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User reviews for the Digital R50 from Universal Remote Control Inc.
Ratings
Reviews
MSRP (USD)
Average: 2.86/5.00 Median: 3.33/5.00
7
$150
The R50 is the consumer version of the MX-450. It features a vibrant color LCD screen, control over 18 devices, full on-board programming, a favorite channels section, red keypad backlighting, plus nearly unlimited learned codes and macros.
The reviewer has used this remote control for under 1 month.
Review 7 made on Thursday December 29, 2011 at 6:00 PM.
Also owned:
Logitech 650
Strengths:
Looks nice Attractive display AA batteries
Weaknesses:
Forgetful device No update possible to database
Review:
Okay, my old Logitech has been giving me problems so I went with this...what a mistake! It will not retain any learned commands. I repeatedly hd to use the learn function, since using the in unit system was at best cumbersome, more often useless. It would recognize a component, pass the test and immediately not provide the command requested. So back to learning. Button by button! Pick it up a bit later, press "Guide," get "Menu" and no way to back out without going to the original remote! This would be marginally acceptable for a component brand not listed in theire on board database, but these were for components that the remote supposedly recognized. Further, there is no way to update the device to newer components without reprogramming one button at a time from the component's remote.
We have two Channel 3's here, one local and one further away. I initailly programmed teh local one for CBS and the remote reset it to the non-local station. Great for HD, but a pain to get local news.
It's been written that setting up macros was easy. RIGHT! The instruction sheet says, essentially, "just do it." There are no instructions at all. the website doesn't expand on tnhis function. Some forums give a bit of direction, but that's it. Maybe you're setting up a macro. Maybe not. And when you do, the screen icon for a device suggests it is in a macro mode. But you can't tell if you've actually written one.
In short, if you buy this nice looking remote, you're simply adding one more remote to your pile since you will be relying on them to reteach this thing every command xcept ON and OFF. Wait, that makes no sense! Don't buy this.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-2 years.
Review 6 made on Tuesday June 28, 2011 at 11:10 AM.
Also owned:
Harmony 880, 890; Pronto; Acoustic Research XTOUCH; others (many!)
Strengths:
Good looking; not too expensive
Weaknesses:
URC does not like DIY and dealing with end users. Don't even answer emails! Not able to download new device codes; Not able to review/edit macros - it's invisible! Inconsistent operation; does not always work. Buttons have long travel; must be pressed all the way, or nothing happens.
Review:
This device is easy to set up, however I had bad experiences with completeness of device codes. Some buttons did not function for a device - like "PAUSE" on my OPPO Blu Ray player! You need pause on this device! There is no way to update codes. Whatever comes with it is all you ever have. I never did get all functions working for all devices. You have to set up buttons inside devices and make them "learn" from original remotes. This takes forever! At the end, the remote developed a idiosyncrasy requiring you to hold the remote at a 45 degree angle to the IR receiver to be recognized. This became maddening! I finally gave up on the R50 and set it up to replace an aging Harmony 880 in a simpler setup. It works OK there. My other complaint concerns the buttons. They have an unusually long travel, meaning you have to push buttons for a longer distance, and if you don't push them all the way down, nothing happens. I learned a lot about URC during this experience. They try to force owners of their remotes to use custom installers to set up their remotes. If you buy a more complex unit, you may have trouble even getting the setup software. You have to beg the dealer you buy it from to get it for you. If they refuse, you are stuck! A few $hundred every time you change your setup. I programmed mainframe computers for decades. I THINK I can program a stupid remote! Get real, URC. We live in a technological society. I don't recommend this remote except for the most simple application - and then, there are others that work better.
The reviewer has used this remote control for under 1 month.
Review 5 made on Friday June 17, 2011 at 6:19 PM.
