I am on my second Harmony remote (an 880). Now before you all go "yuck! Harmony is da suckage!" I have to say that the Harmony has saved me a ton of grief because of what it does. Eliminate the need for my family members to have to know which device is on what input. I am MORE than open to looking at URC remotes as I am getting tired of the Harmony web based thing... although I really don't use it all that often. I think it's kind of limiting in a lot of ways.

Here is what I have now:
Panasonic TH42PX60U, Sony STR-DE685, Panasonic DRM-ES15S, Dishnetwork VIP622
I *might* be replacing the STR-DE685 with a Yamaha RX-V659
I have all of the original remotes and they work.

question 1:
Is there a place where I can look up my equipment (and planned equipment) and see what commands are available? Whether or not they have discretes for on/off and input selection? Stuff like that?

question 2:
Can you suggest a URC remote (that doesn't break the bank) that would fit the way we watch TV primarily? That would be... sit down to watch TV and that "activity" means watching TV through satellite AND often using the DVR features... so I'm guessing I would want transport buttons including things like skip-forward, etc. That one gets used a LOT when playing back DVR'ed content.

NO TOUCH SCREENS! hehehehe... I hate them. In fact if you would like a Sony RM-AV3000 very reasonable, just let me know.

Yes I am looking at URC's web site. Have to say that I may be getting overwhelmed, but they look like the most logical next remote for us at this time. I just don't know which one.

Look at the MX-810, very nice remote, if your use to Harmony remote this will be the same without web based programming

The MX-810 looks like it would be a great way to wean my family off the Harmony remotes :)

Another question.... and I have to say I am not going to be making this purchase right away, but wasn't there a board member, supporter, sponsor... something.... who sells these? I would prefer to buy from someone here.

The MX-810 would be good for a former Harmony user.

You could do this easily with an MX-850 or MX-900 (though the MX-850 lacks some DVR buttons). That would involve a total different style of programming...it doesn't guide you through anything, you have to manually do everything yourself.

You can easily punch through, macro, and shortcut buttons on those remotes to do what you want.

There are two members here, www.surfremotecontrol.com and www.proremotes.com, who are excellent authorized dealers. I reccomend them both.

Sounds good so far. I set up an RM-AV3000 before. Still have it. Family hated it. The touch screen is definitely not something i'll be doing again, but I'm definitely not afraid to leave the harmony web setup thing behind.

Which brings me back to my question #1. If they don't remember states, then I'd need to find out how to discover whether or not there are discrete on, off, and input selects for the TV, receiver, and possibly the DVD recorder.

There are some discretes in the IR Database however if there are none; the MX-810 will create variables to track the state of the device (just the same as the harmony)

The Panasonic has discretes for On/Off and all inputs. [Link: remotecentral.com]

The Sony has discretes for all inputs (which act as a discrete power on) and possibly a discrete off. For discrete on, use the input you want (IE, DVD). This will turn the reciever on. For off, the reciever has to be set to AV1 to work. More here: [Link: remotecentral.com]
The power discretes are available here in hex: [Link: remotecentral.com]

The Yamaha has discretes.

Other Panasonic DVD players I have encountered allow discrete on/off commands.

And there is likely info on Dish reciever.

As for remotes, the 810 is prettier, but can be tricky to program. The 900 is much more straight-forward. With the 900 I can create bullet-proof macros. The 810 is close, but not quite as much. All your devices have discrete codes, so I think you'd be okay either way.

AHhhhhhhhh (little light goes on)....

from what you're showing me, I take it that I can use the hex codes found in the pronto section of the files and somehow get them sucked into the URC remote? That's awesome. And using your response (for which I thank you.... some folks woulda just said, "try searching") I am now assuming that if I can find a discrete, there's probably a way to get it into the remote. I actually have my Sony receiver on AV1. They ship at AV2 but the harmony wouldn't work that way :)

Anyways... at least now, with your help I can search here in a way I probably wouldn't have thought to search (look for discretes for a URC by searching in Pronto.....) and THEN come and ask how to get them into the remote! ... heheheh

Thanks again

You can import Pronto HEX with the MX-810 Wizard and the MX-900 Editor. You can also open other URC configs (or Pronto CCFs) and copy the IR data. Some devices in the URC library already have the discretes programmed correctly. But in all likelyhood, you will have to do some tweaking.

The Sony receiver also has discrete power I think.