Some of you may know that I have been in the market for a remote, and bought a MX-900. Here are some questions, and I'll update this sections with the questions and relevant answers. Here are some of the first ones that I have...

1) What is the significance of "Listen" and "Watch"? Just different high level pages? Thinking along those lines and having history with Harmony, I made "Watch" my activity pages, and "Listen" my device pages. Personally I think "Listen and Watch" are silly and would think they would make them activity and device. I mean, even the instruction manual shows activities under these pages. Regardless, pease confirm that this is an acceptable way without impact.

Answer: They are just high level pages. Separate things as you see fit.

2) I cannot find an easy way to take commands from one device and drag it to another. Why? Because I have a number of activities that span a number of devices and I do not see the reason one should have to hunt through the IR db for the mfg and model number for every button, for every activity that you want to set up. I'm doing it, but not liking it. Punching through is not always an option (like the dolby button on the pre/pro, it's mapped to an LCD button in the main device, but there is no way to punch through an lcd button). I tried opening two Editors against two different files (fully expecting a crash:), but dragging from one to another does not work.

Answer: You cannot right click, then copy, but you can choose the button and do a CTRL-C, go to the destination and do a CTRL-V to paste. This works.

3) If number 2 is not possible, is it possible to limit the IR Db Navigator to the components that you have? Wow would it have been nice to be able to open multiple IRDB Navigator windows or Universal Browser windows... good lord...

Answer: No

4) Is there any way to turn off the beeping when pressing a button next to the LCD or "Listen" and "Watch"? Pleeeeease? :)

I found this in the manual, but cannot find where to set this anywhere, would LOVE help...

"SOUND/BEEP - You can adjust the Volume of the MX-950 speaker. Note that TX-1000 and MX-900 editor offer BEEP volume to set the volume of the Beeps. If your client prefers silent operation, simply set the volume to 0."

I do, I really do... :)

Answer: [Link: remotecentral.com]

5) For the programmed (out of the IR db) commands, is there a way to see or sdjust the "repeat", once they are brought into a "device" in the remote? Repeat 3 is not a good thing for volume. Luckily the IR command had to come from a downloaded file and used from the Universal Browser.

1) The Listen and Watch buttons are your activity buttons. You make your devices on those pages (place your DVD, TV, Sat, etc. devices on the Watch page, and CD, Radio, Receiver, etc. on Listen.) I place my activity devices on the first page (DVD, CD, Radio, etc.) and place the TV and Receiver on page 2 of Watch and Listen, because you are building macros, there's no need to directly access the TV and Receiver.) Hide any unneeded buttons for the DVD, Sat, etc. on hidden pages.

2) Do one step macros. If you must have the Dolby button from your receiver on the DVD page, make a button on the LCD page of the DVD device and call it Dolby. Then do a macro, and have it just do the Dolby command from the receiver.

3) Answered above for ya.

4) You found out.

5) You should just be able to press and hold the volume button and have it repeat until you let go.

WATCH and LISTEN can be used for Second Zone stuff.

Use Ctrl-C to copy and paste commands

8ate8... Thanks for the responses...

1) I don't really get your answer on this one. It sounds like you have two real things you do with your sysetm. I have the following activities...

Watch Cable
Play xbox 460
Watch DVD
Listen to a CD
Listen to Music (off of the cable box)

All of them require a different setup within a page. For example, watch DVD and listen to CD, have different requirements of the TV being on or off (DVD on, CD off). Because of this, the Watch page has all the activities, the Listen page has all the components.

One always needs access to the full components, just in case. In an "Watch Cable" activity, the remote will control all of the following without changing a LCD page...

TV (on/off, input)
Pre/Pro (volume buttons, mute, surround fomat (LCD))
Cable box (channel +/-, play, ff, rev, numbers, menu...)

2) When putting together the activities above (activity = a device with the 900, but one that uses the commands from multiple components), you need to go through the IRdb to assmble all that you would need to access in the activity. You cannot copy and paste that from other devices. Pain in the rear.

5) Each command that is programmed to a button press has a programmed duration (repeat). I believe the out of the box repeat for one button press is three. You can adjust the repeat of a single press when your brining over the command from the db. There is a drop down box that had the repeat value when your grabbing the command. Question is that when it's already in the remote configuration, can you adjust the duration, or do you have to grab the command again. Grabbing the command again is a pain in the butt again.

Ctrl-c works, thanks.

I was trying to bring up a context menu, but guess that's not avail in that frame. Right click works in the macro window, but not in the "Simulate mode frame".

