universal remotes - the Home Theater Master MX-500, SL-9000 or Sony RM-VL900

[ThomasL]

I have 5 components - tv, receiver, dvd, vcr and cd player. I'm looking for something my wife can be taught to use and has macro capability which all of these do. The Sony is the cheapest but I don't want to skimp if its crap. What are people's opinions? I have a 10 percent off Best Buy coupon for this weekend and am thinking of using it for a universal macro-capable remote.

cheers,

--tom

 

[TaraD]

I'm very happy with the MX-500. I hear that anyone can be taught to use this remote, so I don't see that your wife would have a problem. You should take a look at the reviews on Remote Central to help you decide.

 

[Ted Lee]

another vote for the mx-500. an outstanding remote - it replaced eight of mine with no problem.

as tara suggested, make sure you check the review.

very highly recommended.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Thomas: keep in mind that you can greatly simplify the operation of your system by wireing it for ease-of-use.

Basically, you run everything through your AV receiver and run 1 wire from the receiver to the TV. Your TV control simply becomes a On/Off device.

Yes, you have to turn on the receiver to watch anything, but it really does simplfy things.

Hope this helps.

 

[ThomasL]

thanks Bob...unfortunately that setup won't work for us since my wife wants to be able to listen to a cd in the kitchen while I'm watching tv in the den. SO basically the receiver needs to be in "cd" mode while I just watch tv via the tv speakers. Actually my dilemma stems from this. I need my receiver (Pioneer VSX-D811S) to go into a mode where it does not use the subwoofer and sends the entire range to the fronts (nothing's more annoying than hearing the thump of the bass in the den while the music is playing in the kitchen

and the sub's off switch is in the back and hard to reach down and find it - not to mention the probability it'll be left off for half of a movie before realizing there's no bass

) The Pioneer doesn't have such a mode but I figured I could program a macro to simulate it by setting the Fronts to Large in the menu system. But I'm beginning to think that I should audition the Onkyo SR-600 which does seem to have this feature and it's about the same price.
thanks,
--tom

 

[Bob McElfresh]

my wife wants to be able to listen to a cd in the kitchen while I'm watching tv in the den.

My daughters try to do the same thing, but they just play the living room system extra loud.

I bought a under-the-counter radio/cd player from GE last Christmass. Problem solved.

 

[Chuck Kent]

Tom: I own an MX-500, have owned an SL-9000 and have setup a Sony 900.
The MX-500 is the best by a huge margin. The customization and ease of use is tops. You can get it for a very good price at BlueDo.com. And, to make it an even better deal, they offer a 2 year replacement warranty. The MX-500 costs more. But, IMO, it's worth every penny.
There is a lot to be said for the Sony 900 too. The keys are well placed and it has tons of memory. Probably the only drawback is that it has no backlight (but it does have some glow-in-the-dark keys.) Still, a very good value.
I can't recommend the SL-9000. It works well enough but it does not have handy, dedicated DVD navigation keys. If you have a DVD player, this is not the right remote (IMO.)

 

[ron_kolarovic]

The MX-500 replaced 7 remotes for me. Easy to setup, easy to us - even the wife likes it.