Review: Universal Remote Control MX-6000

Universal Remote Control’s MX-6000

Complicated electronics made simple to command for any control freak with the URC MX-6000.

The more complicated your collection of A/V equipment, the more you need a universal learning remote control to corral all the commands. These days, for me, complicated means disparate.

My DVD player is a PlayStation 3 with a Bluetooth remote control. My VUDU box, for on-demand video, is an RF device. My TiVo HD uses an IR remote. Music comes from infrared-based sources: Apple TV, the Tivoli Audio Net Works radio for Internet radio, and a Delphi satellite radio tuner that I don’t have a remote for. My gaggle of remote controls speaks three different languages.

I didn’t realize how much I needed a universal remote until Jim Novak, senior product manager of Universal Remote Control, programmed the new MX-6000 ($2,100 with base station, programming not included) for this review. Using my pickup-sticks method of turning on A/V equipment using various remotes, I never can remember which video source goes into which TV input, and now I don’t have to. When I hit TIVO on the MX-6000 touchscreen, the TV switches to the right input, and the remote’s display shows buttons marked LIVE TV or LIST for recorded shows. If I tap VUDU, the TV switches to that input.

I found I wasn’t listening to XM Radio very much because I had to remember that XM was on the CD input (my receiver doesn’t have assignable inputs, so it’s hard to remember what’s plugged in where). I also had to bend down to the tuner module and press a button to turn it on. Novak found the IR codes for the Delphi tuner in the URC database and programmed them into the MX-6000. Now when I tap the XM logo on the touchscreen, the TV shuts off, the Delphi tuner module turns on to the last channel I was listening to, and the A/V receiver switches to the CD input where the Delphi is plugged in. The same thing with Apple TV. The MX-6000 knows that the Apple is plugged into the DVD input, and it makes the switch automatically when I hit the APPLE TV button.

The MX-6000 didn’t develop this intelligence on its own. It required a trained installer working with a PC program. “Remotes don’t do anything by themselves,” Novak told me as he painstakingly assigned command strings to macro buttons.

Just to get a video command to work correctly, he had to do trial and error commands to determine the number of seconds it takes my TV to boot up before it can accept a command to switch inputs. If the command to switch inputs is issued before the TV is fully on, the command won’t take. And in the case of the Tivoli radio, Novak had to take the credit card remote back to the lab to learn the button presses, particularly the quirky press-and-hold feature of the MENU button.

The MX-6000 has Wi-Fi built in, which gives it a path to the Internet. Down the road, the company promises RSS feeds such as news headlines, sports scores, weather and stock quotes directly to the remote. These can be read on the 4-inch display. The feeds weren’t available for our review at press time but are due by the beginning of the year. The Internet connection should also enable dealers to send product updates directly to the remote so that every time the cable company changes channels, dealers can remotely make the changes without making a house call.

I did experience the Wi-Fi in action with URC’s PSX-1 iPod dock and enjoyed the benefit of two-way communication. The MX-6000 has a scroll wheel that mimics the functions of the iPod wheel, but Novak also included buttons on the touchscreen to simplify access to music.

I’m particularly fond of the iPod shortcuts URC developed. Instead of tapping through numerous screens to get to the shuffle settings, for example, I touch the SHUFFLE button on the touchscreen, and up pops a palette full of shuffle options: album, artist, playlist, genre, all songs and jukebox songs. Thanks to the Wi-Fi network connection, I can see track, album and artist information—along with cover art—from the touchscreen.

The only device I’m not able to control via the MX-6000 is the Sony PlayStation 3, which uses a Bluetooth remote. At press time, URC was testing a prototype product from IR2BT that converts Bluetooth commands to IR, so there’s hope.

The MX-6000 is a valuable addition to an audio/video system and prices out accordingly. The device itself is $1,499, but with the programming and support gear required to make it run as smoothly as possible, the tag shoots closer to $3,000. You need an RF base station like the URC MSC-400 ($599) for RF control so you don’t have to be in line of sight of the components. And the PSX-1 iPod Personal Server is a must add-on at $349. Programming costs make up the balance.

According to Eric Johnson, vice president of technology at URC, there’s a correlation between age and the perceived value of a universal remote control. Buyers in their 20s and 30s tend to spend 10 percent of the price of home theater on remote control. Buyers in their 50s may spend as much as 30 percent of the total cost to simplify operation. Most people, we think, will find the MX-6000 to be worth its weight in gold. 

Product: Universal Remote Control MX-6000

Price: $2,100

Pros:

• Controls almost anything
• Programmable touchscreen
• Wi-Fi connectivity

Cons:

• Hefty price tag
• No Bluetooth control for PlayStation 3