Anyone using the MX-500 with the SMS-1

I have an MX-500 with the IRClone and wanted to know if anyone has programed the MX-500 to work with the SMS-1?

I've programmed the MX-700 - does the IR Clone software work with .mxf or .mxd files?

No it does not and my MX 500 is having trouble with newer devices including the SMS-1. I think it is time to upgrade.

I recently noticed that Surf Remote sells the MX-700 for $160 - a pretty nice price for that remote.

I'm going to set up an MX-500 for my in-laws this weekend (two-part Christmas gift: remote and setup/training). It's still a great remote, but I don't know if I could part with my MX-700 in the main system anymore. I've done some fun stuff with it.

The MX-700 has been around for a while. Do you think it might we wise to buy a newer model like the MX-850?

The 850 and 700 are very similar (they both use the same configuration software). The 850 does add RF capability and it has the updated navigation pad (with a separate select button at the center), but otherwise there's not a lot of functional difference between the two. If you don't need the RF, the MX-700 is hard to turn down - especially considering the cost difference between a 700 and an 850.

I am just worried that an MX-700 might be near the end of its useful technological life span, just as I am experiencing now with the MX-500.

I can understand that, but there are two reasons I'm not stressing over it for my own purposes. First, the MX-700's core architecture appears to have carried over into the latest models (the MX-800 and MX-850) almost unchanged - same features, same configuration software, same config files - suggesting that the life span for that core isn't over yet and that support for it should be reliable for some time to come. Second, I've read some comments indicating that both the MX-500 and MX-700 have undergone some design tweaks and improvements throughout their production lives (the move to the "gemstone" button finish on the MX-500's being probably the most readily apparent example), which means that a newly-manufactured MX-700 would lack very little on the 850. Not to say that there's anything wrong with the 850 - the RF ability and improved thumbpad are both potentially significant, depending on the user - but I don't think the 700 is going away anytime soon.

I'm surprised that the SMS-1 gave your MX-500 trouble - it's basically the same UEI remote platform (albeit simplified) as the Catalyst48 used by the 990 and the 1070/970 (and the 1050 before them all). There shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary about the IR commands that I am aware of.

It's that the MX-500 cannot learn the commands from the newer equipment. It has something to do with the type of signal being sent (toggle bit codes?). I was never able to get my Philips TV, Motorola Cable box/PVR or the SMS-1 able to learn all commands into the MX-500. But I can say that I was able to send my 500 back to UEI and they programmed support for those earlier devices into my 500 for free. I only had to pay for the shipping to, they paid the rest. I think that's pretty good support. I DL'd the software for the 700 and found all of my devices, except the SMS-1, already in the data base. So it should be an easy upgrade.