Hello, I was wondering if you have a universal remote, actually its a learning remote, and i've taught it most of the 950's commands, will moving to the 990 require relearning, or will it use the same commands as the 950 ?? thanks alot, reade.

Some of the stuff will be the same (volume, numbers, navigation buttons), but others will need to be re-learned (input commands, surround modes, tuner controls).

I've seen references to various comprehensive remotes on this forum. Question:
Has anyone been able to use the features of
dishnetwork's model 721 sat receiver with Outlaws 990 remote. Any experience with dish 721 receivers and other universals. Thanks.

Readster, if you have a pronto or mx-700 there are files available for them. (I have the mx 700 file but I would be more than willing to let somebody host them).

For anybody interested in a Model 990 file for the MX-700, I've got Jed M's file available here .

Thanks Gonk for hosting it.

Everything has been tested except for the second zone stuff because I don't have a second zone set up.

Trying to decide between the Theater Master MX-700 and MX850 with the MRF-250 RF Receiver.

Since my equipment is beside me (rack about 6 ft to the left) and the projector is above and behind me, I was wondering if anyone else has had luck with the MX-700 without to much "pointing" involved. Right now with the stock remotes that came with the equipment, you have to point remotes in every direction...

You can see my setup here if it would help: http://ns1.gnomishworks.com/gallery/albums.php

Any thoughts?

Not sure about the 700 or 850 but the MX500 has amazing coverage.

Is all your equipment in front, or scattered? I could also buy the MX-850 stand alone and use it in IR mode for now..

MX-700 ~$150
MX-850 ~$205
MX-850+ ~$250

The mx-700 has amazing coverage as well but for your situation you may be better off with the 850 just to be safe. Nice theater by the way.

Not fussy about all the sticky IR gizmos being glued on the front of all my equipment, but it looks like the 850/MRF250 would be a for sure. May pickup the 850 solo and try it out. It seems like the MRP250 goes for about $12 more if I buy it later..

trikos, you've come this far, go with the 850 and RF250. BTW, I just took another stroll through your HT...really impressive! You did a great job.

Thanks rance, I think I will go for broke..

I will do a final post of the finished product once I am done and maybe couple that with a review..

Pulled the trigger and purchased the MX-850 and MRF-250 receiver.. I will do a mini review on this one with the 990.

Is the MX-700 file compatible with the MX-850 Gonk?

Yep, I believe that both use the same software program (700 and 800 do, and the 850 is just a tweaked 800).

Tweaked? I don't know about tweaked..

But here is a recent quote of the differences that I know about, there many be others:

The 850 is the same as the 800 (which is an RF version of the 700). The differences (other than button style and color) are that the 850 has a separate center select button in the thumbpad and better backlighting of the LCD screen (the text stays dark while the background is lit). The 850 also has the ability to learn some hard-to-learn toggle bit commands. All other programming abilities are identical to the MX-800.

- yeah, maybe "tinkered-with" would be a better way of putting it...

I have a strange thing happening with my MX-500 that I've not had in the past. I've always just taught the commands that I want to the MX-500 and have never really had a problem. The MX-500 is my alltime favorite remote. But with my 990 I don't seem to be able to get the volume to increase more than one notch at a time by holding down the +VOL buttom. I have to tap it repeatedly to get it to increase. The -VOL works as expected, tap and it goes down one, hold and it reduces as long as you hold it. The +VOL just doesn't work right. I can get it to either go up a single notch, or to jump up multiple notches, if I hold down the teaching remote for more than a quick tap when teaching the MX-500. I even went back to my trying my 950 remote to teach it, as I never had this issue with the 950 and MX-500. It still won't work. Both the 990 and 950 remotes control the volume correctly on the 990, I just cannot get the MX-500 to do it. Anyone else have this problem, and if so, did you find a work around? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Jeff

That is the result of the way you learned the volume command - I've run into it too. When you teach the up and down commands, hold down the buttons on the 990's remote until the MX-500 says "GOOD". That will allow you to hold the button down on the MX-500 and send the signal continuously.

Just for reference for us MX newbies, was the remote just "tapped" to get the other result during programming?

Buttons like FF, Rew, Channel, Vol or any other "continuous" button I hold the button down till it says ok. For stuff like Play, Menu, #'s or Mute just a tap will do.

My MX-500 is continuous. Have you tried using fresh batteries?

