In a word yes. I have an MX700 and have programmed it very similar to what you've described. How easy it will be depends. You mentioned discretes. Your equipment (tuner, TV, LD, CD, etc.) has to have been built by the manufacturer to understand discretes. Discretes are the holy grail for an easy to program (and to some degree an easy to use) remote. A discrete will, for example, let you turn on and only turn on a device. If you press it and the device is off, it comes on. If you press it and the device is on, nothing happens. It stays on. A toggle on/off - turns on the device if it is off and turns it off if it is on. Let says you have a toggle on/off and have written a macro that switches from LD to TV. You can't issue the on/off toggle command because you would turn the monitor off. However, you could issue a discrete on. If your device had it. Why would want to issue an on command, you ask. Let's say some one accidentially turned off the monitor by pressing it's physical off or on/off button before you tried to switch from LD to TV. With a discrete on, you can ensure the monitor is actually on. Else, you can only assume the monitor is on.
There are work arounds for lacking discretes - press the play button on the DVD to turn it on; press the channel button on the TV that will switch the TV to antenna then you can press the input select button the proper # of times to get to where you want it. However, this adds steps to your macro and slows down it's execution. Sometimes people put the remote down before a long running macro is finished and it fails. Lacking discretes in this situation might mean having to manually straighten out the situation to continue (i.e., turn on or off the monitor, etc.) I've told my family to point the remote at the monitor, press the button and slowly count to 5 without moving the remote.
As for volume controling on the reciever volume, HTM (Home Theater Master - the manufacturer of the MX700) calls this punch through. It works well.
Just FYI, the style of programming you are describing is called activity based. The other style is called device based. With device based, you may have to understand more of how to work the device. That is, switch the remote to the TV device, switch the TV input to antenna, then switch the remote to the receiver device, switch the audio input to TV. With a device style, you reduce your # of remotes but not the complexity.
I had the MX500 and returned it for the MX700. The MX500 was not powerful enough (no macros on any key, fewer screens per device, fewer devices) to do what I wanted, and I what I think you want to do. I highly recommend the MX700. My only gripe is that in dim light, you can't see the screen. There is a backlight but it is dim and only works well in a very dark room.
You can download the MXEditor software from HTM and individuals .mx files from this website. Just so you know, it's hard to understand someone else's .mx file but you can get ideas by looking at the LCD screens they display. It's a free way to check it out some more.
If you buy an MX700,
www.bluedo.com and
www.surfremotecontrol.com have open box specials. These are almost brand new units. They can save you around $100. They also help support this site.
Best of luck, and feel free to ask more questions.
