Disappointed...


After 1 hour, I don't have 1 device finished yet (AUDIO.) I freely admit I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I can usually get things to work fairly well. IMO, this is not user friendly at all! I was intimidated when tickering with JP1, but so far, JP1 seems like child's play compared to this. In the same length of time, I had my MX-500 well on it's way to working.

It's beginning to look like I'm going to have to learn every single key command. Nothing is where I want it, nothing is labeled correctly, when I go to change a command that's already on a key, the built-in infrared code disappears. I had downloaded MX editor a while back and thought I was ready.

Obviously, I'm not...

(The above is not intended to be any kind of rant. I'm just EXTREMELY frustrated.)




This message was edited by HAN on 05/29/02 21:59.23.

Han, it ain't so bad. I agree there is a learning curve and it probably took me five or six hours in total to finish but that was much better than the 40+ hours for the mx1000. I did find that it helped to re-read the programming manual about every hour or so while I was working with the programming. Every time I re-read that manual it made more sense. It will be worth the effort Han. Hang in there!

I had the same experience, after the first hour, things started to fall into place, and more so after about 2 to 3 hours of playing. At this point, I find it pretty easy and reasonably intuitive.

Re-learning codes into it is the most frustrating and time consuming, made more so when the database already has the device you're looking for (supposidly). But I'm pretty happy at this point, and will be more so as I can get more discrete power on/off codes.

Rich

HAN: The built-in IR code should not disappear, unless you deliberately delete it.

Also, if you set up your device labels and then do the learning, it shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour to do your first one, and less from then on.

In fact, I set up my entire set of remotes on-screen first, and then did the learning. Remember to click on the icon that moves the highlighted button to the next one as you learn. You can fire through a device in no time.

... Greg :-)

Well, after doing some reading and trying a couple of things, I'm still no better than before.

One example...(Greg, this will explain what I mean about losing the ir code. I'm not losing the master database.)

I use a Denon 3802 receiver. I setup the code for AUDIO as the 3802. The remote comes up pre-programmed ok but with buttons all over the place and not handy. That's fine because I am supposed to be able edit or delete everything. So, as my 1st cleanup item, I want to swap the functions of the MENU and INFO hard buttons. I start with the INFO button and use the EDIT and LABEL BUTTONS box. I open the drop down IR Code box and scroll down to the PANEL function. I click on it and now the PANEL function is on the INFO button.

But when I move to the MENU button and try to find the ONSCREEN function that was there before (tied to the INFO button) it's now gone.

How do I keep all of the original codes available and move them around without using shortcuts (which permanently covers up the original function, (especially on the hard buttons?)

Another question I have is that with the MX-500, you could choose say VCR1, hit MAIN, and still control all of the VCR1 functions except for your punch-thru volume and mute. Is this feature gone from the MX-700? The only way I've seen to make it do anything on the MAIN page is to only punch-thru specific devices.

Sorry guys but I just don't see the light here yet.

I see where HAN is coming from. Last night I tested out what I thought were discrete on/off codes for my Hitachi RPTV by putting a shortcut on the ON and OFF hard buttons to the LCD buttons named 'ON' and 'OFF' that came from the database.

Upon testing I discovered that those did not work. So I simply deleted the shortcuts and for some reason the original key from the database (POWER) was no longer available. The only way to fix was to delete and recreate the entire device, relabel, relearn keys, etc.. Very painful.

Shouldn't there be a way of browsing individual codes from the database and applying them to keys (or am I missing something)

..M..

I've only played with the software and not a real MX-700, but I agree with you, Mark. What we should get when we choose a device is a list of available functions, which we can then drag onto any buttons we want to place them on. Sure, have the option to create a default layout if it helps save time - but also allow the designer to assign codes from the database wherever they are needed.

As things stand, it's probably easiest to learn all codes from the device.

