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...Continued from Page 3.
My macro, your macro...
The UR362 continues the "useful feature" list by supporting 20 macros, each with up to 20 steps. Macros are accessed by pressing the dedicated [MACRO] button, followed by a number from 0-8 or +10 (for some unfathomable reason "9" is not an option), or one of the ten device buttons. Macros are the same throughout all devices. Recording a macro is done through the [LEARN] button and then by selecting a particular macro. Macros can access all devices, but each device change counts towards your maximum of 20 commands.
The default delay between commands is half a second – quite slow – but if you need a longer delay it is possible to add one by holding the button you wish to add it to afterwards. At the top of the screen a counter will start from 1 second and count up to 99 seconds. When you’ve reached the desired length, release the button. Interestingly, delays do not count as a command. One small point is that macros cannot change a device – so if you start a macro in the TV device, even though the last command may be on DVD you will still be returned to TV when it is finished. Also, as I discovered after setting up a test macro with twenty 10-second delays, once a macro has started you cannot stop it. The remote cannot be configured to send a command or macro each time you change devices, so that will be a two-step operation: change devices, then run the macro.
The designers of the UR362 still managed to pack in yet another useful function – a timer! Or, better put, an alarm. You just knew that clock at the top was good for something! The difference here is that you can configure the alarm to either run a macro or simply sound a buzzer. Once again, customization of the alarm is done intuitively through the cursor keys. The clock itself features time, day, month, year and day-of-week functions, but timers can only be configured to run at a particular time of day – nothing more detailed. You can activate or disable the alarm through the [ON/OFF ALARM] button at the bottom of the remote.
Further to the timer theme is a sleep function, which can activate the power button for any device 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes after being activated. Once a sleep timer is activated you may check the remaining time or disable it. If your original remote required separate power on and off commands, the sleep function is designed to send the second learned command rather than the first. Only one sleep timer for a single device can be configured, though both an alarm and sleep timer can be enabled at once.
Remote configuration... AKA the small buttons!
There are three additional paper-clip type buttons at the bottom of the remote that we have not yet covered. The first, [CLEAR], is used to remove all learned signals under a device, a particular key, or a macro. You simply press [CLEAR], then a device button, a particular key, or [MACRO] and a macro button. If you’re only deleting a single key, remember to select the proper device before pressing [CLEAR]. There are no confirmation prompts, so if you accidentally press a device button meaning only to change to the proper device, you’ll instead wipe everything out.
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