Home Theater Master MX-500 (universal remote control)

Author's product rating:   

Ease of Installation	Very Easy
Range of Features	Excellent

Advantages:	Simple to program, Powerful, Durable
Disadvantages:	size? otherwise none

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

In our house things like VCRs, DVRs, satellite receivers, and set top boxes are multiplying so we really needed a universal remote control; we tried three or four different models until we settled on the MX-500 because it was so powerful and easy to program

With the hard buttons, joy pad, and editable LCD, Home Theater (USA) Master MX-500 was worth considering at £100 but is currently available new on eBay for around £45

Almost all audio and TV accessories can be controlled if they respond to infrared signals, although there are now a few things like gas fires using a radio link instead

It is becoming more common for several functions to be combined in one unit e.g. VCR combined with DVDR so it can be quite hard to remember what the abbreviations signify. Using MX-500 you can define your own labels and place them on distinct pages, a set for each physical or functional unit and I doubt we could now live without it

General
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MX-500 is quite big but is therefore easy to manipulate, with very solid construction and a durable and pleasant soft-touch feel, which is also easy to keep clean

It is possibly the most useful remote of all because it is so easy to use and so quick to change around on the fly. It has an LCD but only uses buttons, not a ‘touch screen’

There is a variable duration backlight, operated by a button to save power, which shines through all the semi-transparent buttons, to which original remote signals can be reliably and quickly be ‘taught’

There are two IR emitters which put out a powerful signal, while high capacity batteries can last for up to 3 or 4 months. Unfortunately rechargeables cannot be used because their voltage is too low

In the lower part of the body there is a set of standardised hard buttons, labelled with text or numbers, and associated with slots on the ‘main’ page of the LCD and buttons in the upper body

It is a well established model superseded by later versions with more memory, probably not required for home use, and PC compatibility, so the price is very reasonable

The instructions are clear but necessarily fairly extensive, yet it is very easy to start with the simple controls and just add more as required, or for new accessories as they pile up

Programming
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It can reliably 'learn' commands directly from the original remote, be pre-programmed by keying in a code, or employ a combination of these methods

It can have buttons programmed to put out a group of signals, or variable pauses if necessary, to perform several different functions in sequence in the form of 'macros' e.g. “Put the TV on the right AV channel and switch the remote to the page which controls a particular unit” – or – “Turn on TV + turn on VCR + tune TV to the VCR's AV channel + tune VCR to BBC2”

While the batteries are being changed all the programming is retained and you can even 'clone' the whole set of custom button designations and edited screens straight onto another MX-500

Programming it cannot do
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MX-500 does not have a USB link to connect to a PC and download a set of commands for a particular piece of equipment. However a long list of codes for different brands and models is supplied in the instructions, and these can be entered manually

MX-500 cannot use 'Adaptation' which is based on an internal list of alternative changes which are tested in turn by the user, until one does the trick. From experience this method can be tiresome at first and inconvenient later when you need to re-organise the buttons

LCD Screen and buttons on the upper part of the body
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The ‘Main’ LCD Page has ten buttons which are associated with text slots and access ten LCD ‘device’ pages, each with an alternative screen. In the device screens the ten buttons can be programmed, and are associated with text which can be edited

One can thus choose to mark each LCD button on the main screen for a unit such as STB or VCR and dedicate the corresponding device pages to that unit. There are also five ten-slot FAV(ourite) pages which can be accessed from any device page, and can be used for individual functions or macros

On the Device Pages each of the 10 LCD slots can be edited to provide a five-character label and is associated with the nearby button

Each LCD device page corresponds to a new set of programmable functions on the buttons of the lower body of the remote, so it is convenient to have that set of buttons operating the same unit. It could also perform some functions that are often in use at the same time e.g. the volume and mute TV controls, which are handy for most device pages

The LCD-associated buttons are convenient for the coloured-button functions of original remotes, and their slots can be labelled accordingly

Programmable buttons in the lower section
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The layout of the thumb pad and hard buttons on the body of the MX-500 is similar to that of most remotes, and the labels are standardised except that the usual coloured buttons are not included

There are three dedicated 'macro' buttons, and some other buttons and the FAV buttons can also be used for macros

Learning
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The 'Learning' function (to make each button do what you want) is ultra reliable and rarely needs to be repeated, except for the very occasional need to tune a button to provide a shorter or longer signal

Conclusions
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We have 5 different units of which 2 are multifunctional, and we use three of them almost every day, so the universal remote has proved very useful indeed

We particularly like it because it is robust and good as new after 3 years and is very simple to program or adjust. We gradually discovered the more esoteric tricks and it does everything that is required

The MX-500 is highly recommended, especially since the price is now so reasonable

@ tranx
Updated July 2007