I purchased the MX-880z and the MSC-400. Now I am thinking I should have went with the MX-980. What features and functionality am I losing not going with the 980?

Buying a URC remote is the most stressful purchase I have ever made I know guys that work for microsoft that write complicated programs they couldnt deal with this MX980..

I am sending mine back unless you wanna keep shelling out money to a dealer for programming every time something doesnt work or if you upgrade a component or even trouble shooting something you will keep paying and paying the cost of ownership on this for 3 years doesnt not make any sense to buy it at least it doesnt for me.

If you are comfortable with programming it then buy it if you have the slightest doubt then you my friend have H^%L to pay....I cant understand why they make stuff that is so not dedicated to end users and plus you will get zero support from universal...........ZERO..

Buy far the worst purchase I made.....IM glad Ive had it for only 1 day and can return it. I wish I had read a message like mine before I pulled the trigger.

The MX980 is a very easy remote control to program, for anyone inclined to do such things. With regards to the software, a DIY simply needs to find a dealer that is willing to provide the software with the purchase, if they do not want to be dependent on a dealer for programming or changes.

Buying a URC remote is the most stressful purchase I have ever made I know guys that work for microsoft that write complicated programs they couldnt deal with this MX980..

I am sending mine back unless you wanna keep shelling out money to a dealer for programming every time something doesnt work or if you upgrade a component or even trouble shooting something you will keep paying and paying the cost of ownership on this for 3 years doesnt not make any sense to buy it at least it doesnt for me.

If you are comfortable with programming it then buy it if you have the slightest doubt then you my friend have H^%L to pay....I cant understand why they make stuff that is so not dedicated to end users and plus you will get zero support from universal...........ZERO..

Buy far the worst purchase I made.....IM glad Ive had it for only 1 day and can return it. I wish I had read a message like mine before I pulled the trigger.

The MX-980 is a professional remote. It and its software is not designed for consumers. It is designed for use by professional installers who are trained to use the software. You will notice that it is in the professional section of the URC website. This is why you will get "ZERO" support as a consumer. There is a consumer section at their website also.

Obviously anyone can learn to program an MX-980 just like anyone can learn to preform surgery. The issue is that they specifically designed the software for custom installers and this is why it may seem complex to you.

Having said that.. Its pretty straightforward. You have a graphical representation of your remote and you assign commands to buttons via drag and drop. Any commands not in the data base can be learned and discrete commands for system macros can be found at remotecentral.com .

I am not sure what you mean by the "paying and paying cost of ownership for 3 years". You said you have had it for 1 day. What do you mean every time something doesn't work? The progamming on the remote will never change. If your hardware fails thats hardly the fault of URC. And if you choose to upgrade a component its obvious you will need to reprogram the remote. Again this is not a reason to blame URC. You are choosing to upgrade a component and part of that choice is reprogramming the remote.

I purchased the MX-880z and the MSC-400. Now I am thinking I should have went with the MX-980. What features and functionality am I losing not going with the 980?

IMO the only difference a typical user will notice is that the MX-980 does not have the full set of 8 DVR buttons. Its missing RECORD. You can put RECORD in the LCD area but it would have been nice to have it as a hard button with the other DVR buttons like the MX-880.

Also the MX-880 only has 6 soft keys and the MX-980 has 8. Really only 7 because you will need 1 of those for RECORD :). Also you will gain a charging cradle. The MX-880 has a charger like your cell phone, just a wire..

The MX-980 is arguably the best URC seller we have. The high resolution screen which offers the same 40x320 size in an MX-3000 combined with the hard buttons and slender style appeal to customers of all ages and backgrounds. This is not a touchscreen remote but it is VERY customizable because virutally every button can be programmed. The 880 does not allow you to program the WATCH and LISTEN buttons or substitute them with sticker labels like the 980 does.

Vincent

Buying a URC remote is the most stressful purchase I have ever made I know guys that work for microsoft that write complicated programs they couldnt deal with this MX980..


well, now we know why windows has so many issues... :rolleyes: :p

The MX980 is a very easy remote control to program, for anyone inclined to do such things. With regards to the software, a DIY simply needs to find a dealer that is willing to provide the software with the purchase, if they do not want to be dependent on a dealer for software.

+1... although there was a decent learning curve to the software, it's far from the most difficult coding structure in the world... getting a "functional" remote wasn't all that difficult... patience certainly helps...

what makes the mx-980 (and some of the other urc remotes) "cool" is that once you have a "functional" remote, you can then play with it endlessly so that everything works exactly the way YOU want it to... i love mine...

for a simple example, i have a background lighting "activity" to control my lutron switches that you can jump to from any other "activity"... all of the hard buttons in the lighting activity have macros behind them that (by use of variables) do different things dependent on where you came from...

there's more... much much more...

well, now we know why windows has so many issues.
Priceless!

