A remote made by UEIC (Universal Electronics, Inc), these usually sell under the brand names "One For All" and "Radio Shack", but there are others out there too, like the RCA RCU810, etc.

Rob
http://www.hifi-remote.com

Jimmy,

Many MX-500 owners find they can't quite do what they want, generally because they want discrete codes for their devices. The MX-500 is a learning remote, but you have to have the discrete commands, and many times the oem remotes don't have the discrete commands to learn from. So, many MX-500 owners also own a ueic remote and JP-1 cable so they can program them to issue the discrete commands to learn to their MX-500's.
Several online dealers sell the MX-500, ueic remote, and JP-1 cable as a "package" deal to the pre-informed shopper. The OFA (read ueic) forum here, and the JP-1 group messages are riddled with posts from MX-500 owners looking for advance codes to program to their ueic remotes to try to aviod using JP-1, but in many cases there simply is no solution without "resorting" to using JP-1. You could very well find yourself in that situation as well, especially if you plan on using a lot of macros, or want more control of your equipment.
Thus, if you go ahead and get the MX-500 and want more definitive control of your devices, or one of your original remotes doesn't have the discrete you want (like TV input selects, or receiver input selects with discretes instead of toggles), you'll likely need to get a ueic remote and/or JP-1 cable to refine your MX-500. Therefore, what you originally thought would be a 115.00 solution will end up being 115.00 + ~30.00 for a decent ueic remote, + ~10-20.00 for the cable depending on if you get the kit or preassembled cable.
MANY MX-500 owners ended up stuffing their MX-500's in a drawer because they found using the ueic remote and cable was simply easier to use, liked the size, weight, etc. better, and a host of other reasons.
So, you'll need to decide whether you want to invest 115 in a remote that may end up costing more to get working the way you want, or just get the 50.00 alternative which you can always later decide to add the 115.00 for a MX-500. However, going the 50.00 route may save you that 115 if you're completely happy and satisfied with what you got for that 50.00.
Jim

Am i correct to assume the 2116 is more similiar to the mx700 than the mx500?Is this problem with discrete codes limited to the mx500 or is there another non computer programmed remote to get that will do discreet codes? I simply want to control the system and avoid a "remote programming hobby" . I am not very computer literate and already am overloaded with hobbies. Hopefully control of the components listed in the first post can be acheived without computer programming.

Just in case anyone else is reading this and getting confused about the remotes that Jimmy is mentioning.

The 15-2116 is a $30 remote,
The MX500 is a $120 remote, and
The MX700 is a $500 remote.

The only remotes that can generate discrete codes, when the original remote doesn't transmit them, are UEIC remotes, such as the 15-2116. The only exceptions to this rule are remotes like the Philips Pronto were , if you know what you're doing, you can edit the hex code.

It's for this reason that many MX500 users also buy a UEIC remote, such as the Cinema 7 or the URC-8811. Take a look at http://www.bluedo.com, they offer the URC-8811 with both the MX500 and MX700 as a package deal!

Rob

UEIC has one of the greatest IR code database, while the MX-500 has a very small one. Since the 500 is a learning remote, it can learn any command. But since it is not PC programmable the codes have to come from other remotes. The 15-2116 is also not PC programmable, but a few smart people came up with a way to reprogram the remote through the PC. That is why you can manipulate codes on the 2116. But there are people working on making the 500 also PC programmable.
The only other thing is that a JP1 solution is cheap compared to the solution of the 500.

Do I understand this correctly ? the mx500 learns codes off of the oem remote but some codes can't be learned so you need to input a code for some commands . the mx500 doesn't have as many codes to input available as a ueic so you input the code into the ueic and then learn it to the mx500. If this is true , why can you learn the code off the ueic and not off the oem isn't it the same code for same command? btw I'm still waiting to receive the mx500.

I only want to do what the original remote currently does. If the original remote doesn't generate the code and I don't want to do anything additional then i won't need the code ?

Right, if your oem remote does everything you need, then you won't need a UEIC(OFA) remote. When you get your MX-500, try the preprogrammed codes, if they're missing any commands or there in the wrong place, then you use your oem to teach the MX-500.

what a lot of us do is look for codes that or not on the original remotes, that help with macros.

For instance if you want to create a button that will also change the TV to video 3, having a command video3 is more useful then toggling with an input code.

thanks for the input.got my mx500 today and now I realize the need for a ueic remote. Are all the ueic remotes able to use all the codes available at hifiremote.com or are some not able to? Also why are the setup codes for the mx500 a three digit # and the ueic ones four digit? I'm trying to see if the discrete codes are available for my components on the hifiremote website but how can i tell which four digit code corresponds to my component? Any help appreciated