Edit: I've overcome some of the learning issues - see the rest of the thread.

This is a bit long winded, so for those with 8 second attention span, I'll put the final verdict right here on top (spoiler alert of sorts - skip to the next paragraph if you want to read the review before getting to the conclusion). I love my MX-900, it's a pleasure to use - ergonomic, easy, intuitive, flexible. But the software is buggy, the IR database is utterly useless, and the learning is a pain. None of these minuses are show stoppers, though the learning comes close.

Until recently I owned a Pronto TSU 3000. Although the concept of an entirely customizable touch screen seemed cool at first (especially to me, a bit of a control freak when it comes to electronics), the downside I didn't see is that... an entirely customizable touch screen needs to be customized. That's a lot of work if like me you're never willing to settle for just 'good enough'. As a result, I never got my system completely working. Especially since every addition was met with sneer by my significant other - it was never intuitive or simple enough to use. Design is not easy!

So - I started looking for a hard button remote. I read a lot of reviews and user impressions. All touch screen remotes were out of the picture from the get-go of course (nevo, rti, pronto), but finding a hard-button I would like proved harder than I thought. A quick look at many of them showed unintuitive button layouts, awkward shapes or even missing buttons. For instance, many manufacturers have apparently decided that you don't need anything other than FF and REW; skip forward and backward are for losers I guess, or for those stupid PVR users. And who needs next/previous chapter buttons when watching DVDs? No one, that's who! (Sigh) Seriously, I just don't get this.

I realized I was going to need some degree of customization - a series of buttons at the top labeled "TV" "DVD" "VCR" and so on would obviously not cut it. I came across the MX-900 review at remotecentral and I was sold. The MX-950 was a bit out of my price range and required some graphical work, something I wanted to get away from completely. MSRP on the MX-900 is $449, and that's awfully steep. Fortunately it's not that hard to find it for about half that price from an authorized retailer. To be honest here, that's about what I feel it's worth. I wouldn't pay more than that. This is a powerful remote, but these days which remote isn't? As far as I'm concerned, I paid for a very nicely designed and ergonomic piece of hard plastic - not for the run-of-the-mill electronic components inside.

The MX-900 has most or all the buttons that you'd ever need, or at least that I'd ever need :). The remote itself is comfortable, ergonomic: your fingers will never have to move too far to find a button. A little clicki-er feeling would have been nice - sometimes I think I pressed a button, but I didn't. This happens rarely though, and the buttons feel pretty good overall. They're not mushy, but a bit more feedback would have been nice.

What makes this remote highly customizable without it becoming a programming nightmare is the LCD screen - it contains 6 lines, each associated with a hard button on the side of the screen (plus an additional line at the top for the name of the current device, and a line at the bottom indicating the page number within the device.) Each of these lines can be set to a string of up to 7 characters, all uppercase letters, or numbers, plus a limited mix of preprogrammed symbols (of the "arrow-like" variety). This seems limiting, but once you realize you don't have to worry about GUI design, and that the MX-900's device/page structure pretty much dictates the blueprint for the control of your system, all you've got left to do is go ahead and implement it. A big plus if, like me, you're into movies more than into tweaking.

What about that structure? Well, typically the top level (the one you get by pressing the 'LISTEN' or 'WATCH' button) will contain a list of your devices. Pressing the associated button will take you to that device's pages. The buttons there will represent functions of that device - for example, you'll want an EJECT for your dvd player device since it doesn't exist as a hard button.

Of course, this being a modern universal remote (not talking about the brand here), it can do the obvious; any button (LCD side or not) can be associated with one or more commands (macros), trigger jumps to other pages, etc. And once you'll get all this working, the remote just gets out of the way, and lets you enjoy your system. What more could you possibly ask for?

...

Well. How about better software? The issue here is getting to the afore mentioned point of just enjoying your system. You will sweat a little. Fortunately the program is not hard to use: even if you have some pre-learned habits *cough*ProntoEdit*cough* you'll shake them in no time. It is far from bug free though. Mostly visual bugs, but they're annoying. For example, associating a button with a code from the supplied IR database involves a drag and drop from the database window to the button on a representation of the remote. First issue; you start dragging the code and a little post-it like icon appears. But it disappears when your cursor touches the remote! It's disconcerting. The first couple times that happened I thought I wasn't doing something right and had lost the IR code I was trying to drag. Anyhow. Then, when that's done, a small red dot appears on the button to indicate an associated IR code... sometimes. It will eventually appear if you go to a different page and come back, or refresh in some manner (click another button and back). Again, not a big deal, but annoying: it looks like the association didn't occur. But sometimes it works. Hmmm.

Then there's the IR database. Oh boy. Last update was 9/24/07. When did the Toshiba XA2 come out? A year ago or so? It's not in there. Oppo 980h: not in there. Outlaw 950 (yes I'm listing my own equipment): in there, but... weird. Let me explain. If you find a device you own in the db, you can let the program create that device for you, it'll associate the codes with the buttons and create LCD pages for all the extra commands. That's the theory anyway. In practice, this doesn't work well because you'll have to go back and reorganize the LCD pages to your liking - most of the time it seems the commands were just thrown in there at random. And named at random: what the hell is FAPT1? I don't have this on my 950, and if I do that's not what it's named.

