I am about to get my first remote and these two seem to be in the same price range. For the money which is better? And bear in mind that the main thing I ever use is my Tivo remote which is an SAT-T60. Thanks for any insight.

I've had my RM-AV3000 for about a month, and spent perhaps an hour "teaching" it the functions for my TV, DVD, VCR, SatTV (DISHplayer), and audio receiver. I haven't gotten into anything fancier yet, such as macros, but it seems to pretty well have replaced all of those other remotes. My main complaints are the badly written manual, and the fact that the hard keys aren't backlit.

I haven't used the MX-500, but would feel comfortable in recommending the AV3000. Perhaps the best testomonial is that my technophobe spousal-unit has actually been using the AV3000 after only a brief intro from me; I really expected she'd shy away from even trying it out. I'd say the reviews of these two units on this web site should be great resources to help make your choice. Especially pay attention to the "negatives" brought out in the reviews, to see if there's anything that may really drive you crazy (such as lack of backlighting, etc.).

I have both, and they are both fine. If you like touch screens, you'll like the Sony; if you like hard buttons, you'll like the MX-500. The MX-500 is easier to hold and use with one hand, and it can have 50 favorite channels programmed instead of just 15 for the Sony. Renaming functions on the MX-500 screen is more flexible than the Sony. I think the Sony has more macro capability, but it doesn't seem to be a limitation for my set-up. You won't go wrong with either one. Actually, they're cheap enough that you can buy one & use it for a while, & then buy the other one & see which one you like better. (That's what I did).