User reviews for the Home Theater Master MX-1000 from Universal Remote Control Inc. Ratings Reviews MSRP (USD) Average: 3.51/5.00 Median: 4.33/5.00 29 $289 The computer programmable MX-1000 features a high-resolution touchscreen display, 5-way joystick and 14 other hard buttons, full backlighting, learning and pre-programmed codes, plus a lot more. Message Forum Our Review Clicker Picker Specifications Add Your Review Get it at:

Written by Curtis from San Francisco, cA. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 8 made on Saturday January 13, 2001 at 11:13 AM. Strengths: Truly hand-held, vs. the PDA/2-handed style of touch-screen remotes which I dislike. Many preprogrammed codes. Nice feel to buttons Can customize quite abit Weaknesses: PC Software undocumented and far short of what should be expected. Extensive difficulties learning to LCD buttons - see message board. Review: I was so close to sending this remote back, but Home Theater Master sent me a new one, thinking my old was defective. The new one had the exact same problems w/ trying to learn a command to a LCD button, but that command landing on a completely different button. I'm still working w/ this problem. My goal is to get away from 2-handed remotes & the MX-1000 on the surface has everything I could want. If now I could only get it to work as it's supposed to. If you take out this learning problem I'm having,the MX-1000 is a great device for the $. I am holding my breath for software enhancements. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Tom Loeb from Illinois, USA. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 7 made on Tuesday January 2, 2001 at 6:26 PM. Strengths: Super easy to use Very Readable Display Great Price/Feature Ratio Well Designed case Set-up is very simple Weaknesses: Manual is poorly written New version of the software is still a bit buggy Review: I am new to the world of complex remotes. So I went with the Pronto 2000. I returned it after two days of pure pain working with it. Some of this pain was prompted by the $400 w/tax price. For that kind of money it should have worked far better than it did and be MUCH easier to use. I then purchased the MX-1000. A completely different experience. I put the batteries in, loaded the codes and it worked with every device I have installed in my theater. All I want is a remote control, not a workstation and the MX-1000 fits the bill. I am still in the process of customizing buttons and adding macros, but the basic ease of use is what I purchased the MX-1000 for. I was able to operate all of my components within an hour. The unit feels great in your hand, far better than the clunky Pronto, the screen is easy to read, and the joystick is a real plus. What more can I say, sure the manual is a bit rough around the edges, but so was the Pronto’s. The good news is you don't really need the manual to get up and going. The button software version that I downloaded from www.hometheatermaster.com, 1.91.0 takes a bit of getting used to, but it seems to work just fine. Again, plenty of power to accomplish the task. All in all, the MX-1000 is hard to beat. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Dave Warrick from Kansas, USA. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 6 made on Friday December 29, 2000 at 4:45 PM. Strengths: versatility, especially editable buttons and text; ease of use Weaknesses: one minor error in user manual regarding macro programming Review: I've only had my MX1000 for about 1 week, but have been very happy with it. The info I obtained from RCU reviews of various programmable remotes was extremely valuable in making my selection, and I'm pretty sure I chose the right product. For the price ($230), it can do everything I need for my home theatre system(TV, DDS receiver, DVD, and VCR)and was relatively easy to program, including macros. I had to "learn" a few functions several times before it accepted. It was very easy to edit button styles and change text, which is an invaluable feature, as there are usually a few buttons/functions which aren't available on most universals. The punch-throughs have also been very valuable, making it possible to control volume functions of the receiver without leaving the DVD or VCR screen. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Andres from Apex, NC, USA. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 5 made on Monday December 11, 2000 at 12:54 PM. Strengths: Great value given what it can do for the price. PC configurable. Good mix of Hard Buttons & LCD. Love the joystick. Backlit color is very pleasent Weaknesses: PC program. Need I say more. Review: This is one great remote. Too bad it had to be released with an unfinished PC interface and a lousy User Manual. Otherwise, it would have received 5s accross the board from me. The IR emmitters have great range and dispersion, unlike my original device remotes. The learning feature was very simple to use and I had no problems having it learn every key in 6 remotes with only a few retries. I chose the learning option over the preprogrammed codes, because I found the preprogramed codes to be inaccurate and therefore unreliable. The PuchThrough feature worked great once I figure out that the UserManual is useless and you should go to this forum to find out how to actually do things. The PC interface to me is essential and it's what sold me on this unit. Unfortunately, it's the worst part of remote. But since it's downloadable software, they'll get it right eventually and I'll have one great system. Even with it's MXOS problems, I, a novice at this and with the help of this forum, was able to workaround every MXOS bug and was able to design my own buttons, convert them to MXOS format, build screen layouts for every one of my components, program every button, download it & upload it over the weekend. I hope that they can get the problems with the MXOS worked out soon and that they are also thinking about providing a MXOS interface to be able to work with the macros , punch through, systems & options settings, and IR codes management (create, edit, delete). Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Nick Carter from Austin, Texas. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 4 made on Tuesday December 5, 2000 at 4:06 PM. Strengths: -Hard Buttons -Works with everything. -Backlight is nice. -Macros are cool. -Punch through Weaknesses: The software pretty much sucks. Review: Let's face it. The software is simply not ready for prime time, but this is the ultimate remote. I gave up on the software after a few crashes, and I've been using the remote to do everything. Now that I'm getting used to it, you can do just about everything from the remote itself. I've been editing text, moving, copying, and deleting buttons, teaching it new commands, programming macros, etc. and I'm really not having any difficulty. I would like to see more steps capable in the macros (instead of 28). My Toshiba big screen takes forever to switch inputs, so you have to put several .5 second pauses in the macro, each taking one of your precious 28 steps. In terms of the physical design, hard key layout, and LCD screen, I think this is the best remote out there. I've also been very impressed with how well it controls my components, such as the fact that the joystick works appropriate features on specific devices. Hopefully the software will improve in the future, but you couldn't pry this thing out of my geeky hands. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by richh from Colorado. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 3 made on Sunday November 26, 2000 at 11:40 AM. Strengths: Excellent tactile design. Joystick is a nice feature. PC editing capability for buttons and customizable labels. Backlite for dark rooms is a pleasant color and brightness. Weaknesses: Lack of documentation especially for the pc software. Slow download and upload to the pc. Software is a little cumbersome to use. Review: There appears to be little dispute regarding the MX-1000's design and proposed capabilities. With all of the listed feature and the price in the low $200 range made this the remote for me.The preprogramming method using 3 digit codes was easy to do and worked very well for my system. I currently have Mitsu Diamond HDTV with Sony dvd Mitsu vcr and Yamaha 3090 amp, RCA satellite. All programmed well even several common surround sound buttons on the Yamaha. Of course I wanted some buttons with my own labels for ease of use so I turned to the pc software. With very little difficulty I successfully changed the shape of several buttons and added my own labels. I initally used the text feature but learned through the forum that you must right click on the button and add text or the labels will not show up. Anyway the proceeding download went easily with no problems other than I lost my current preprogrammed settings. It is likely something I did wrong. The new buttons work great. I should add that I am using version 1.40.1 of the pc software.Overall I am very satisfied with this remotes performance. I have had little or none of the problems expressed by others. Quality: Features: Value:

Written by Dennis N. Joannides from CO. The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.

Review 2 made on Thursday November 23, 2000 at 3:10 PM. Strengths: The product looks and feels good and that's where it ends Weaknesses: Device is full of bugs. It takes a computer whiz to figure it out. Documentation is poor and there is no trouble shooting section--probably because there are so many problems Review: I loaded the pre programmed codes into the device. Some of the functions worked but not all. Installed the software and tried to upload from the unit to the PC program. It froze in the middle of my upload and I was unable to use the remote thereafter. It froze on the main screen not permitting the jog stick to function. I'm hoping AVProNet will take it back. I'll pay the restocking fee and lost shippment cost and chalk it to experience. Quality: Features: Value:

Return to the user reviews index...

Add your review