Also owned:
HTM MX500
Strengths:
- Great hard button assortment - Good button placement with exceptions noted below - Good button feel with exceptions noted below - Nice overall size and shape - AA batteries - RED backlighting for buttons - Adjustable screen brightness - Low price
Weaknesses:
- Major function buttons and direction pad poorly designed, either too small and/or poorly placed/crowded - Lack of dedicated macro buttons - Only six soft buttons next to LCD screen - LCD screen doesn't remain on, and no soft keys will activate without the screen on - so they all take two presses if screen is off - Even for hard keys, there's a delay - Light button is too recessed and requires much too firm a press to activate
Review:
I've had a Home Theater Master MX500 since they first came out, must be at least eight years now, maybe ten. It's worked flawlessly until about a month ago, when the light ceased to function (the unit still works otherwise). As we're often watching in the dark, this wasn't acceptable. Over the past 8-10 years, I have tested out various remotes in the stores, and never found one remotely as well designed ergonomically as the MX500. After reading the review of the R50 here and elsewhere, I thought I may as well give it a try. I noted that the MX500 is still available, so I could return the R50 and get another MX500 if need be. After a few weeks, I'm still a little torn, but will probably keep the R50. Things I never liked and still don't about the MX500:
- 'Select' key in the middle of the directional pad is extremely difficult to use, even after all these years. We still can't reliably get select instead of a direction. It's to the point where I learn select onto the stop button, but this is only viable for devices that don't use stop! - The things eats batteries like nobody's business. Pretty much every 2-4 months we were having to replace the batteries. Though AAA are cheap, I still find this excessive. - No dedicated Menu, Guide, Info, or Exit buttons - these are grouped in with the transport controls, not really workable, and also not illuminated. The MX500 somewhat made up for this with ten soft keys vs six on the R50, and that's where I put these functions on the MX500.
So, the R50 improves on all of these MX500 weaknesses, thankfully. It uses a separate easy to use select button inside the directional pad. It uses AA batteries which supposedly store 2-3 times as much juice as AAA, so hopefully we won't need to change them nearly as often (and they're the same price). And it has the dedicated Menu, Guide, Info, Exit buttons down near the directional pad, where it is on almost all factory remotes - very nice. Other improvements over the MX500 are:
- Red button backlighting instead of blue. I find the red easier to read and it doesn't mess with your night vision. - You can have the R50 laying on your coffee table and press any button without the remote tipping to the side, as the MX500 does. - Two lines of text next to each soft key, seven characters per line, plus customizable icons for devices on the main menu. This is a huge improvement over the MX500's single line of five characters.
Unfortunately, though these improvements are very welcome and useful, the R50 really drops the ball in terms of basic ergonomics when compared to the MX500. Although to be fair, most all univeral remotes drop the ergonomic ball these days, most of them much farther than the R50 does. You would think of all buttons, URC would choose to get the most used functions right, in terms of button shape, size, placement, etc. While I have no beef with the arrangement of the buttons on the remote - which I find nearly ideal and highly logical, the physical design of primary controls is poor. Although many of these points are brought out well in Mr. Tonks' official review, I feel obligated to point them out again. The volume and channel buttons, along with the skip, FF/REW, and stop/record buttons are all significantly recessed compared to the other hard buttons. The volume and channel buttons remain usable, but only just - nowhere near the excellent feel of the MX500. The skip buttons are tricky to use, which is unfortunate because we use those for our DVR all the time. The FF/RW are even harder to use, requiring great care to execute. Now if this were the only issue it would be sad, but the problems don't stop there. Although the MX500 had a very poor select in the directional pad, the pad itself was a joy to use, pretty much perfect in size, shape, and operation. The R50 has taken a giant step back with it's totally flat directional pad. The pad is extremely difficult to use without hitting either select or one of the Menu/Guide/Info/Exit buttons next to it. The pad itself is just far too small, and my fingers do not really fit in between the center button and the surrounding buttons. If the pad were raised, as it is on the MX500, it would be MUCH easier to operate, or if the pad were contoured, as on almost any other remote. As our Tivo pretty much runs almost exclusively using the directional pad, this is a big letdown. We can get by with a poor select a lot easier than a poor directional pad. I find much of the time I have to use my trigger finger instead of my thumb on the pad to actually make sure I'm hitting the right direction. So I think that about covers the ergonomics. Why companies constantly feel they have to 'fix' things that aren't broken is beyond me. I applaud the few improvements, but never under any circumstances should a product go backwards ergonomically, and this is what the R50 has done. Sadly, this is the case with a majority of new technology from almost any company - flash and form over function and usability.
I really do miss the three dedicated macro buttons of the MX500 which would work from any device screen. Now a macro is at least a two button process, unless for some reason I wanted to program the same macro into the same hard button on every single device - no thanks - and there isn't really a button I'd want to sacrifice that way, anyhow. I do miss the MX500's always on screen (despite the battery eating), because it meant we didn't have to turn on the screen or light to send a soft key command. This is another big drawback to the R50 - any soft key requires two button presses when the screen is off. And, as Mr. Tonks' review mentions, even the regular hard keys have a delay before sending, if pressed when the screen is off. This is big operational drawback in my mind, though it's not excessive. The whole point of having hard keys is that you don't need a screen or to even look at the remote to know what you're doing. Speaking of the screen and lighting, I don't know why URC changed the light button from the MX500's. The button to activate the light on the R50, though in roughly the same place as the MX500, is too recessed into the case and requires about ten times the force to press compared to the MX500. It's basically to the point where you have to specifically hold the remote with one hand and press with the other - you can't reliably activate the light one handed. That's poor design.