Last remaining question...

For the programmed (out of the IR db) commands, is there a way to see or sdjust the "repeat", once they are brought into a "device" in the remote? Repeat 3 is not a good thing for volume. Luckily the IR command had to come from a downloaded file and used from the Universal Browser.

I think you are over engineering how to layout your remote. Place your DVD, Xbox and Cable devices under the Watch page. Place the CD devices under the listen page. Create a macro so that when you press DVD, it sets up all your inputs properly (TV On, TV Component 1, Receiver DVD, DVD On, etc.). Since you have the MX900 you can create press-and-hold macros. Create a press-and-hold macro for 1 second and have it skip the macro, and just go direct to the DVD page so that if you need to access the DVD commands without having all your TV inputs and receiver inputs change over, you can.

Email me and I'll send you a few examples of some clients remotes that I've programmed. To be honest, you're making your remote harder than it needs to be.

Actually, over the 3 days that I had it, I came up with almost the same layout. Watch is for activities. Listen for components. Tap a Watch based page 1 button to run the macro. Press and hold to take me directly to the page without running the macro.

What I still need though is a way to increase the repeat of the command. Right now I've resorted to putting the command twice in a row to compensate.

Hey Jesse, when you think you are jsut about done with your configuration, why don't you post it the files section. I am a recent owner of a MX-900 and would be interested in seeing your set up "philosophy". I came from a MX-700, so my initial set up has the Watch page like the Main page on the 700, and I really haven't utlitized the Listen page yet.

As I was reading the post, I changed my set up to have the Listen page to the my "Device" page and the Watch to my start up Macros. I sort of like this method of utilizing the Listen. My Device buttons do two things. I quick press just goes to the Device page. Press and hold for a second and it first switches all the inputs (TV, Receiver, etc...) and then goes to the Device page. The Watch or start up Macros are just that. They are used to when I walk into the room and everything is off, and I want to perform an activity. For instance, my DVD activity turns on all the appropraite devices, insures they are on the right input and opens the DVD tray.

So... let's say I am watching TV and want to watch a movie. I go to my "Device" page and press and hold the DVD button. This switches all the inputs.

This thread has my re-thinking my set up.

I think I will try to have "real" Listen and Device macros, with maybe a separate "Startup" device with all my embedding start up marcos.

Hmmmm....

:)

It's real tough to use the MX terminology, but I think we're talking the same thing.

Listen Section - Used to store all the components that I own so I don't ever have to pull out an old remote and so that I can get to obscure functions when needed. Each has a "Device" devoted to the component, where the entire remote for that component is stored. Pressing the Listen button brings up Page 1, that has a list of the components. Pressing the button next to it brings me to the component Device, where the On button would then turn the component on, off would turn it off (plus take me back to the main "Watch" page), all other buttons are mapped directly out of the IR db.

Watch Section - Used to store all the Activities that I would do. The following are the titiles on Page 1 of "Watch". Watch Cable, Play xbox360, Watch DVD, Listen to CD, Listen to Music (from cable). Pressing the button executes the macro to turn on all the appropriate components and set them to the right inputs as well as to take me to MX Device Page 1 for that activity (Watch Cable for example). Press and Holding the button would (without adjusting inputs or power) just take me to Page 1 of the MX Device Page 1 for that activity (Watch Cable for example), and this was needed in case I went directly to a "Listen" device and had to come back into a "Watch" activity. The buttons and menu options in a Watch Device (I'm calling activity) are a mix of all the buttons that I would need from varius components to do all that I would want to while watching Cable. Like cable functions (channel, guide, play, record, ...), TV functions (setup menu to adjust picture settings), reciever functions (volume, dolby...), Lights (dim, brighten).

Within an activity, I've also had to create an LCD button on page one that performs a macro to adjust a bunch of things to I can ,TV PIP, bring up the menu for the pre amp. My Pre amp does not have a robust front panel menu (royal pain without macro), rather requires the TV to see the menu in it's entirety. To do that manually I'd have to jump around component controls. That's not good, so I've solved setting that up, and getting back to where I was in an activity device, without using variables.

Really want me to post the file?

Sure, that is what the Files section is for. See my other post askign MX-900 owners to post their configurations. It sure helps other people, especially newbies when programming their remotes. A few years, when I bought the MX-700, I got sveral ideas as well as a lot of the descrete codes needed, that at the time was missing from teh IR database.

I will post my set up once I have settled on a format. Still playing around with it.

