I will get my first TIVO very soon and have heard that the MX-500 is somehow better than the MX-700 for use with TIVO. Can someone here tell me why? I would really prefer to get the MX-700 but if I do will I be handicapped with my TIVO?

Thank you

The difference is that the 500 has the extra transport buttons. Take a look at the close-ups on the HTM website and you'll see what I mean. It's really a matter of personal preference and becomes a bit of a religious argument. I recently switched from the 500 to the 800 and am happy. Since you can put anything on the LCD buttons, either will work.

I suggest you give some thoought (and maybe create a spreadsheet) of how you would layout the buttons on the 500 vs. the 700. This will give you a good feel of the tradeoffs.

My only real question is can I get a 30 second advance button and a 8 second or so rewind button so I can easily skip thru commercials?

I recently picked up my SA8000 PVR. It doesn't come with a channel skip button, but does have the 8sec instant replay. With my MX500 I just used the macro keys at the bottom to program 30 sec, 1 min, and 2 min FF macros. Works pretty well.

This can be done with the MX-700 too of course. I think the concensus I've heard is that if you've never had either remote and the price of the MX-700 isn't a problem, go with it. Some people who've worked with the MX-500 have a hard time giving up the keys they've gotten used to. The bottom line is price.

Bottom line for $$$ is the MX-500, but consider the power of the rest of the remote as well when figuring in the overall cost.

The MX-700 is a much more powerful remote for the entire home theater/home automation system.

I love both remotes, but you can't rule out the extra power on the 700.

G.

Actually, you CAN rule out the extra power on the 700 if you don't need it. Many systems of moderate or even high complexity can be handled smoothly and gracefully by the 500.

Yes. You can have these on the MX-500 or 700 since they're a function of the Tivo unit, not the remote. One advantage the MX-700 can have for Tivo users is the ability to put shortcut macros on the LCD buttons to access menu areas like Now Playing, Search by Title, To Do List etc.

Mike
www.SurfRemoteControl.com

Right. IF you don't need it. I agree. I just wanted people to be sure that they are not only considering the (subjective) ease of use of the MX-500 for TiVo without considering the more powerful features of the MX-700, some of which are not realized until you have one.

The MX-500 is quite obviously a very powerful remote in its own right.

G. :-)

I just replaced a standalone TiVo (Sony SVR-2000) with a DirecTiVo (Hughes SDVR-40), and I found that my universal remote (Sony RM-VL700) did not have enough functionality. I deliberated for a long time over whether to get an MX-500 or an MX-700, and I eventually purchased the MX-700. The reasons were:

1. I didn't think the extra hard buttons on the MX-500 were helpful, and I actually found the labeling to be confusing. The MX-700 has a much cleaner interface, which would be more acceptable to my wife.

2. I liked the editor, whereas I was not comfortable with the hybrid solution of the IR-clone.

I didn't like the fact that the MX-700 was twice the money of the MX-500, but I bit the bullet and I'm happy with the purchase.

As for the question on the 8 second rewind...I like to have that programmed in on my "stop" button. You don't need a stop button on TiVo and it makes if very handy having it close to FF and REW. I know some of you are saying you do need a stop button if you are using a hybrid tivo/dvd. I have the DVR810HS and still have 8 second rewind under stop and have dvd stop button programmed in the LCD since I rarely use it.

Chadly25, I did exactly the same. And I programmed the Skip/FFW code to the +10 button, which is easily located at the bottom left. It works great!

Even if you have a hyprid TiVO / DVD, you would still want to operate each device in its own device space, anyway.

gglockner,

Actually, when you compare the price of an MX-500 + Irclone package to an open box MX-700, there is not much of a difference.

Also consider that with the new HD Tivo, programming OTA channels onto the Fav keys will require entering a "-". The Tivo remote command for the dash is the Advance key. The MX-700 allows you to enter that via the macro to the Fav key. Can't do this on the MX-500.

I'm returning my MX-500 for the 700.

You can always just learn the "-" to a number key on an unused device.

With my mx-500, on both my HDVR2 & DSR7000, after first entering a digit, pressing the advanced key enters a DASH. But not with the T60 though.