All that said, I do like the R50, and can probably get by with it's faults. We are getting used to it. The six soft keys by the screen are not as big a drawback as initially expected, since we now have the Menu/Guide/Info/Exit as hard keys. Programming the unit, as far as learning, editing labels, and creating macros, seemed nearly identical to the MX500 for me, so was a piece of cake. I like the on screen tips, though agree with others that there should be a detailed manual, not the almost non-existent setup guide.
The reviewer has used this remote control for under 1 month.
Review 4 made on Tuesday October 13, 2009 at 4:01 PM.
Also owned:
MX-500, and lots of cheaper learning remotes (Sony etc)
Strengths:
AA batteries, powerful IR, tons of learning capacity, very simple to learn and operate
Weaknesses:
red backlighting is hard to see and not user adjustable, cannot move keys, very limited selection of icons and text symbols, some buttons recessed and/or too small, some repeated learning necessary.
Review:
I have had my MX-500 for years and absolutely loved it, but it went kaput on me so I decided to try the R-50 as a replacement. I like to set up a remote my own way and am not interested in "activities" nor even macros for that matter. Call me old fashioned. I set up my components by selecting pre-programmed codes and it was very easy. Ofcourse, the buttons are NOT where I think they should be and I cannot move them. However, the R-50 does let you text edit and learn so I ended up being able to change programmed buttons and learn new commands where necessary to work around this. I would guess it saved me about one third the time compared to learning the whole thing from scratch. I have encountered some problems that I never did with my MX-500. First is having to re-learn commands even though they apparently were learned successfully the first time. Second, for some reason I cannot learn my lighting (up and down) to the channel up/down keys on each device. I like to be able to control lighting regardless of which menu I am in (like volume). I have Light device set up and tried to copy to all others....unsuccessful. Then I tried to learn this to each other device.....also unsuccessful. Unfortunately, I can only use the Channel Up and Down buttons to control my lighting in the MAIN menu or the LIGHTS menu. I will keep trying to learn to the other devices but I'm not hopeful. Like others have commented here, the button layout leaves a bit to be desired. I do find at times that I have to press hard, or at a different angle, sometimes to get a response. This was never the case with my MX-500. Also, I hate the red backlighting for the keys as I find it difficult to read the buttons. The white light of the MX-500 was so much better. Bottom line, the R-50 does all I want it too, looks great, and is easy to set up. If I had to use this all the time, I might be a bit more harsh, but I only use it in my thaeter so I can live with the minor inconveniences. If URC do some tweaks to the button layout, backlighting and add some more text symbols and icons, they will have a real winner. And I agree, hey URC, give us a pdf downloadable manual for frack sakes!
The reviewer has used this remote control for 6-12 months.
Review 3 made on Tuesday April 7, 2009 at 4:01 PM.
Strengths:
Good signal strength
Weaknesses:
Does not operate as advertised. URC customer support.
Review:
This remote is not as customizable as URC leads the consumer to believe. For instance, I have the light-on setting set to 60 seconds but it stays on for 5. Emailed customer support - NO RESPONSE. I woudl liek to not have to page through a bunch of unused menu items, but if I remove them the other items don't combine onto the least number of pages - and I can't move the menu items. So, to use my cable guide I have to hit guide, page one page back to go up and down and then select a show or to use the DVR I start on the DVR page go one page back to page up and down then haev to go three pages forward to hit the "A-C buttons. Or if I hit stop and want to erase, I have to hit a few pages to find the letter buttons.
This remote is definitely not worth the money and I question if URC even cares about customers - I emailed them for more information and all I got was a canned response that the terrible quick guide was all the info they had? If it is then who actually made and programmed this remote?
If I wanted a remote to not act as advertised and very poor customer support I would have bought a $20 remote instead of this one.
The reviewer has used this remote control for under 1 month.
Review 2 made on Saturday April 4, 2009 at 1:49 AM.
Also owned:
HTM MX-500
Strengths:
Relatively easy to use, especially after being used to the MX-500 by the same company. Reasonable cost. Good tactile feel.
Weaknesses:
If you can't figure out how to program a feature, you're on your own. No User Guide, no toll-free support, no nothing.