Speaking of dealers I bought it from AV Science I am just glad I did buy it from them.

Refer to page 12 of the MX 980 manual scroll down to BATTERY LIFE: 120 minutes continous use, I called universal and they told me the same thing..Now we all know in reality nothing lives upto what the manufactures says in reagards to battery life whether its a cell phone, laptop etc.

Im guessing brand new battery on day 1 lasts 1h 45 minutes or so give and take since this being a lithium Ion battery we all know they will be close to half in a few months...Basically your down to about 50 minutes in about 8 months or so...
Say your watching NFL sunday ticket and your changing between games every 5 seconds or so your battery is dead in the 2nd quarter of the game...They have to come up with a better battery.......

URC should improve battery life and provide support for their products.

Post edited by mod: Personal attacks will not be tolerated in this forum. See the stickie at the top of the forum.

[QUOTE=ccotenj;17440545]

what makes the mx-980 (and some of the other urc remotes) "cool" is that once you have a "functional" remote, you can then play with it endlessly so that everything works exactly the way YOU want it to... i love mine...

QUOTE]

"Play with it endlessly" ..till the battery dies in no time.
Ive got a lot of better things to play with than URC remote.I dont wanna paint them all with the same brush just the MX 980.

Priceless!

i couldn't resist... it was sitting there right on a tee, waiting to be hit out of the park... :D

sargeant, i'm a diy'er, not a dealer/re-seller...

interestingly, i have had a better experience with battery life than you... i'm sorry that yours hasn't worked out so well for you... you might want to consider turning down the brightness of the screen (and the time it stays on)...

however, if it's the coding that's holding you back, you might want to try a harmony remote (there's also a urc wizard based remote)... that might be better for you... not everyone wants to deal with the nuts and bolts of coding... that's why it's good that there are different options available...

as you point out, there isn't any end-user support from urc... that's their business model... i personally think it's a good model, as it allows them to create software without worrying about making a pretty user interface (although ccp is pretty clean), and allows them to not have to spend a very large amount of money on a customer service team (and customer service is VERY expensive)... they only deal with people who "know how to use their equipment/software"...

you can either make it easy for an end user (like harmony does) or you can make it easy for a pro (like urc does)... neither is better, but both do have their positives...

I purchased the MX-880z and the MSC-400. Now I am thinking I should have went with the MX-980. What features and functionality am I losing not going with the 980?

Quick feature comparison:

The MX-880

Smaller screen, with 6 total buttons
limited to a total of 8 variables
limited graphics
Does not support if else statements
Does not support toggles


The MX-980:

Bigger screen with 8 buttons
Event Timer
unlimited variables
no graphic limitation
Supports If/Else statements
Supports Toggles


If you already own the 880 and have never programmed the 980, you will be happy with what you have. I like the layout of the MX-880 better then the MX-980.

My 2 cents..

The most frustrating thing for me when programming the MX-880 in the CCP is how obvious it is that they have intentionally disabled features and made things harder to do then they have to be. It’s a good remote but is severely limited when you compare it to a MX-980, especially when compare function to cost(retail or dealer). Like most things.. it comes down to personal preference and the functions desired. I have programmed and used both. It’s a no brainer decision for me but other people will probably disagree.

A typical scenario where a if else statement and variables are needed.
A general layout would consist of a page that allowed you to select a source. after you selected that source, you would be directed to another page that allowed you to control that source. If for whatever reason you wanted to navigate to a favorites page or activity page(lights,setup,etc), the only way to maintain hard button control for the currently selected source on that page would be to set a if else statement on each of the hard buttons that controlled whatever the currently selected source was. There are other ways of programming that would give you similar ability but would require a ton of duplicating.

I think of professional series remotes more of a central control unit than a remote control.

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I am not going to get a full understanding on the Pros and Cons until I start programming the remote. I was just on the fence on trying to exchange the MX-880z for a MX-980. Hopefully I will have some time this weekend to start playing with the software and programming the remote.

I would appreciate some more real world scenarios.

I hope your statement that it's an MX-880z is in error. If you have an MX-880z (not a regular MX-880), you can only use it with an MRZ-260. The "z" designates that the remote uses Zigbee RF, not the same as their regular remotes. You need a regular MX-880 or 980 to use with the MSC-400.

^^^
good catch mike...

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I am not going to get a full understanding on the Pros and Cons until I start programming the remote. I was just on the fence on trying to exchange the MX-880z for a MX-980. Hopefully I will have some time this weekend to start playing with the software and programming the remote.

