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...Continued from Page 4.
The Guide Remote actually has an additional button marked [Mode] on the left side of the screen. This is a hangover from the RD5000, where devices could be scrolled both forwards and backwards, but due to a newly added feature the left-hand button has been repurposed.
Wanted dead or alive: the "Play" button!
As I mentioned earlier, there are only 18 hard buttons that can be used by a device, none of which include menu or transport controls. This naturally presents a fundamental problem for anyone who actually tries to control something besides basic channel numbers. Evolve, ever vigilant, has developed an answer to this thorny issue... although it's more of a workaround than a solution.
When pressed, the "Advanced" button on the left side of the LCD screen will display every single function possible for the active device. Commands are scrolled through with the cursor keys and are transmitted by hitting the [Select] button. And when I say "every single function" I really mean it - UEI's fantastic database has been fully exposed! What are available only as anonymous "Advanced Code" numbers on One For All remotes are fully labelled functions on the Guide Remote. I count 29 pages with 4 commands on each for a generic Sony television - that's 134 functions including hard buttons!
Ironically, this makes the Guide Remote one of the best "source" remotes for codes in the marketplace - surely not what Evolve had in mind! My enthusiasm is dampened somewhat by noting that the selection of advanced functions is not entirely complete and seems to be randomly missing some "known existing" commands, such as some discrete power and input codes.
Of course, scrolling through a list of 118 semi-randomly arrayed functions isn't exactly a productive way to control your equipment - yet on the RD5000 that was the only option. Evolve has mercifully enhanced the RC5000M with a special "Quick Grid" function that displays several screens of the most commonly accessed functions, each with 9 commands. The grid appears the first time the [Advanced] button is pressed and is pre-configured with no possible modifications. Also, due to screen real estate limitations, function names are often truncated (such as "Menu Ri..."), but when the square is highlighted via the cursor keys a full command name is shown on the bottom.
Management positions open.
Another way to manage the unmanageable is via the Guide Remote's advanced customization of the complete functions list. It's possible to delete functions that don't work on your device or are of no use on your system, move commands around on the list and relabel buttons that don't match what they actually do. Even though you can only work with preprogrammed functions and can't add to its repertoire, this is still a useful feature.
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