Just looking for comments/review on this new remote.. :)

Look for reviews coming in Sept. - samples of them will be going out for review soon

Elbert, Thanks,

I went ahead and purchased one but have had nothing but problems.

1. the first one was defective. Monster over nighted one...Great job

2. The second would not update...spent two hours on the phone with reps from Canada and Calif. I was only able to get halfway. In the end the remote would not download my setups.

3. I am returning the remotes. Hopefully the bugs will be worked out in a few months and I might revisit. I own everything monster.

Thanks

So it looks like you have had 2 bad remotes of 2 yo bought, but yet your goping to buy another one soon....WHY?

Buy a real remote like a URC or RTI or UEI, or Pronto, get something that works, has people in the real world using them and can assist whan needed on this forum or www.remotecentral.com

Just my thoughts

if I bought something and it was bad, returned it to get another bad one...I would look at somthing different...even more since its new product

I ordered the Harmony 890. I guess I misspoke...Sorry

Sorry to hear about your issues and we've just been working on new updates to the site that has been causing compiler errors that you've been encountering. These updates are to the lighting and multi-room/multi system set portion of the site, which we wanted to have live right when the AVL300 launched. Unfortunately, it's been the source of these issues. Prior to the updates in the UI and features, the set up was fully tested for a single room system and was in consumer-ready state. I can't fault you for not wanting to bear with the changes and tests, but know that features and reliability are being addressed in parallel with each other.
The compiler error that you've been having is most likely tied toan individual model #s of a component that you have. I'm a skeptic when it comes to anything digitally related (IMO, ones and zeros don't always add up correctly), but we should have these issues ironed out within this week.
Good luck with your set up.
E

I ordered the Harmony 890. I guess I misspoke...Sorry

I have the Harmony 890 with no shame ... It works for me just fine.

Thought I would resurrect this thread.

I noticed Amazon has both Monster remotes (100 and 300 links below).

Wondered if anyone else has either of these, and any feedback? I didn't see much over at remotecentral. I guess it is somewhat based on Logitech/Harmony technology.

I am playing with a Harmony 720 and Philips 9800i, but still looking for the perfect remote (NOT a URC brand though).


http://www.amazon.com/Monster-MCC-AV100-Activity-based-Controller/dp/B000CQPFCU/ref=e_deav_acc_1_4/002-2672136-4964807?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/Monster-MCC-AVL300-S-Lighting-Controller/dp/B000CQP5YS/sr=8-1/qid=1157875123/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2672136-4964807?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

I am interested in this as well, but would like to see some reviews. I am surprised that there is nothing at Remote Central, not even a review, or any kind of discussion.

The remote sure looks pretty cool, and there have been enough problems with Harmony to make me consider trying this one instead. I also like the integrated lighting control, which is unique to this remote.

I am looking for an alternative to my URC, not because I don't love it, but because URC has taken the stance of screw the end user. :(

FYI - The AVL300 is going to be officially launched in limited National release in the upcoming weeks. There will be reviews in the upcoming months. Reviews will be ongoing as there will be more advanced lighting software releases to the AVL300 throughout the remainder of the year and early into 2007. Out of the box RF, mesh networked-based lighting provides control of individual lights, creation of multi-room lighting scenes and mapping of scenes to AV Component Activities.

The light products will also be merchandised with the AVL300 as well.

Thanks for resurrecting the thread.
Elbert

I got an AVL-300 a week ago. I've been living with Harmony remotes, especially the 676, for a couple of years, and was interested in z-wave control. When I got the AVL-300, I also picked up a couple of plug-in dimmers.

The Monster s/w looks like re-branded Harmony s/w -- no surprise. But it adds some lighting device and scene buttons I hadn't seen before. It was easy to add a z-wave dimmer device (the one that puts a glow on the wall behind my DLP TV), and a couple of scenes (Glow On, Glow Off).

When I set them up last weekend, the Glow On/Off scenes wouldn't work. I could define them and attach them to activities, but the activities didn't cause them to happen, and the scene buttons on the remote didn't fire them, either. I could control the device directly (on/off/bright/dim) but not via scenes.

Anyway, "Monster" customer support (Harmony, really) told me to wait a couple of days and update the remote, as the scene functionality was not quite ready. I did that on Friday, with some success: when I select 'Watch TV', the Glow On scene properly fires -- exactly what I wanted. All of my 'Watch' activities use the TV and engage the Glow On scene -- nice. The only problem is that there is no 'System OFF' activity to which I might attach the Glow Off scene, so I have to manually clean up the lights when I'm done for the night. Monster reports no weekend support hours, so I'll get to it sometime during this week.

Meanwhile, the remote itself is a bit of a beast. The volume keys are laid out left/right, not up/down; the menu/exit/guide/info keys are small, and use what looks like a 6-point font; the transport keys are arranged in sort-of a nav-pad circle around a select "key" that acts like a joystick (kinda like an MX-500). But the worst thing is, at the bottom of the remote, two tiny buttons marked (in maybe 4-point text!) 'page up' (the left-most one) and 'page down' (just to the right). So navigating an EPG is a two-handed, finger-cramping exercise.

Did I mention I think the industrial design is fugly? Or that I programmed my favorite channels, downloaded channel icons, tweaked them, and added them to my setup, only to find that the tiny 'fav' key (next to 'page down') doesn't function? Or that the sticker on the LCD (that depicts programmed activities for potential buyers in the store) left plenty of sticky residue that remains smeared over much of the LCD?

All-in-all, I may hang on to the AVL-300, but it's likely that my family & I will keep using the Harmony 676 most of the time.

I'll second that "fugly" comment.

I'll second that "fugly" comment.

Sometimes the fugly ones try harder ;-)

I also purchased the AVL 300 and have to say it is a dream to work with. It is actually better looking in person than picture....still a litte fugly. I have not had many problems although the software is not totally intuitive. I also am a Mac guy which makes it even harder as these things are always written for the PC world. It took about 3 hours to set up and tweak and it has worked flawlessly. I especially like the fact that you can direct certain pieces of equip to be operated by IR and certain ones to be operated by RF. This was a perfect solution as my AV controller ( Anthem) and my DVD player ( Marantz) were only partially in line of site. Once I updated both the controller and the Omnilink (RF receiver) everything worked as I hoped. Also have two lights controlled by the remote and after having been an X 10 junkie for years, these things are a whole other level. The only drawback is that I would like these lights to be my security lights in the living room as well and so far, there is no software update that allows you to program these lights (the ones tied into to the Monster remote) to go on and off at certain times. Once they get that together , it will be a total home run.

I'll second that "fugly" comment.

Wow! I thought the URC 3000 was like a leftover from the Star Trek set, but this thing takes the cake! "Fugly" doesn't begin to describe it.... Looks like a 6-year old designed the thing (or the same same guy responsible for the Pontiac Aztek:-)

You guys crack me up with the "fugly" comments. :) It's a remote for god sakes not a super model. hahaha Although I have to say this remote performs as good as a super model looks.

I've had the Monster AV100 since August 2006 and have not experienced any issues with it. It even controls my air conditioner and Sirius satellite radio. Setup was pretty easy via the website. It's a little weird sending all your components to a website. Now they know what's in your living room. (Big brother much?) :eek:

Battery charge will last 6-7 days with heavy remote usage. (TIVO during football anyone?)

Love the one-touch feature. Initially the one-touch didn't set my input properly on my TV, simply click the "help" button and it corrects itself. A monkey could figure this thing out it's so simple.

I scored this remote for $160. It's worth every penny and no I'm not a Monster fan. This is the only Monster product I own.