The MX-450 has Archiver software where you can save your remote's setup to the PC, then download it onto another MX-450 effectively cloning it. The software used to be available on URC's site but the link i had no longer worked, and i was unable to find it anywhere on their site so they may have taken it down for consumers. Another thing to be aware of is the newer version of the MX-450 doesn't work with the older software (or something like that).

The MX-450 is probably the best currently-available Learning Remote and would be a good upgrade over an MX-500. It's much more configurable and has much better Macro abilities (Device based and Activity based). And you can edit your Macros. With some good pre-planning of your screen layouts, you can set it up to do exactly what you want. I ended up NOT using their onboard database (since you cannot move the screen icons) and just created all my screen icons (devices, commands, activity macros etc) from scratch where i wanted them and also on the pages that i wanted them on, then taught all my commands directly. I made it so easy even visitors can fire up our TV/DVR/BD/Roku setup in the den and control it all, but the wife still insists on using her MX-500. Ummph.


There are about a dozen MX-500s on Ebay right now. You can find good ones if you look carefully (i've had good luck finding cheap ones in good condition over the years). Here's my Saved Search string - paste this into the search field:

home theater master mx-500 remote


Here's my post about how i cleaned the MX-500:
[Link: remotecentral.com]