Review:
I was very pleased with this remote and had no trouble programming it until I came to macros. I simply wanted to have my TV and cable box turn on with the same button. You would think that would be fairly easy. Especially since I had no problem doing it with the MX-500. You would be wrong.
First, the Quick Start Guide is USELESS. It advises you to "practice with the R50 first" but provides no real steps to follow. The on-screen guide is equally useless. It provides "Tips", but no real instructions. There is NO User Guide. If you go to the website there are PDFs of User Guides for most of their remotes, but NONE for the R50, only the Quick Start Guide. I guess they just could not be bothered to write one. There is no 800 number. There is a non-toll free number in the fine print. After trying numerous times to program a simple Macro I gave up.
I don't understand why a manufacturer would spend so much effort and expense to develop what is generally a very good remote (which I'm sure they think is user-friendly) and then simply not bother to write a User Guide for those of us without a degree in computer science or engineering. It's not even a matter of saving money on printing...they could have it on their website like they do for all their other products. They simply didn't want to pay to have someone spend a few hours to write one.
A good remote should not leave the user frustrated and angry.
The reviewer has used this remote control for under 1 month.
Review 1 made on Thursday December 4, 2008 at 10:51 PM.
Also owned:
MX-950 SL-9000
Strengths:
sleek and solidly built, strong overall abilities, stand-alone programming, very good selection of hard buttons
Weaknesses:
emphasizes looks over usability, non-updateable IR database, some programming tasks could be easier
Review:
The best remote for me is a non-touchscreen one, since I really prefer not having to look at the remote while I'm using it. And so I was excited to discover the R50, with the features and overall layout that I've been looking for for a long long time. An actual record button! Discrete skip buttons! No listen or watch or activities buttons! And at a reasonable price too. I went straight to BestBuy to get it, the only local dealer. Sadly, the only other local authorized dealer (a high-end A/V shop) was going out of business.
Having used an MX-950 for some time now, I had high expectations for the R50. The R50's build quality is exceptional, good fit and finish, excellent color screen, appealing two-tone look of satin and gloss. Similarly, the onboard programming and software is nicely done, with helpful onscreen Setup Tips along the way -- which you can disable once you're familiar with the process. Device IR code selection was a breeze, along with choosing icons, and T9 cell-type text entry for the labeling.
Though you're working with their large IR database and pre-defined button layouts, you can (re)locate IR commands exactly where you want them with the Macros function, which lets you place one or more commands from a device onto any soft or hard button on any other device. It's powerful stuff, and is more convenient than having to learn those commands onto the remote manually. A small gotcha of the Macros function is that it wants to jump to the device page that you "copied" a command from, when you press the button you've assigned that command to. To fix this you can either hide the source device page or make sure to navigate back to the original device before saving the macro. One unexpected nicety is that all onboard IR commands have a short descriptive label associated with them, and this label is displayed onscreen when you press each button. Cool!
I have to say, it was nice to be able to sit on my couch through the whole setup process, rather than having to attach the remote to my computer upstairs for programming. With my MX-950, every new device or idea I have means I'm constantly having to trek upstairs and down while I'm tweaking the 950's setup. It was great not to have to do this with the R50. I think the best of both worlds would be a hybrid approach: advanced onboard programming with the ability to tweak via attached computer. There are some tasks, like saving and loading button layouts, importing new IR codes, updating firmware, rearranging device pages, etc, that are best done on a computer. But being able to define and tweak new devices and buttons and macros directly on the remote is much (!) nicer than having to upload and sync via computer first (over and over again).
It was also a big pleasure to use a remote that didn't rely on or enforce arbitrary arrangements like Listen & Watch or Devices & Activities. Just a nice simple Main button instead, with a nice flat menu structure to go with it. Do we really need those extra pages of menus to isolate similar things? It seems to me that most media nowadays are both audio and visual, in some fashion or another. Whether its the onscreen menu for your audio receiver or your iPod, or being able to see what artist is playing on the cable radio channels. If there's audio, there's often gonna be some video too. Its all that metadata. Gotta love it.
The biggest drawback I found with the R50 is the ergonomics, and I'm sorry to say that this one is a showstopper for me, and that I'll be returning this remote shortly. Sigh... I had such high hopes, but the physical placement of the buttons (in all three dimensions) is not good, and the buttons themselves are not the best either.