If I hold down the +VOL button on the 990 remote until the MX-500 says "GOOD" and save it, then later when I hit the +VOL button, even just a quick tap, it will go up about +5. I've been using an MX-500 for a couple of years now, and I've never had an issue programming one. And so far, this is the only problem that I'm having. I won't have a chance to try again until I go home on Friday. Until then, please keep the ideas rolling. And thanks for the input so far.

Jeff

Try holding +VOL up for at least a second, but not all the way until it says "good" - I've had to tinker with this sort of thing with learning remotes before, and usually a little trial and error sorts it out.

Thanks guys. Apparently I wasn't holding down the +VOL until it said GOOD. I've got it working correctly now. But I did discover that the 990 remote is no longer working, I had to use the 950 remote to get this programmed. So I guess that I'll have to troubleshoot the remote now to see what is happening. I've only used it to program the MX-500, with a couple of times making a quick change on the 990. I'll try replacing the batteries first.

Again, thanks for the help. Sometimes it's good to have the obvious pointed out to you.

Jeff

Does the 990 remote not work at all? While programming, I bumped the device buttons a time or two and had to switch back to "tuner" - which wasn't real intuitive when I was treating the 990's remote as a single device remote.

where do you find a MX850 for $250?
thats about 100 less than i have found..im obviously not looking in the right place.

gonk,

I hit every button on the remote at least once to see if I could get any response. Nothing. So I took out the batteries and put them back in and everything is fine. I don't know what I originally did, but whatever it was is now cleaned up. Thanks for the all the assistance.

Jeff

right after asking Trikos the mx850 question I checked ebay and found them for $199.the only thing that worries me is that they claim that the factory will not honor the warrantee but they will give you a year warrantee on it.

I just bought an MX-700 from bluedo.com . Paid about $175.00 for the open box special. The big selling point for me was they are an authorized dealer and provide the full mfr. warranty, even on the open box special.

Can't wait for that thing to get here! I'm glad my wife told me to pay for the expedited shipping I just wish I had ordered before late Thursday night! I could have it already. Oh well, it's given me a good opportunity to play around a lot with the software.

I got mine from dougtheaterman on eBay, had no problem. Brand new. It was here in good time and I love the remote. Still programming it to walk on water..

If it last a year, its worth the $200. By then it will be obolete anyway..

Dougtheaterman is a good guy. I have bought 6 mx-700's from him. One was DOA for somebody on the AV123 board and he exchanged it, but I can't speak for long term support. Fortunately the mx series are so well made that if they work out of the box you are probably good for a long time.

thanks for your replies guys i think i will go the ebay rout then.

Why was the "off" added to page 2 instead of the real off button for the 990? AKA MX-700 file above...

Gonk, you have mentioned using the MX-500. Do you think that it is one of the better remotes?
I found one for $85.00 on BlueDo and I am considering it. I am new to universal remotes and programming them so I am somewhat concerned about my ability to effectively set it up. What would be the major advantage in moving up to the MX-700? I would appreciate hearing about your experience with the remote.

I know you didn't ask me, but I'll put in my two pennies anyway. I just bought an MX-700 (open box from BlueDo). It shipped today so I'll have it Wednesday. Anyway, I went with the Universal Remote series over the Harmony series because of the layout. Specifically, the shuttle controls and directional pad in the center closely resemble my Tivo remote and I really like the way those work.

I chose the 700 over the 500 for two main reasons, the added macro flexibility and the software programming capability. I've been playing with the software and have it mostly configured, but I have to wait to get the remote to test a few things before I can finish it up.

This is my first foray into the "real" universal remote scene and I chose one that I thought would not only be easy (and fun?) to program, but that also seemed pretty future proof as the software can always download new codes from the net. Plus, if you have a device that isn't in their database, you might be able to find a file (such as on Remote Central) where someone else has done the work for you.

I've used an MX-500 for almost two years, and recently upgraded to an MX-700. While I've moved up to the 700, I still think the MX-500 is a great remote - especially for the price offered at BlueDo (which is where I got my 500). The interface on the MX-500 is very user-friendly - a co-worker was able to set his up with very little coaxing from me. You can teach the 500 to control most any system, even if you've never used a universal remote before. If you want a detailed summary of my experience with the 500 and some tips on setting it up, try my review of it.

The MX-700 uses a different interface for setup - instead of directly programming it, you have to use the Windows software. The MX-700 offers more macro support (basically any button on the remote can store a macro), support for more devices (20 instead of 10), and two extra pages of commands for each device.