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...Continued from Page 6.
A counter at the top of the screen keeps track of how many steps you’ve already added. A default 0.5 second delay is inserted between each step, additional 0.5 second delays may be added with the [VOLUME UP] button (although each addition counts towards your total step limit of 14). Changing devices also counts towards your total, but changing device pages does not. The three main macros at the bottom of the screen will always send the user to the exact device and page to which you saved (by pressing [CHANNEL UP]), while device macros will always send you to the very first page of that device no matter where you save them. In-device macros will not change pages.
In addition to assigning a macro to a device button you can also learn a single signal – or have that lone learned command and no additional macro. If you use both, the separate command is sent first, followed by the recorded macro. Although the default operation for macros is very logical, there doesn’t seem to be any way to not send a device macro when changing devices. This could be tricky when you want to switch from TV to VCR without changing anything you may have assigned to that button, such as power or video and audio inputs. I found the only solution was to employ the old "infrared impervious hand" technique, blocking the infrared emitters with your palm. For a remote of such advanced capabilities I would have expected something a little more... elegant.
Punching through... it’s not as damaging as it sounds.
Much like the SL-9000 remote, the MX-1000 employs the concept of "punch-throughs", which can best be described as the ability to share certain buttons, such as volume, channel and transport controls, between several devices. Although the vast learning capacity of the MX-1000 may make this feature seem superfluous, it does aid beginners in quickly programming their remotes. The "PUNCH THROUGH" setup command asks you what device you want to punch through to, then from which device you’d like to borrow the buttons from. Removing an existing punch through simply involves selecting the same device twice.
The MX-1000 includes some of the most comprehensive on-remote editing capabilities thus far... but the jury’s still out on whether the designers should be praised or chided for actually doing it. You can copy, move, insert, delete and resize buttons without the aid of a PC, but as I discovered you may not want to.
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