I would appreciate some more real world scenarios.

the ability to use if/then/else constructs on the mx-980 is a major plus (see my lighting example in a previous post and the "typical scenario" that jbworks posted)... it's probably something that doesn't seem very important until you actually use it... but once you start to get past the "basic setup" of the remote and start to really customize it, it comes in wicked handy... you can really make it completely "idiot proof" if you are patient...

you can get really creative with how you do things... especially if you are a "tinkerer"... :)

according to the urc literature, the mx-980 also integrates "best" with the msc-400... i can't comment on how other remotes work with the msc-400, but i do know that it works really well with the mx-980...

i can't think of any "cons" to the mx-980... some don't like the lack of a hard "record" button, which is a fair criticism... since i don't require it for anything else, i just changed the "+10" hard button to be "record"...

unsolicited advice... before you start programming the remote, flowchart your processes... you'll find that there are many redundant functions that can be programmed as a single macro and called from multiple places... keep in mind that you have to tell the remote every single thing that needs to happen...

Regarding the remote choice, you're getting all of the advanced macro programming of the MX-980 in the MSC-400 (that's where the MX-980 got it from). So, don't use that to make your decision as regardless of which remote you get, you'll be programming macros in the MSC-400. As such, the choice comes down to the extras the MX-980 gives you in fully customizable graphics (including font size, color and type), a charging station (the MX-880 doesn't have one) and a different style and button layout.

Do you guys who program the 980 find that your previous experience was helpful in programming it?

I have a MX-700 and 800 and have programmed them for years. Is the 980 that much different? Also, can the 980 have it's software be installed on Windows 7 or is it still limited to just working on Windows XP like the 800 suite?

MTA: Can you also import devices from the 800 into the 980 as well?

Do you guys who program the 980 find that your previous experience was helpful in programming it?

I have a MX-700 and 800 and have programmed them for years. Is the 980 that much different? Also, can the 980 have it's software be installed on Windows 7 or is it still limited to just working on Windows XP like the 800 suite?



I programmed pronto remotes in the past, I found the MX-980 programming to be pretty easy.

Do you guys who program the 980 find that your previous experience was helpful in programming it?

I have a MX-700 and 800 and have programmed them for years. Is the 980 that much different? Also, can the 980 have it's software be installed on Windows 7 or is it still limited to just working on Windows XP like the 800 suite?

MTA: Can you also import devices from the 800 into the 980 as well?

I would like any input to these questions also.
Thinking about buying the 980, coming from a MX-800.
Thanks

Well the 880z is on the way back for Mx-980. And after a few good lessons I should be up and running.

Do you guys who program the 980 find that your previous experience was helpful in programming it?

I have a MX-700 and 800 and have programmed them for years. Is the 980 that much different? Also, can the 980 have it's software be installed on Windows 7 or is it still limited to just working on Windows XP like the 800 suite?

MTA: Can you also import devices from the 800 into the 980 as well?



I dont think you can import but the programming is pretty similar. If you can handle the MX-700 then you can handle all of URC's software and RTI and Nevo also IMO. Each is slightly different but once you wrap your mind around what your doing with one then all the others make more sense. My first application was Pronto Edit. When we first started doing URC it only took 2 days to learn and the RTI was even easier.

The biggest deal IMO is understanding your hardware and discrete commands. If you know how your wired and you understand what commands need to be sent to start up your system then you should be just fine.

Do you guys who program the 980 find that your previous experience was helpful in programming it?

I have a MX-700 and 800 and have programmed them for years. Is the 980 that much different? Also, can the 980 have it's software be installed on Windows 7 or is it still limited to just working on Windows XP like the 800 suite?

MTA: Can you also import devices from the 800 into the 980 as well?

Draven,

I have (3) MX-700 and have programmed (3) MX-980s. It took me about a week working a little every eve to get comfortable with the programming interface for the MX-980. The devices that use the same programming interface like MX-700 are the MX-900 and MX-950.

The new CCP software will work on Vista and Win7 without any issue.

You can import the MX-800 files into the MX-980 via the universal browser -- however you will need to manully drag each item over one at a time to the MX-980 remote. This isn't hard but will take some time depending on how many devices you have.

In the end the MX-980 has MUCH more power but with a little longer learning curve.

My customers MX 980 has all of the buttons lit up with nothing on the LED. Another tech at the store I bought it at said that he hooked it up to ccp and uploaded the program and then downloaded it and it all worked. BS it is in the same state that it was in before.
Any clue what to do about this phenomenon?

my mx 980 is lit up with nothing on the led. how do i get it to work? any ideas?

What do you mean by nothing? Is it just all white or a background picture with no button icons? When you press a button for one of the LCD softkeys does it send any commands?