What's the BEST remote for use with SageTV ?

[Crowdx42]

Well I upgraded the machine so that I don't need the Xcard BUT the XCard has a fantastic picture compared to most vid card outputs.
Patrick

[glbrown]

What tv/monitor are you using?

[Crowdx42]

Well I don't have a monitor running, just straight into a 32" Panasonic tv, but the XCard is HD compatible also.
Patrick

[David Lawrance]

For whatever it's worth, I thought that my RS-2116 and JP1 were the greatest things since sliced bread until I needed something that would work with my components inside a cabinet tht didn't have a glass door. The RS-2116 is certainly a great value. Radio Shack sells a cousin to it that will transmit RF to a receiver that blasts IR, but that worked just awful. It was extremely susceptable to RF interference. At least inside my cabinet, the setup was essentially unusable.

My MX600 is just wonderful. It's essentially an MX500 that also transmits RF to an RF receiver/blaster, and this one works great. I've heard of others who thought it suffered from too much interference, but not mine. Like a JP1-capable remote, it is infinitely reprogramable, every single key, and I can give the 8 buttons associated with the LCD display any labels that I want. And, although I bought an IRCLONE so that I could program it through my computer like the RS-2116, I really don't need it. Reprogramming the remote is a cinch through the keyboard.

I can't count how many cheap remotes I tried before giving up and getting this thing. I can't compare it to a Pronto, as I've never had one, but it is real nice.

[Crowdx42]

But the MX600 is a pretty large and expensive handheld remote? Correct?
Patrick

[Crowdx42]

Is there any difference in the functionality of girder with StreamZap IR receiver and Hauppauge IR receiver. I have both (just bought the StreamZap today) and wonder is there any advantages, apart from the fact that out of the box Streamzap works a lot of apps.
Patrick

[mbrown3]

I'll give a shout out for the MX500 as well. The thing's amazing. Sure, you have to work around a couple of buttons on there, but all that did for me was cause me to think about it logistically and I have certain buttons in more intuitive places now anyway! The great thing about this remote is that it controls everything. It's not like some "universal" remotes that only control codes they can find, which is only half the time anyway. Because it's "learnable," you can teach it whatever you want. Essentially, given the right interfaces, it can control TV, PVR, VCR, Cable, DVD, Audio, Game Systems, Lights, Hot Tub, whatever you can link interfaces up to, it will control. Excellent stuff. I have tons of "macro" buttons set up so that most of my main menu buttons say, "Watch TV," "Watch DVD," "Listen to Audio," etc., and each contains a SERIES of commands so all I have to do is hit one button and it does everything it needs to for that function. For example, if I want to watch live TV from whatever else I'm doing, I just hit "Watch TV," and it switches TV inputs, changes audio inputs, it can change volume, switch to certain channels, etc. All with one button push. I didn't really need/want a color interface but needed the learning capability. This has been my workhorse for almost 2 years now. No problems, and if it died I'd buy another one in a second.

[Opus4]

I ordered an MX-500... and then started looking into the MX-700 more, since the open box price isn't that much higher. Does anyone have anything negative to say about this remote vs the MX-500?

There were a couple previous comments about 'missing' buttons on the 700:

1) No skip forward/back hard buttons. I don't believe this to be a problem unless you retain the button functionality of the silver remote. For example: instead of using the Page Up command on the skip fwd button & the up/channel up command on the up arrow, switch those commands to "UP" and "Channel Up/Page Up" instead. I realize that those missing buttons could be a problem, though if you have assigned something like ff2/rew2 to them. I don't think I would mind adding them to the LCD. (There are 4 pages of LCD buttons, so there is still plenty of room to put those commands on the bottom 2 buttons for all 4 pages.)

2) No record hard button. I can't remember the last time I've used that button, but I know those of you who surf the EPG & mark manual recordings may not like missing it. As a seldom-used button (for me), I wouldn't have a problem adding it to only 1 LCD page.

So far, those were the only 2 negative comments I've seen on this forum. (Not that there are a lot of MX-700 comments here to begin with...)

Can anyone suggest a reason why it isn't worth an extra $30 for an open box MX-700 vs an MX-500 w/IRClone? Uh, provided that price is still available Monday...

Thanks.

- Andy

[olyar15]

For me, the ability to use MXEditor was worth the extra money over the MX500. Can't say much about the button layout, since I never tried the MX500, but I am happy with the layout of the MX700.

Only real complaint is that it doesn't have quite the flexibility of a Philips pronto in assigning/arranging the layout.

