I'm very close to buying a URC R50 as my first real universal remote. My mother-in-law frequently gets devices out of sync when powering them on and our existing cable-company remote macro isn't cutting it. I really need discrete codes so that ON means ON and she can't get stuck in a loop where at least one device is always off because the power button just toggles things.

I've read some reviews on the R50 that concern me - people using some other remote control to get a discrete code and then having the R50 learn it. Is there no way to tell an R50 to use discrete commands without another remote? That seems like total BS for a high quality non-Radio Shack remote such as this.

Is this a bad choice for my only universal remote? Is there a similar remote that can be programmed to use discrete codes?

Thanks.