I'm just starting to collect (via my credit card) a 5.1 home theater system. I'm taking deliverry Monday of a Samsung 5663 dlp tv. My current favorite for a receiver is a Yamahe rxv 750. I'm a cable vision customer and will get their HD box next week. I'm also keeping the current digital IO box for PIP. I have a combo progressive scan DVD/VCR player (Brand??). I am reasonably positive that I still have all of the original remotes



I'm looking for 2 things:
A beginners guide to remotes. (I've read some reviews and have lurked on the forums but still do not understand all of the lingo and features).

Advice on a good remote - It must be simple for to pass the WAF test but I would like it to replace all the remotes. My wife would like 1 button control for things like play a DVD, record a program, control regular TV, listen to a CD, Etc. Also how important, convenient and reliable is RF control?

Thanks
Andy Z

I don't know of any guide, I think a good first step is to read the glossary [Link: remotecentral.com]

also ask a lot of individual questions. As for helping choose a remote, it is personal taste and there are many good remotes out there. There are many remotes that can give you what you want, the Harmony lone is built to be activity based (i.e. watch TV, play DVD...), but other remotes like the Pronto line can be made to be activity or device based, while some remotes like HTM's MX series are built to be device base but can easily be set-up as activities.

I'd check www.bluedo.com, www.hifi-remote.com, www.surfremotecontrol.com and www.avsmarts.com. They probably have some beginner info on remotes. If you look at the HMT MX series, I'd recommend an MX 700 or MX 800 (with RF). They are more powerful and more customizable than the MX 500 and MX 600 (with RF). The 700 and 800 require a PC and included software to program but it's easy. You may have problems doing what you want if your devices don't have discretes. A discrete does one thing and one thing only. For example ON turns the device on; OFF turns the device off. A lot of devices only have ON/OFF as a toggle switch. If it's on and you press the button it turns off and vice versa. You also need to decide if you want a touch screen (like the Pronto) or hard buttons. Plus, read here and use the search function. There's lots of info.

Thanks forthe info. I downloaded the glossary and have started to look at the links. What problems does not having discretes cause and how do I figure out if a component has them??

Andy

Discrete codes are important in macros. And you need macros if you want one touch button presses. For instance let's say you are watching TV and the show ended and you want to watch a DVD. If the TV does not have discrete power commands you press watch DVD, it sends power and the TV turns off. That being said, some times there are easy work arounds (i.e you cannot jump from one activity to the next without ending the first one, sometimes there are work arounds - for instance doing ch+ on some TVs brings them to the tuner so CH+ followed by the right number of input commands can bring you to the input you want, some remotes -like the harmony remotes- use variables, so if you press watch TV the remote knows what input you are at and that the TV is on, so when you press watch DVD it knows not to send power to the TV and how many times it needs to send input)

as to how to figure out if they exist and what they are, there is no easy answer, I like looking in the Pronto file are, there are a lot of components there and so it is a good place to start. An other place might be the JP1 group, they have many files for many components. A third way (if you have a PC programmable remote where you can see the learnt codes (like a Pronto) you can try and recreate all the possible codes and try them out one by one

Thanks - All the info was helpful. I justbought the receiver (Yamaha rx-v750 and speakers (Paradigm) and the TV (Samsumg 5663) comes tomorrow so I will be busy setting the new gear up for a few days.

I'll be back when I come up for air!!

Great site!!!!
AndyZ

Andy -

I just bought the MX-500 remote based on a referral from a friend. I'm still setting it up, but let me know where you go on this as I have similar hardware (Samsung HLN5065W1, Yamaha V750).

thanks
- Jericho

I couldn't help but notice you have a 750 receiver. I do as well and I have run into a problem trying to get my Comcast DVR remote to operate the Yamaha. The listed codes do not work. Do you have any insight on this matter? Thanks.

Andy, a question of quriosity:

why wouldn't you turn to custom installers? are they too expensive or would you like to programm everything yourself?

i don't have the comcast dvr (yet) but i would probably use the mx500 and program it to control the comcast box. i haven't got all the buttons programmed yet for my cable box, but it does map most of the functions in a similar way, i.e. guide and info buttons, etc.