[David Lawrance]

There is a button labelled to record on the MX-500, 600 and 700. On the MX-500 and 600, they are also labelled Exit and Info. Exit and Info are separate buttons on the 700.

The Guide and Menu buttons on the MX-500 and 600 are also labelled as skip backward and forward. I've set my Sage system up to respond to the former functions and have set two LCD buttons up for skip backward and forward (and I almost never use them.) They are all separate buttons on the MX-700.

I purchased the 600 because I needed a remote that I could almost afford and that would work with components kept inside a cabinet. If that wasn't necessary, the 700 would have been the preferred remote given the screened label buttons mapping virtually all of the important Sage functions. I've no complaint about the LCD-labelled buttons. With the exception of the numbered buttons, all the rest are distinctly positioned to make it simple to find any of them without looking at the remote.

[Opus4]

Thanks for the comments so far. I thought I would add links to pictures so anyone interested could easily see the layouts...

MX-500

MX-700

Originally posted by David Lawrance
There is a button labelled to record on the MX-500, 600 and 700.

Just one slight correction -- as you can see from the above images, the recor button was removed. You can always add it to the LCD, though.

- Andy

[jeidson]

low-priced remote solution for Sage

I purchased a Philips PMDVR8 remote from Fry’s for $29. It has DVR functionality that works great with the USB-UIRT and Girder. This inexpensive remote even has some built-in macro capability!

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3811417

[glbrown]

Could you explain a bit more about the macro capability? I use the $14 5-device version of this remote. Love the separate nav and transport sections.

[Crowdx42]

This is the remote I also use. It can be preogrammed with 3 macros, each can take up to 9 commands. (I think).
You assign the macro button and each time you want to use the macro, you hit macro plus the number button for the macro you want, so is a 2 button opertaion on the remote.
The remote is great value, I got mine at Best Buy and it works pretty much everything. I am currently trying to get girder to control everything.
Patrick

[eggs]

I'll cast a vote for the MX-500. I'm using it with both 1.4 and 2 beta, and also as a general replacement for ALL my other remotes. For Sage I taught it all the commands from the 350 Hauppauge controller. I'm using the Hauppauge IR receiver and serial cable control of an RCA DirecTV receiver.

A word of caution - I made the mistake initially of holding down keys on the transmitting remote until I saw a response from the MX-500. This resulted in actually receiveing multiple keypresses (repeats) and was interpreted as such by the MX-500. Just tap the sending remote once while teaching the MX-500 and wait for a response.

[Opus4]

I broke down & ordered the MX-700. I liked all the extra devices it can control, the fact that it has more buttons per device, and I preferred the MX-700 software's capabilities vs. IRClone.

Originally posted by eggs
I'm using the Hauppauge IR receiver and serial cable control of an RCA DirecTV receiver.

I said in another thread that I'll post more on this later, but you can extend your control over SageTV via the Hauppauge IR receiver & software by teaching your MX-500 more RC5 style codes. To do this with your MX-500, though, you will either need IRClone or a JP1 compatible remote in order to get the new codes into your remote. (Hmmm... I guess there is one other way to do this via a universal remote, but it will require a bit of code searching.)

- Andy

edit - I posted a follow-up thread on how to do this with the MX-700:How to use another remote with the Hauppauge IR receiver

edit 2 - Another thread about modifying irremote.ini: Instructions for extending irremote.ini

[kny3twalker]

Hey I think I found myself a remote
It is the RCA UNIVERSAL LEARNING REMOTE CONTROL RCU1010
I was just wondering what would be the easiest way to program it, I want it to run my TV, VCR, Satellite BOX, and SageTVClient
Will I need any extra hadrware like a USB-UIRT to use the remote with my Client
or can these remotes do keyboard commands?
Not really sure of its capablities and wondered if anyone is using one.....
http://www.rca.com/product/viewdetai...700179,00.html

[RedCoat999]

Anyone been using the new FireFly Remote ? It says it supports Sage. Any thoughts / opinions?

[kny3twalker]

SHS likes that one

[justme]

Anyone been using the new FireFly Remote ? It says it supports Sage. Any thoughts / opinions?

It definitely has potential depending on what you're trying to use it for but...

For me it's lack of being able to act like a universal IR remote disqualifies it for me. I need one remote for all my stuff(Computer,Sage,AMP,TV,etc). I know the MX500 isn't cheap but I love it and so does my wife. She hated having all the old remotes laying around and needing to switch to use them

Just my 2 cents.