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 enlarge | Brand: Universal
Category: CE
List Price: $399.99
Buy New: $189.52
You Save: $210.47 (53%)
New (9) from $181.26
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 10.5 x 7 x 2.5
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: 8062
Model: 8062
UPC: 656787208506
EAN: 0656787208506
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Arguably the best PC programable remote on the market. August 2, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've tried them all. Touchscreen remotes. Big remotes with scads of buttons. Learning remotes. Pre-programmed remotes. They all had their pluses, but they all had lots of minuses too. They were either to big, or bulky, or clumsy to handle. I thought the touchscreens were the answer, until I found out that I was spending a lot of time looking at the touchscreen, to find a button location, when I should be looking at the TV screen. Let's face it, with todays technology, there are just way to many menu selections on the TV for all the equipment (TiVos, DVD/CD players, etc.)we have hooked up to our TVs, and Stereos. If you don't want to be constantly looking down at your remote when you should be watching the TV screen to make menu selections, or just change modes, or channels, or volume. Only two things fit the bill to do that. One is a mind control remote, and to my knowledge they haven't got one on the market yet. That leaves the remote with tactile buttons. Buttons you can feel. Even in the dark. Try watching a tennis match with a touchscreen remote. I love tennis, but sometimes I dont want to watch every minute while a player mills around for over a minute before he serves. With tactile buttons you can fast forward while never taking your eyes off the TV, and hit the play button precisely when the player serves the ball. Equally great for all sports, not just tennis. Touchscreens just don't cut it for this kind of control. Now to this particular remote. It's so great I just bought a second one, and am seriously considering a third. It will control (directly) up to 20 different units, but with a little creative programming, you can control as many units as your budget will allow. Macros: You can program about 99% of the buttons with a macro of almost unlimited keypresses. You can download control codes for hundreds of pieces of electronics equipment. PC programming: All the setup can be done on your PC, and then downloaded to the remote. Got another new MX-850 remote? It takes about 30 seconds to mirror the settings from the first remote to the second or third remote. It's also an IR/UHF remote. You can use as either an IR, a UHF, or both. You can use it with Universals Remote Receiver, or as I did, with a PowerMid receiver. Don't know if it works with any others. One more thing. It handles well, and doesn't take up much space on the coffee table. I know, thats two things, but I haven't found anything yet that I can't do with this remote. Oh yeah, you can still program it by hand, if you want to. But that's no fun.
Outstanding remote; software works, but could use improvement October 21, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Summary:
On balance, this is an outstanding remote. Personally, I'm convinced it's the best remote you can buy today. The software could certainly be improved, but you can do what you need to do.
Rating as 5 stars, since I can't rate 4.5. 4 stars is too low a rating, given the outstanding core functionality of the remote itself. I'd take off a 1/2 star, but not a full star, for the software and lack of USB connectivity.
***Warning: BE SURE TO BUY FROM A DEALER WHO WILL DELIVER TO YOU THE COMPLETE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING LIVE UPDATE FUNCTIONALITY!***
If the dealer doesn't mention this, then you probably aren't getting the full software. (In that case, you'll have to download a copy from URC's website, and it doesn't include the ability to Live Update the IR database.)
Detailed review:
I've had an MX-500 for years, and have loved it. It felt heavy when I first got it, but I quickly got used to that, and the ergonomics for the remote are the best I've come across.
But the backlight stopped working last year, and this year the wife dropped it so it has an annoying rattle (but still works!). I got a new a TV, and wasn't happy that I had to set up macros with significant delay built in in order to change inputs. Googling I found some reviews for the Harmony 880, which intrigued me, and was significantly less expensive than the MX-850 (even at online discount prices). Found the Harmony 880 unacceptable, though, and had to send it back.
At that point, I stopped messing around and got the MX-850 -- which is a slightly modified variant of the MX-500, with PC-based programming.
This is an outstanding remote.
Pros:
1) An excellent ergonomic design. The most important question for any remote is: Is the remote, itself, designed so that it is easy to use in daily use?
At the end of the day, even if programming is awkward, it's not something you're going to do very often. You get past it, and then make changes very infrequently. But the remote, itself, you use every day, constantly.
a) The buttons you use frequently should be laid out in a center area of the remote that you can comfortably reach in a one hand grip.
b) The buttons themselves should press easily, and should be easily identifiable by touch, so you don't have to look at the remote in order to use them.
c) The IR should be strong enough so that you don't have to think carefully about aiming the remote. There should be no IR lag.
(The Harmony 880 failed on these accounts, in my book.)
The MX-850 addresses each of these beautifully. The most used functions -- including those that are key to modern PVR/cable/satellite box use -- are all grouped together at the center of the remote, with plenty of space between them so that you can easily select the correct button without looking. (Toughest thing is retraining myself for a few keys that have swapped positions relative to my old MX-500.)
The MX-850 continues the MX-500 tradition of superlative IR performance. This remote works through heavy blankets. (And if that's not enough for you, the remote supports RF, so you can buy a separate RF-to-IR receiver, and use the remote through walls.)