I still don't know why the two of you are using the Listen to store your devices. Have either of you ever programmed an MX850? You get one 'Main' button. That's it. If you need somewhere to store the lesser used commands of a DVD player or CD player, store them on the other pages of the device. Use Page 1 to store your primary commands that you use all the time, and pages 2-whatever to store everything else. There's no need to have a completely seperate "activity macro" take up a spot in the watch section. The remote is meant to be entirely activity programmed. If you need access to just the device, you go to pages 2-whatever of that device to have the rest of the commands, not to the listen page.

I'm guessing you both are ex-Harmony users. The world of URC is different. There's no need to seperate activity and devices when you can easily just access the device by creating a push-and-hold macro, which you've all ready done, Jester.

The 'Watch' and 'Listen' buttons are there so Joe Anybody can pick it up, and decide what they want to do. Do they want to "LISTEN" to a CD or "WATCH" a DVD? That's why they're both there. Not so you can store devices.

Jester - Glad you are getting it going the way you want, but I agree with 8ate8 here. I haven't messed with the harmony remotes so I'm assuming that's what you've had experience in but I currently program the MX series at work (along with prontos previously) and I think you're getting it but you're doing it the hard, and long, way.

Like what was said above the Watch and Listen are meant just to separate out the activities between those that need involve watching something and those that just involve listening...... really just too make it easier on the end user. If I programmed activities only under watch and made the Listen area device jumps then I know I would have a lot of confused customers on my hands.

People do it different ways but usually on page 1 of Watch and Listen you have your "activities" - (e.g. Watch Cable) that has the macro commands and then goes to the Watch Cable device which has the cable box controls or some people make a separate device on page 2 of watch called cable that houses the commands. Regardless, it is kinda confusing at times because there's really no different between devices and activities. Whatever labels you put on the Watch and Listen pages, the software automatically creates a device with that same name.

Are you using the ir db to put in ALL the commands for your system? If so, that's really the long way around... : ) Generally, the order I do things is name all my devices (separated onto the respective watch and listen screens), and then from the Program menu option do "step 2" and assign the correct device from the IR database to each of the devices you created previously. And at this point I usually take some time to test some commands, learn in any extra commands, move buttons around on the LCD, etc... Then I make my macros. I just start at the first device/activity on the watch or listen pages.... Ex: Cable.... click on that LCD button, hit the record button on the macro list, and then go through the devices on the left explorer window and click on the commands I want to "record" into the macro. So I'm really never pulling each individual code from the IR database explorer unless I need to fix a missing command or something specific. But in the past like 5 months I've only had to do that 2 or 3 times, and I've never had to mess with the repeats function yet.

I think that people tend to think "devices" because that is the way the demo file is set up in the Editor.

If you think activities, as 8ate8 shows, you think through how you use the remote for whatever activity, and put those commands in the appropriate places, and name the activity as such, instead of by the device name.

The beauty of it, again as 8ate8 shows, is that all of the commands that you want the user to be able to access, are there and can be put right where you want them, and any you don't, can be hidden.

Watch - Listen - activities! And don't be scared to put the same command in different places.

Eg: DVD player: To listen to CDs, put the appropriate commands in the Listen section that apply to using it for music, and the appropriate commands in the Watch section for when you use it for watching video.

That way the user doesn't even need to see any of the video commands when listening to a CD, and vice versa.

IMHO!

Guys,

How exactly is storing the entire remote of a component in the sub pages of an Activity (device) the most efficient way of programming this remote?

How is flipping through pages desireable?

You would have to either do that for every activity, for every component, or you would have to remember where you put the remote commands for the TV... "oh yea, I placed that on page 6 of "Watch Cable". Oh, and the full DVD remote is on Page 4 of "Listen to CD"... No offence, but that's not what I would do at all. There are times when I need access to the full TV remote, and I'm not going to go hunting for the page in "Watch Cable" to get to it. Too many button presses, far too many.

Having a clear area for full remotes "Listen" and for activities "Watch" is the way for me. If your method works for you, great. If I were doing this for someone else and had to explain this to my parents for instance, I could see why you do what you do... I could hear this from my mother... "so why am I on "Watch" when I want to Listen to music?... " :)

Your right, I did come from Harmony and I see the differences in the two. That's for another place...

Nickko - If I had more than one page full of activities, I would go with your method of using both Watch and Listen for activities, and in the sub pages at that level, put the component remotes. Thankfully, I don't and therefore like having all activities on the Watch page. My goal is minimum button pressing... :)