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MX-780 on the fritz
This thread has 4 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Saturday July 11, 2020 at 17:32
jrh590
Junior Member
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Hello everyone! First...I am not a professional and know nothing specifically about program URC. The dealer I bought from isn't around anymore. I have a 780 with the mrf-350 base station. I have had the setup about 5 years. After a period of time- I don't remember now but would guess 4ish months-the remote starting not working well with Comcast. It would take holding the button down for 2-3 seconds to even 20 seconds before it would register and then it would all of a sudden catch up and receive the buttons in bulk. Or it wouldn't receive the bulk buttons pressed and finally do one at a time. Then all of a sudden, it would go weeks working perfect with nothing changing. As you can imagine this is awful. No other components have any trouble...apple tv, dvd, anything else. They all receive fine.

I called the dealer and they suggested it was the IR receiver that is stuck on the comcast box sending the signal. They came out and confirmed it looked perfect (hadn't changed at all since it was stuck on there well). Fast forward 5 years and finally my cheap self has had enough. It can go months working fine and then months working awful. One thing I remember is it never had any trouble until the first time I had to change batteries...its like the screwed something up.

Another thing...I bought the remote from some random AV website and not the dealer. It was sealed and said new, but I guess you never know since it was on a big discount.

Any idea what is going on?? Its so weird it only acts up on comcast and even sporadic at that.

I was thinking about buying a replacement 780. But then I would have to learn the software. Hopefully I would be able to "pull" whatever setup is on my current remote and copy it to the replacement I bought if I went that route. Or maybe I am stuck getting a different dealer to come troubleshoot or pay for a new setup.

Thank you in advance for any thoughts or direction!!
OP | Post 2 made on Monday July 13, 2020 at 12:42
jrh590
Junior Member
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Posts:
July 2020
3
Any help of feedback PLEASE :)
Post 3 made on Monday July 13, 2020 at 13:43
Brad Humphrey
Super Member
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Posts:
February 2004
2,649
1) Not all online store will give you the software, when purchasing the remote from them. And almost no one is going to supply you the software if you don't buy it from them. The software is large - 820MB.
2) The software IS complicated. If you are a DIY who has experience with programming remotes, then it isn't that bad. No experience? No chance you will figure this out anytime soon.
3) You can upload from the old remote. So just transferring the file to a new remote would be pretty simple.

Now your actual problem:
This does NOT sound like a problem with the URC remote to me. It sounds like a problem with your cable box. Comcast commands get sent thru the cable box, to a cloud server, then back to the cable box to instruct it what to do. Very stupid idea they have been doing for many years now. Many times I have seen the original Comcast voice remote work fine (it works thru bluetooth) but the IR gets wonky. The clue about you sending many commands, then suddenly responds to all of them at once - points me towards the Comcast service that is the problem.
You can try to have Comcast swap the box. If that doesn't work, then it maybe a latency issue with the service at your location. And there is nothing you are going to be able to do about it. Just use the Comcast remote for surfing and the URC remote for everything else.

I would say there is less then a 10% chance it is a problem with the URC remote. But hey, it does happen. But even if it is the URC remote, it might not be hardware related, but a bug in the programming. Meaning it would need to be reprogrammed from scratch - transferring the old program to a new remote, might just transfer the bug to the new remote.
OP | Post 4 made on Monday July 13, 2020 at 14:57
jrh590
Junior Member
Joined:
Posts:
July 2020
3
Thanks so much for the time responding, Brad!
Post 5 made on Tuesday July 14, 2020 at 06:46
Brad Humphrey
Super Member
Joined:
Posts:
February 2004
2,649
The other thing you could try, is use the Xfinity app on your AppleTV for your cable service. It works similar to the cable box but you won't have to pay the monthly rental fee. Plus you won't have issues with the remote controlling it.
It is free to try, so might give that a go and see if you like it. If not, then try to get an updated box from Comcast and hope that fixes the problem.


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