I don't have a universal remote and am looking for one for my wife who is technophobic. She doesn't want multiple remotes and has difficulties switching between cable, DSS, VCR, and the DVD. I want to simplify as much as possible. I'd appreciate advise. My needs are:

-- one touch switch to/turn on the TV (Toshiba projection set) with cable on. I like the MX1000's hard key look as being possibly easier to channel surf in this mode.

-- one touch turn on TV, DSS (Sony Sat-A2)/switch to DSS, i.e. CNBC or select channels. I'd like this regardless of whether the TV is already on. From browsing these forums it appears that some TV and other AV equipment have discrete on/off commands, not just a toggle from on to off to on... etc.

-- a little more detail... with the TV either in on or off, touch an icon that says CNBC, or the Golf Channel and have the Universal remote turn on the TV, DSS, and select the right channel. Have a few favorites programmed in for one touch selection whether it's coming from the DSS or the cable.

It sounds like the software for the MX1000 is pretty bad. I'm willing to spend as much time as necessary programming the remote either on the remote or on the PC. I'm assuming that settings can be saved and if the battery goes out, can be reloaded on any of these simply.

I'm favoring the MX1000 (in spite of some bad reviews) or the TC1000 because of the hard key functions. It seems that certain functions, i.e. sequential channel search, VCR rewind, play, etc. will work easier -- by feel rather than by reading the screen and touching. True or false?

I'd appreciate any words of wisdom to help me through this puzzle.

thanks in advance for the help.

I chose the mx 1000 because of the combination of hard buttons and touch screen and especially for the joy stick functions which are ideal for the menu selections of DSS and my DVD. My girlfriend dreaded the thought of learning a new remote since I have tried this before with cheaper universal remotes. Needless to say she loves this one -it has truely replaced 6 remotes!
Unfortunately, I did go through all the problems that are well documented in this forum and it took me a couple of weeks and probably about 20 hrs of work to get it perfect. Now we love it.

Between the two remotes,I chosed the MX-1000.It controlled every thing I threw at it.Like most hi end devices it takes awhile to get down pat.Batteries can be changed with out losing programing.I"m not too well acquainted with the proper procedure,but I started from*1 position on the remote, pushed the upper left hand corner, then the exit button. It worked for me./ Bill

thanks for everyone's help