Urc r50 - Page 3

I tried this with no luck. Here's what I did:

- created a new devide
- assigned a macro to "0" within this device to turn on my TV, satellite, AVR
- in the fav channel definition I entered "0828" (0 for the macro above and 828 for the channel that I want to tune to for the favourite)

When I hit the new FAV channel that I created it does not even perform step #1! If I go in to the device and hit "0" it performs all the steps that the macro should.

What am I missing here?

Hey guys, this is the only thread that I can find any information of tips on programing the R50 remote. I went from a Logitech 880 that crapped out on me after one year. I decided to go with URC considering all the good reviews, not expecting the macros difficulty I would have programing it.

After reading all the tips on this thread I have a few issues that I can't resolve. I set up on my first page all the activities that i use and all the main devices on the 2nd page.
Now I setup all the macros to which the main devices need to work together for one activity. My first problem is when I switch an activity, the devices that are already on turn off. Here is an example, all my devices are off and I choose a activity "My TV" therefore my tv, receiver, and cable box turn on. Now if I decided to switch to my Xbox activity option my TV turns off and receiver turns off and Xbox turns on. For the life of me I have tried everything and cant seem to find a work around. Same thing for the "Hard Off" activity, If the device is off and I press hard off everything on turns off and vice versa.

Please help me, I hope someone from this forum can give me some pointers. I've tried calling a tech on URC but I am constantly on hold and don't have the time to wait.

PLEASE HELP !!! THANKS

I figured I would add my 2 cents to this old thread. I've had for years a Pronto TSU3000 which is computer software based and you can create whatever you can imagine for your home theater system.

My friend had a Harmony remote which he had problems with --- first with remote cradle not charging and then a bad hard button so I decided to not get one of those.

Saw the URC 50 was 80.00 now and decided to get one of them. Setup was so easy and creating the macros after that was simple. Switching from watching uverse to any other hardware in my system was very easy. I was worried that it would not have uverse already in it's database but it did. It also had the WDTV too.

So if you're like me and still have older equipment this remote is for you.

I have manage to set it up for an activity on the main page for "watch Dish Network" and it goes and turns on my Dish receiver VIP221k, the Pioneer receiver VSX-01TXH, my TV Pioneer PDP-5020FD and changes the receiver to the SAT input and input 4. My question is how do you get the remote to turn the devices off?

...the same way (program a macro) you got them to turn on, but using the the power OFF button (sometimes the same as ON, sometimes different) for the devices. Remember, there's nothing that says you can't ADD a (programmed) "on" or "off" button to one of the device screens. FWIW, I never program "off" macros because I delete all power buttons from my remote: that way no one can accidently turn anything off. I never turn anything off unless I'm DONE watching/listening, so I have to get up anyway.

Hello

I have a pc case 3R System HT-3000 containing soundgraph imon.
As I think your control bad, because I almost have to touch in the pc case to make it work, I decided to buy a universal control, choosing the URC R50, this very good in quality construction and signal, different than the Imon pad that came in the HT -3000.

Everything was fine when I added in UR50 the Panasonic Plasma TV, the Receiver Yamaha, the cable TV, etc, until it reached in the imon...

Well, simply there isn't in the R50 database the SoundGrapher or nothing about the imon, so I decided to add the buttons manually (as I did with success in controlling of cable TV) using the tool "learning." Simply the codes "Play", "Pause", "Enter", "SPACE" using R50 not respond, although the process of "learning" it did with successfully .... The remaining buttons are seized, but with delay, a problem that does not occur in any other control.

I would like to solutions, as I enter a code to the UR50, or an alternative program (not imon) to put the commands manually, or I do not know what else ....

Thank you.

Anything?

Learning is your only option. Newegg has refurb harmony 300 cheap you can teach from. JP1 can be programmed with codes for teaching as well. Both are about $15.

Sometimes when a remote control won't 'learn' a device, it helps to try using a DIFFERENT remote which then can be used to teach the original (in this case the URC). This happened with my electric screen. For some reason the R50 wouldn't learn it, but I was able to teach an older remote which the R50 learned from. There's no real explanation for this behavior, but it happens.

Ok. I bought the Harmony 300i. Tks

Is there a device code list out there somewhere that matches the device codes in the R50 with actual manufacturer model numbers. It is extremely frustrating and time consuming to try and determine if a code is correct, or not. The testing process sucks.

The first device I tried to configure was my Kenwood receiver. I do not like constantly turning it on and off. I have no idea what the test "menu" and "up" buttons are supposed to do on this receiver. So, I could have found the code and not know it.

I've given up.

You didn't say which model Kenwood receiver you had (old/new?). You should be able to find a Kenwood preset that covers most of the functionality and then LEARN the rest. Receivers don't change that much; you don't need 100% coverage.

You are right, I should know better. It is the VR-309, which is older than the remote.

As mentioned, I do not like how the remote finds a device code, i.e., constantly turning the device on and off. The test function is useless, as least for this receiver. It is "menu" and "up." I have no idea what "menu" is supposed to accomplish. Of the several that I tried, it did nothing, so I gave up.