Han,

Try dragging and dropping LCD buttons to rearrage, using Program Menu step #3 LCD Button Editor. This is very fast.

Using the pull down method and creating shortcuts is prone to the kind of confusion you are encountering. I only use that for hard buttons, after I've used LCD Button Editor to drag and drop LCD buttons to where I want them.

On your learning issues, Greg suggested that you can do one device in half an hour. Actually you should be able to teach 50 commands in less than 3 minutes, if you first use LCD Button Editor to rename buttons, then follow the instructions for "Batch Learning" on page 24 of the manual.

Best Regards,

-Eric

Eric Johnson
www.hometheaterpro.com

800-247-7001

David,
I completely agree that this piece is missing from the software. Now what happens when the real discrete codes for my Hitachi are known (the database codes do not work).. I'll have to delete and recreate the whole device, all my learned codes and custom LCD buttons, just to place two IR codes from the database onto hard buttons.

Don't get me wrong, I'm quite happy with the remote so far.. My only other gripes are that:
1. no "Undo" function.. Once you mess up, you're pretty much stuck with what I described above.
2. not sure where all those "secret" discrete code are because I can't find any.. and all my equipment is less than 2 years old.

I agree, but my half-hour included planning where you want all of your labels, possibly including buttons from other devices that you might want on a particular device page. :-)

Once you have in your mind where you want everything, it goes very fast, as Eric mentions.

... Greg :-)

This message was edited by GregoriusM on 05/30/02 22:11.47.

This is already implemented in the program, except for the drag and drop of the codes.

Just open up a blank config file, label your devices, select the preprogrammed code, delete the buttons that do not apply to you, and save.

You then have a device in the LCD Button Editor that allows you to choose from all of the codes, and apply them to any button.

Is your point that you don't want all of the extra labels and IR codes in the setup and have to delete the ones you don't need?

... Greg :-)

Update...

I spent a fair amount of time reading the manual today (I printed it off last night.) I was talking to my accountant at work and she came up with the idea of duplicating the receiver as a hidden device and building shortcuts from it (the hidden one) to the receiver that I am using. That worked! (I wouldn't and probably couldn't use this solution for every case, but the receiver is the one that I needed the worst.)

So, I've spent the last 4 hours working on getting the MX-700 setup similar to my MX-500. While I don't necessarily want to end up with the units being the same, I felt like it was a good place to start. Things are going better tonight after the receiver "thing" was solved. I still have my double deck Go-Video VCR to go, but it won't be tonight. Once I have everything set, I'll post back with a few more thoughts...

Greg,
If you re-read my post about the POWER buttons above, I still think there's some sort of bug..

I put shortcuts on both the ON and OFF hardbuttons that didn't seem to work. So, when I deleted the shortcuts, the original POWER code was not there in the dropdown list. It had disappeared.

As a test, set up a TV device as Hitachi - RPTV. Put a shortcut from the On hardbutton to the "ON" LCD button that comes with the database.. (do the same with the "OFF" button)..

Guess what, they don't work, so you have to delete the shortcuts to get your POWER buttons back - hey toggle is better than nothing right. In the IR Code dropdown, the original POWER code is no longer in the list. It seems the only way to get it back is to delete and re-create the device. Not a big deal in this case, but if you've spent a 1/2 hour customizing, learning, etc.. then you have to do it over again.

Is that expected behavior, or am I missing something?
Maybe having a "Revert to Database" option for a hard button would help.

I've got a wedding tomorrow, but I'll check this out on the weekend, and see if we can get this to work.

If not, I'll send in the request, since it shouldn't work this way!

Okay? :-)

G.

Greg, my point is that while your approach works, it means that a 20-device system effectively becomes a 10-device system.

Strictly IMHO, I prefer the way the TheaterTouch software does it where you simply drag-and-drop functions from a complete list of functions for the device onto the buttons. It's not the the MX-700 approach doesn't work - it's just the TheaterTouch apporach seems simper.