On the plus side, the overall organization of the button layout is much better than most remotes, anywhere. I do so hate it when buttons for one task are combined with those from another task. Unlike many remotes out there, the R50 has the button tasks grouped nicely: volume/channel, menu, transport, etc. Buttons for each of these task groups should be physically close together for ease of use, and the R50 does this well, unlike some earlier attempts by URC. I don't want transport buttons attached to the directional menu pad -- that's where the menu action buttons should be (info, exit, menu, guide). And I don't want the menu action buttons separated from the menu pad by volume or channel or other buttons. There are many examples of this issue, but you get the idea. Interestingly, unlike the majority of their other remotes, URC has made the R50's menu pad perfectly flat, instead of the usual dished shape.
And on the minus side...
The buttons themselves are problematic in both action and in feel. Certain ones (volume, channel, skip+/-, stop, rec, menu, guide, info, exit) are too oddly shaped, and this makes them either stiff or mushy or both. They also tend to tilt at odd angles when you press them, rather than depressing evenly like the other buttons. All of the buttons were formed with a very square profile to them. Normally this wouldn't matter much, but the odd shaped ones end up feeling very sharp under your fingers, along the button edges and corners. Using this remote for an extended time is a bit irritating to your fingertips. Not as pleasant as my MX-950, at any rate. I'm guessing they gave the buttons such square profiles in order to achieve the look they were after, with the black graphics leaving a nice thin border at the button edges. It may look nice, but it doesn't *feel* nice. Bad design choice.
The odd shaped buttons (and rew and ff and the menu pad) have another problem. They're physically hard to get at to push them, and this is for two reasons.
Reason one: they're just too darn close to each other, and there's not enough room to reliably push them without inadvertently pushing a nearby one as well -- and I have slim fingers. The worst offenders are rew and ff and the menu pad. When it comes to button usability, there is a rule of thumb that I've realized. In order for any given button to be easy to get at and use, it must have a certain minimum amount of space around it. If that space isn't there then that button won't be easy to get at or use. The R50 violates this rule of thumb on a good number of the 47 buttons it has.
Reason two: the various heights of the button surfaces. You can't easily tell from the pictures, but the central black area on the remote is raised higher than the sliver areas to each side of it. And that black area is also slightly higher than the height of those buttons in the silver areas. What this means is that the 10 buttons in the silver areas are hard to get at, because your fingers are partly blocked from pushing those buttons by the raised black area that butts up against them. Very bad design choice.
Things that would make this remote better: > There needs to be a "button copy" function. And a "button swap" function would be nice too. When you're arranging the buttons layouts, having such functions would make things much quicker and easier. Using the Macros function lets you effectively copy the IR commands where you want them, but it doesn't copy the associated label text, which means you have to separately create and label a button before you can place commands on it (for soft buttons). On hard buttons you aren't allowed to create a label at all, and so you lose that small nicety mentioned earlier. > Make it easier to hide and unhide device pages. As it is now, when you hide a page it kicks you back 3 or more steps. Instead it should let you hide multiple pages at once. > If a device page is hidden, you should still have access to all the buttons on that page when in programming mode. As it is now, you must unhide the page before you can build macros that reference buttons on it. The hidden pages are visible in programming mode, but they're blank of any buttons. > The fav button has a great feature, where you can be in any device and you can go in and out of the favorites pages without ever changing devices. I'd really like to see an extra button or two that acted this same way, to allow adjusting audio and video settings, all without having to re-navigate back to your original device. > The button backlighting would be nicer as a soft white, rather than the deep red that it is. It would be easier to read the buttons and would visually match the lcd screen's backlight. A color adjustable backlight would be more flexible though. > While I prefer the R50's silver and black color scheme over the sibling MX-450's all-black look (all-black is hard to use) the visual look of the R50 feels busy and cramped. The MX-980 has a much cleaner look with its silver and black color scheme. > Make sure there's enough spacing between all buttons. > Get rid of the height change on the central black area. It blocks your fingers from the buttons next to it. > Get rid of the overly odd button shapes. They're awkward and not very usable. Also, round off the button edges, make them comfy. > The two bottom corners of the remote should be rounded more. These areas sit in your palm the most, and they dig in after a while.
I really really wanted to like this remote. It has so many good things going for it. I don't want to chop the quality rating I'm giving it, since the hardware and software on this remote are very nicely done, but given the poor ergonomic qualities, I've got to. I suppose I could learn to live with these limitations, but for a product that I would use so frequently almost every day, I know that I'd be very irritated by it, and its just not worth it.
A plea to the folks at URC...
Please don't let the visual design of a remote take priority over other design requirements. If the basic functionality isn't in place then all the good looks are of no use. Those looks may help you sell the remotes initially, but they won't keep your customers happy. Its the functionality -- the usability -- that keeps them happy. The good looks are the icing on the cake.
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