I wasn't going to continue with the power cycling.

And yes, for all of the devices that I have, only the needed functions were going to be programmed. In the case of the receiver; power, volume, mute, video input select and audio input select..

The lack of a real manual makes it real difficult in figuring out this remote. The quick start guide is a joke.

For example, in Basic Setup, you can select LEARN and then On the Main Menu. Just WTF are you teaching the remote? You have to select a device. Then what? How the Hell did Universal Remote think they could get away without having a real multipage manual.

When in learn mode, how do you program the buttons in the main handle of the remote, including the power on and power off buttons?

As for my Kenwood receiver, I gave up trying to teach it, as I didn't know how to program the main buttons. So, I just started going through the device codes, accepting each one as a pass and then loking at the buttons and if the set looked viable, tried one and if it worked tried others. It was pretty much a no-go for about 10 tries before I got a viable set. I avoided the constant power cycling of the receiver, plus the built in test is a joke.

By selecting On the Main Menu, and then choosing the key like ON, OFF, volume UP & Down, or MUTE.

If you were to teach to a key inside a device, you would chose Inside a device, then chose a device, and then a key to teach to.

OK, thanks. I was under the impression, for some reason, that one would select one of the devices.

I just did a copy-n-paste of the volume group to the main buttons.

I have other devices, a bunch to set up. Having a device code list would really help.

Check at Remote Central file area under remote manuals for such URC models as mx-350, mx-650, RF10, RF20, and RF30. They all use the same 3 digit codes, just newer codes in the R50 won't be there.

User manuals are also available at the URC site. Problem is that the R50 has 4 digit codes.

UPDATE: I just looked at the RF-20 manual and the code list is useless. It just lists the numbers for the various manufacturers, not what each code corresponds to in regards to model numbers. Plus, the code that I have currently set for my receiver, isn't even listed (ignoring the leading zero).

OK, I have a Samsung OTA DTV tuner that I use to tune on the local OTA DTV channels.

I've discovered a bug in that you can't change the icon image when doing learn mode. Dumb.

I also discovered than when device buttons are hidden, the location on the screen is left blank, instead of filling in the blank spots with unhidden images. That resulted in my receiver having two pages of buttons when they would have all fit on a single page.

IMHO, whoever designed this remote wasn't thinking very clearly.

No remotes manual shows model # of components, only computer programmable remotes have that on the computer screen.

The R50 adds zero to the codes making them four digit codes, so you would just add zero to the front the codes in the RF20 manual.

Well, that's not very helpful. That is why the company should release a list of the codes and what models they pertain to on their website. Kinda like another remote company we know.

I was very shocked to discover that the R50 actually had my two satellite receivers in the database., yet the remote would not learn from either remote. It was after trying to learn that I discovered that they were in the database.

Yet the old Samsung OTA DTV STB is not. Or at least I do not know what category it is under. I just found it under SAT. But what is there is definitely not for this particular device. There should be several pages of buttons for this OTA DTV tuner.

Remember, you can always edit/delete/learn buttons within a device once you select it (I believe this procedure was outlined a few posts ago). Also, you can always 'daisy chain' learning remotes when you can't teach the R50 directly (I've had this happen with other learning remotes as well). Bottom line: while the lack of 'step-by-step' instructions may be frustrating, there isn't anything I haven't been able to setup with the URC-R50.

Not that I've found. I went looking thru the past pages and saw nothing about modifying an existing device that was pulled from the database.


True, only if you have more than one universal remote.


The learning curve is massively increased without a manual.

They've not responded to my contact e-mail yet.

I unhid the three buttons on the right (for the AMP) and taught them the three button functions that I wanted. Now the most used 5 buttons are on the first page of the AMP.

Now to go play with macros, using the excellent instructions on the getting started guide. Oh wait, there are no instructions on how to build macros, it only says what macros can do.

can anyone sayif this controller is for me?
its my first nice universal and i was trying to decide between thr r50 and the harmony 650.
any opinions would be great

There's really no way anyone can tell you which one would work for you since we have no way of knowing what your particular requirements are.

Does the button layout fit your exact needs? Are there enough buttons for you?

Would you prefer a PC-based setup (650) vs a Learning setup (R50)?

You should read up on the 650 and R50 (as well as the newer R40) and see which one fits your needs the best. Maybe none of em do.....

Personally, after a trying a few Harmony remotes in the past 3 years and not being able to get them to do everything i needed them to do, i went back to my trusty old URC MX-500 learning remote.

I was going to upgrade to the R50 but i didn't quite like the shape of it nor the way it felt in my hands, but then they replaced it with the new R40 which is functionally almost the same (with a few different features), but with a better design and a few more buttons and i really like it a lot. I now have it controlling 8 devices with several macros to switch between them all and so far it's working out perfectly.

cool thanks - ill check out the r40

R40 $150 sorry really nice but to much. Still confused about the harmony 650 and r50 as far as fit finish and feel, oh and ease of use

Ease of use is about the same. Ease of programming is better on harmony. Hardware is better on URC. There's a huge detailed review on remotecentral. You can put your hands on both at best buy.