actually like the watch/listen buttons, again, for guests/kids

For those of us that use VCR's and DVR's the three buttons that you will probably use most often on a remote control, other than for channel surfing and volume control, are the play, the fast forward search, and the fast reverse search buttons . The reason for this is the need to skip commercials on our recordings.

To accomplish this repeated task well one should have good reflexes as well as a remote control that is comfortable to use and that places these three buttons close together in a logical order. I feel that the MX-900 accomplishes this very well. The three buttons are on the same horizontal plane placed right next to each other making it very easy to find without looking at the remote.

Compare the above with the MX-850. It has the fast forward and fast reverse search buttons separated horizontally by a 4-way direction disk button and a selection button in the center. The play button is actually at the bottom of the 4-way directional disk button spaced relatively far from the other two search buttons. I do not feel that this is comfortable.

It seems that the people that program the units prefer the MX-850 while users prefer the MX-900. I think I understand why programmers prefer the MX-850 to the MX-900. The MX-850 has been around for awhile and they feel more comfortable with it.

Even if the MX-850 is easier to program than the MX-900 (which I do not believe is true), it is more important for the end user to be more concerned with which unit is more user friendly and not programmer friendly. The user will be spending a lot more time using the remote than programming it.

The 900 has great hard button layout but I really like having the additional lcd buttons for each source without having to change pages.

I prefer to include an 'aspect'(or format) for the display, surround modes for the reciever, and light dimming capability's on the 1st page for each device.

I think it's a matter of how you want to set it up.

I hope they keep the 850 in the line as well for that reason.