But let's say you find your device (by the way, the 950 is the ONLY Outlaw device in there...). Should you let the program use the IR data and organize the device for you? I'd say... "No! God No." Almost every instance of a device I could have used had commands that didn't work, were mislabeled, or switched (ex: page up was page down, and vice versa), and that renders the whole IR database pretty much unusable. Reading the manual, it seems Universal Remote Control (the company) is counting on its network of custom installers to update the IR database; they explicitly ask to be sent missing devices as MX-900 files so they can integrate them in the db. Looking at the incredibly sloppy data, this doesn't speak very highly of URC or its installers.

If by using the IR db you're going to have to reorganize and relabel the screens, and test every single command, wouldn't it be faster to start from scratch and just learn the damn thing from the original remote? Answer: yes, it is, despite the pain that is learning with the MX-900. At this point, a caveat: I am wondering if I have a defective unit when it comes to learning, because it is so. Freaking. Hard. I've had to learn every command at least twice on average. At least - in fact I believe it's closer to at least three times. And even though repeated codes should be learned automatically, this just isn't happening for me. I *never* had issues like this with the Pronto. My advice: test as you go.

Conclusion: a great remote. Once you get used to the little bugs in the program, and manage to learn the codes you need, you will find yourself with a very usable, and family-friendly remote control. The device itself is highly recommended, but it would be nice if URC could get its act together on the program and the IR database - the state of the latter is simply unexcusable.

Most of your complaints are learning curve complaints. Lol, you'll get better w/ practice.

No 980, use the 971 or 981. They even have the discretes in there. Same w/ the Toshiba.
Did you know there are generic codesets on the bottom?

It is definitely not faster to learn. You can also easily rearrange the buttons to be more productive on the first page.

Did you make any good macros?

You should always test the buttons.

I think it was just a bigger bite than you expected. Just keep chewing.

I'm not sure I'll "get better" - I'm really starting to thing something's wrong with the learning on my unit. Again, I've some experience with the Pronto and never had those problems. I absolutely cannot get repeating codes to work for example.

Anyhow, to answer your questions;
- yes I realize the 971 or 981 might be the same code base, but it goes back to what I said in the review: I just don't trust the IR database at this point.
- yes, macros aplenty. Ah, the joys of turning everything on or off at once! As I said, once you get it working, the remote is a joy.
- I learned the hard way about 'always testing', that's what I do now.

I guess starting from scratch or using the IR db will be a matter of preference in the end, but I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. For a product whose main target is custom installers, I still find the lacking db a bit hard to swallow.

Nine times out of ten, a similar model number to your missing one will work. You only need to try one command from it to find out. The 981 is the same as the 980. The primary concern when updating the database is to add codes that aren't already in there under a different model number. As manufacturers seldom change codes from one year to the next, the previous model numbe rusually works. Also, you can either use the database assignment of buttons, then drag and drop them in the button editor, or, you can use the IR database navigator and drag the commands in individually.

Learning repeating codes usually requires that you hold down the button on the original remote while learning. The other way is to "flutter" the button (rapid pushes) while learning. You could also look for a Pronto CCF or other MX file on remotecentral.com to use with the Universal Browser. Hope that helps.

Make sure you check out the URC forum at Remotecentral (www.remotecentral.com). There is a files area where you can find lots of codesets from a variety of manufacturers.

I do agree that the URC database is a joke, particularly at the $$ URC charges for its products.

But, there is always remotecentral, where you can find WORKING:-) configurations for many brands, created by you and me....

Nine times out of ten, a similar model number to your missing one will work. You only need to try one command from it to find out. The 981 is the same as the 980. The primary concern when updating the database is to add codes that aren't already in there under a different model number. As manufacturers seldom change codes from one year to the next, the previous model numbe rusually works.

Mike, I realize that maintaining such a db is a non trivial task. Regardless, there seems to be very little QA going on. Case in point: my cable box, the uber-common model DCT-6200, has four "power" commands in the db. Two identically named "power", one "power on" and one "power off". Why? The power buttons are the same toggle command duplicated, and the on and off simply don't work - there is no discrete on/off for the DCT-6200. So I'm sorry, but seeing three useless commands for the single most important aspect of any given device (the power commands) does not exactly inspire confidence re: the rest of the commands.

I will try the "flutter" thing, thanks for the tip. :)

I have finally managed last night to get repeating codes for my PVR's navigational buttons! Yes!

The only thing I did differently was that I let the MX-900 lay on a surface while holding the PVR remote. Previously I was holding both. That's my guess as to why it worked anyway. I didn't have to 'flutter' as Mike suggested, just press and hold (I did try the flutter and it just made the MX-900 learn to repeat the command as many times as I had pressed the button during learning... weird.)

I must say this is a big thorn OFF my side :)

Also, the MX-900 editor has two learning modes; simple and double. The double makes you repeat the command - I find this is needed most of the time.

Since I was overall very negative on the software, I must say there is an aspect to it that is very convenient; the testing. You can test directly from the editor right after learning a command as long as you keep the MX-900 plugged into your pc via USB, but in fact downloading to the remote is so quick that it's also a viable alternative for testing a bunch of buttons you just learned if you want to do it directly from the remote (as opposed to clicking the test button within the editor).

The testing function is a carryover from some of the early mx-editors such as the mx-700 or mx-850. These remotes use a serial connection vs a usb connection. The download times are much slower then on one of the current remotes, therefore making the test functions much more useful. You are right though, with the 900, just download and test is easier.