Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This remote is highly capable but has a bit of a learning curve--after about 4 hours of fiddling around with it and re-reading the manual, I've got a slick little setup that lets me simply push a "Movie" button or a "Game" button and everything turns on and goes to its proper setting. The navigation buttons control the DVD player, the volume buttons control the amp, and when I'm done, I hit Off, and everything turns off. Very cool.
Other than learning to program it (which is not as easy as it could be but thankfully need only be done once), there are only a few, minor gotchas.
- Tip #1: I highly recommend you not bother with pre-programmed device codes and just go straight for "learning mode" instead. The pre-programmed codes generally make on/off and volume work, but anything else (navigation keys on dvd player, source buttons on amp) is pretty sketchy. Save yourself time trying to figure out what works and what doesn't--just program all your keys manually. Also, the process for setting pre-programmed codes ruins all your nicely-renamed soft-keys (see Tip #2).
- Tip #2: Rename your soft-keys before programming them. This will make the learning process more intuitive and you can put all the useful keys on the first page and erase the obscure ones you never use.
- Tip #3: Take advantage of the ability to hide pages--the less random stuff your user has access to, the easier it'll be to use. I even erased the text on the unused keys and set the left over unused device buttons as "dummy macros" which return the user to the first page of the Main menu.
- Tip #4: Why program real devices? I created "virtual devices" as my first two soft-keys and then also tied them to a macro. The first device is labeled "Movie" and is tied to a macro that turns on the DVD player, TV, amp, and sets the amp to the DVD input. Then the remaining keys in my "Movie Device" are programmed for appropriate devices--the navigation keys control the DVD player, but the volume keys control the amp. The second soft-key is likewise labeled "Game" and functions similarly. Lastly, I set an OFF macro to turn everything off and kick you back to the Main menu.
- Tip #5: The remote has a rather poorly-named feature called "punch through" which can help you accomplish this (its really a re-mapping feature which maps buttons from one device into another). It's useful for making things more convenient--you can change the volume on the amp without having to leave the DVD player menu. Just map the Amp's volume controls to the DVD device.
Cons
- The only buttons that can be set to macros are the soft-keys, and the ON/OFF keys when on the main menu. It'd be nice if you could set any key to a macro no matter where you are. For instance, I would rather have used the actual OFF key for an Off macro in my "Movie" device but instead had to make a soft-key be my OFF macro.
- The manual is not too clear but two or three times over the more complicated items (like macros and "punch throughs") and you'll get it.
- Using pre-programmed codes is not very dependable and also blows away any custom labels. Just use learning mode instead.
- You can't hide any of the Main menu pages (there are two pages with 5 devices each for a total of 10 devices--but if you only have 5 devices, it'd be nice to be able to hide the other page).
- This isn't the RF20's fault, but beware that many devices don't have discrete ON and OFF commands--only a toggle. So if you set a macro to turn off three of your devices but one is already off, you may end up turning it on when you turn the other two off.
Click Here to see more reviews about: URC MasterControl RF20 Universal Learning Remote w/ RF Capability
Controls up to 10 Audio/Video components / Provides 453 Macros buttons (up to 190 steps each / Thousands of built-in pre-programmed codes / Power - 4 AAA Batteries (included) / LCD Display Size - 0.88 x 1.88 inch / Learning Function / Backlit Keypad / Size - Depth 1 x Height 8.5 x Width 2.5 inch / Weight – 7.1 oz. (with batteries)
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