2) PC-based Programming. The PC programming is far from perfect (see Cons), but it is effective. Easier to use, overall, than the remote-based programming of the MX-500. And a downloadable/updateable IR library including many discrete IR commands, for building macros. (But...BE SURE TO BUY FROM A DEALER WHO WILL DELIVER TO YOU THE COMPLETE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING LIVE UPDATE FUNCTIONALITY!!)
3) The IR library includes discrete on/off commands for most devices, as well as discrete commands to directly select inputs on most TVs. This means you can build macros that allow you, with one button press, to quickly and reliably switch use modes. For example, turn on the DVD player, switch the TV to Component1 input, and put the remote into DVD mode. Now you're ready to watch a DVD.
The remote can learn IR commands from your remotes, if you find a function is not included in the IR library.
You can save the complete configuration for your remote in a file, making it easy to roll back to an earlier config.
Cons
1) Requires a serial port -- no native USB support. This is a mild annoyance, since some new computers may not include RS-232 serial ports (requires USB adaptor), and if you do have them, you may have other devices using them.
2) Programming software not the easiest to use/understand. Once you've figured out how the programming software works, it's fairly straightforward to do whatever you want, though not an optimal design. Depending on how tech-savvy you are, it might take you a very short time to figure out, or it might be a bit more challenging. (This is not wife-friendly software, but then again, it's much easier to program complex tasks than was the Harmony 880's software.)
My main complaint is that the IR database for a given device isn't managed well. They've munged together the command and the key that it's assigned to, making reassignment from their default key layouts confusing, at best. (Since the remote supports 20 different devices, I've addressed this for now by downloading an extra copy of each device database to an unused slot, and then reassigning keys in the primary device slot referencing the standard key assignments from the duplicate slot.)
3) Compared to the MX-500, they've eliminated the three macro keys at the bottom of the remote. These were convenient as always-available macro buttons, typically used to switch modes between your three most used devices. The MX-850 supports many, many more macro buttons, but in practice, you'll need an extra keystroke to access them -- first hit the "Main" button, then hit a device macro button.
Conclusion
On balance, this is an outstanding remote, and the best you can buy today.
Another Fantastic Remote from Universal December 14, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I don't know what people are talking about, this being difficult to program. I downloaded the software at work, configured EVERYTHING on the remote, downloaded the settings to my phone storage card, uploaded the file to my computer when I got home, downloaded it to the remote and I was done. The most difficult part was me simply trying to decide how I wanted things laid out on the menus. The actual programming itself could be done by a young child with basic computer skills.
I started off with the MX-500 about 5 years ago. After much abuse, the light broke, something started rattling around inside, and it was starting to become less responsive for some reason. It may just be in my head, because it still does everything I could ever want it to do.
I decided to upgrade to the 850 because I needed to do some reprogramming and the non-computer-based method of the 500 I didn't want to mess with. Call me lazy.
But the 850 is a very fine example of engineering and design at its best. It's a little different than the 500, with fewer buttons and a slightly different look. But other than that it is a beautiful piece of equipment.
I love the fact that if I want to change a setting, I simply plug it into my PC, make the changes in the easy-to-use software, and download the new settings. Done. I really don't know how it could be any easier to use. Perhaps the software could be a bit more refined asthetically, but even as it is it is very intuitive and user-friendly.
I would highly recommend this remote. It does more than I could ever afford to buy equipment for, and I expect I will get years of use out of it, as I did with the 500.
Great job Universal Remote. Keep up the good work. You have a life-long customer here.
Good, but could be great January 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've been using the MX-850 with the RF-blaster and it works great. This is the first remote I've ever purchased that's allowed me to put every other remote in the house away. It works very, very well.
The downside is, they don't give you the software or the live updates. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see what kind of sense it makes to withhold resources from people who purchase your product. If we have a $175 device, does it help us when you hide the tools we need to make it work? If we shouldn't have the device because you assume we're all dumba$$es, don't allow it to be sold to us.
The serial cable is not a minor problem because many computers (especially laptops) don't even come with serial ports anymore. The setup is not too bad once you understand how it works. There's a bit of a learning curve, but after that it's fairly straightforward. It doesn't require a programmer as there really is no programming. But it does require some patience and a lot of common sense.
This is a good product that if ever coupled with robust support and resources, could be great.
Does Away with Remote Problems January 29, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
A superior remote. I admit I was intimidated by the programming software, but that was more of a mind game than anything else.
I worked a a company that professionally installed these remotes for customers, and the entire time I worked for this company, I always heard; "someday when your trained and have completed classes you can *try* to program this remote..."
My bosses built this up like this was incredibly hard to do. Then about 6 months after I left the company I bought one for my house. I got to see the programming software firsthand for the first time when the remote came. I sat down and in about 2 hours had the entire remote working perfectly. Since then I've convinced friends and family to buy this remote and then I set it up for them.
Now we only have one remote in our living room (down from 4) and it's so easy my 9 year old can use it.
It is not idiot proof and is not an "works out of the box" product, but anyone with an IQ of 90 or more can figure out how to make this remote do anything they want it to.
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