I'm looking at one of the MX remotes as an alternative to my Philips Pronto.

The remote scheme that makes the most sense to me (and my wife) is the "activity oriented" flow, i.e., you start by saying "Watch TV", or "Watch a movie."

In my case it takes about three layers of activities before dealing with any devices: First layer: Watch TV, Watch Projector, Listen to Audio. Second layer might be: Watch TiVo, Watch a DVD; or CD, AM, FM, Satellite music. Third layer would be a list of favorite stations.

Is it practical to program the MX-500 or MX-700 this way? Can it start in a top menu with macros that turn on the right devices, select the right inputs, and go to another page of macros?

From the review and the descriptions, it appears to be just another "device oriented" remote control. I hope I'm wrong about that, because I'd really like a control with more hard buttons and a real menu joystick.

My device list: Older Loewe Aconda TV, InFocus 5700 projector, Rotel receiver, DirecTV HR10-250 HD TiVo, Pioneer 45V DVD, old Panasonic VHS deck. Luckily I have discrete power codes and inputs for pretty much everything in my Pronto.

Best regards,
Mojo

I'm currently trying to setup my system with similar activites so I would say yes you should be able to but only with the 700, I don't think you'd have the same flexibility. I'm only planning on two layers, watch tv (replaytv), dvd, xbox, other (go to projector stuff), and listen cd, radio. Those will all go into the particular devices. For the number you have you should be fine with the 700.

It's more practical with the MX-700, since you have two MAIN pages, where, if you have ten components or fewer, you can place activities (and associated macros) on the 1st MAIN page and the individual components on the 2nd. Here's an example:



Mike
www.SurfRemoteControl.com

Very nice. Will it jump to a designated macro page after executing one macro?

Mojo

With the 700, any page can have macros on it, so you would just put a "go to page" command at the end of the macro.

Nice layout, Mike. Do you need to press the On button to activate things (and turn on basic components), or does pressing the Watch... buttons turn everything on?

Pressing either button activates the same macro. IOW, pressing "WATCH" or "TIVO>" activates the same macro and turns on everything to watch Tivo. The "ON" macro is for the family and others to use to just watch Tivo (almost the same as the watch Tivo macro), but assumes the TV's already on the correct input to eliminate the long delay time required by the TV to accept an input change. The "OFF" is an all-discrete OFF macro.

Mike, this is one of those times when I hit myself on the head and say "why the hell didn't I think of that?" So elegant and functional. Thank you. I am sure tonight after download my wife will thank you too.

E. J.