Recommend a remote to replace my URC-6131

1912 Views 28 Replies 15 Participants Last post by mdrlou, Mar 12, 2007

jschuman

Discussion Starter · Oct 12, 2006

I love, love, love the URC-6131. It has served me well these many years that I've owned regular old DirecTivos.

Sadly, I don't think it will be a perfect solution for me anymore:
- I'm just not sure IF the HR20 can be programmed into the URC-6131.
- There's no way to program some of the features of my new Panasonic Plasma into the 6131.

So......recommend me a new universal remote. Here are my requirements:

- It MUST be DVR-centric in its button placement. The URC-6131 is great in that the trick play buttons are conveniently located right where your thumb sits when you hold the remote.

- It must have learning capability so I can program features from other remotes onto it.

- Needs to control my HR20, Audio Receiver (Sony), DVD player (Panasonic), TV (Panasonic HDTV Plasma), CD player (Sony)

- Macro capability (I can live without this but it would be nice to have)

- Inexpensive. I simply can't shell out more than $40 or so for this remote.

Any help, suggestions are greatly appreciated!

- Jeff

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1 - 20 of 29 Posts

Rob55

· #2 · Oct 12, 2006

How about an MX-850 or 900 from URC?

Howie

· #3 · Oct 12, 2006

http://www.bluedo.com/bluedocgi/product.cgi?model=MX-500

It's a little more than twice your price range, but you won't regret it. I have 2 of them.

Rob55

· #4 · Oct 12, 2006

Oops, my recommendations are out of your budget. That's what I get for not reading your post fully before I replied.

jschuman

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 12, 2006

Rob55 said:
Oops, my recommendations are out of your budget. That's what I get for not reading your post fully before I replied.

Heh, I was just going to post that. Thanks anyway!

jschuman

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 12, 2006

Howie said:
http://www.bluedo.com/bluedocgi/product.cgi?model=MX-500

It's a little more than twice your price range, but you won't regret it. I have 2 of them.

Yeah, I've thought about the MX-500 - I don't know much about it except that people seem to be pretty happy with them. The price is a little high so that makes it tough - do they have a more inexpensive "version" (that maybe skimps on some of the advanced features?)

jschuman

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 12, 2006

Anyone have experience with the URC-R7?

http://www.universalremote.com/product_detail.php?model=47

EZ Ed

· #8 · Oct 12, 2006

Jeff I wouldn't give up on the 6131 I'm using mine to control a Panasonic Plasma, OPPO DVD, Yamaha receiver and Mistsubishi VCR. You'll need a modified 6131 a JP1 parallel cable for your computer and software. You can find information here: hifi-remote.com/ forums/

Ed

Howie

· #9 · Oct 12, 2006

I think that's about the oldest model in their lineup (I've had one of mine for over 3 years). All the newer ones are more expensive. The newer ones can be programmed from your computer, but the MX-500 can't, as far as I know. But it's easy enough to set up.

peridoc

· #10 · Oct 12, 2006

Here is a little better price on the MX-500 from a great source. The MX-500 rocks!!! Even my wife loves it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16880100601

jschuman

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 12, 2006

Thanks for the replies so far everyone!

Ed - Yes, I read about the JP1 stuff awhile back but kind of dismissed it as a little out of my league. I have very minimal soldering experience and it's sometimes hard to waid through the huuuge amount of info out there to figure out exactly what I would need to buy/get/do to make the 6131 JP1 enabled. I'll keep it in mind, though.

It looks like newegg has a fairly attractive price on the MX-500 - I'll have to remember that.

Either way, since I just got both the TV and the HR20 I'll probably hang back and just learn the box and get by with the remote(s) that I have for a little while. I'll keep my eyes open for other alternatives, though. (See that was the great thing about the 6131 - it's $10! Buying that was pretty much 0 risk

)

EZ Ed

· #12 · Oct 12, 2006

jschuman said:
Thanks for the replies so far everyone!

Ed - Yes, I read about the JP1 stuff awhile back but kind of dismissed it as a little out of my league. I have very minimal soldering experience and it's sometimes hard to waid through the huuuge amount of info out there to figure out exactly what I would need to buy/get/do to make the 6131 JP1 enabled. I'll keep it in mind, though.

You can buy a modified 6131 and cable for $38 plus shipping, software is free.

Ed

jschuman

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 12, 2006

EZ Ed said:
You can buy a modified 6131 and cable for $38 plus shipping, software is free.

Ed

Thanks! Another option to consider.

Edmund

· #14 · Oct 12, 2006

EZ Ed said:
You can buy a modified 6131 and cable for $38 plus shipping, software is free.

Ed

You can ship the 6131 off for an upgrade, have it back in a week. Cost only shipping to OH. Ask for sat codes SAT 1377 and if you get second HR20 or R15, get the AV1 codeset as well, with code 1378.

Remotes like URC R5, R7, RF10 or R20 all have preset code.

EMoMoney

· #15 · Oct 12, 2006

I really like my Logitech Harmony 680. It's the closest thing to the TiVo peanut remote regarding the button locations.

Twosted

· #16 · Oct 12, 2006

EMoMoney said:
I really like my Logitech Harmony 680. It's the closest thing to the TiVo peanut remote regarding the button locations.

I had the Harmony 659 for years. When I got the HR20 I upgraded the the Harmony 676 ($100 at Sam's club). It works great. Here is a thread with pictures of all of the Harmony remotes.

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-harmony/thread.cgi?4251

tstarn

· #17 · Oct 12, 2006

jschuman said:
Yeah, I've thought about the MX-500 - I don't know much about it except that people seem to be pretty happy with them. The price is a little high so that makes it tough - do they have a more inexpensive "version" (that maybe skimps on some of the advanced features?)

I have an MX-500 and it's fine. It's working great, and easy to program manually.

DJConan

· #18 · Oct 19, 2006

How about something like this: http://accessories.rca.com/en-US/modeldetail.html?maincat=Remotes&subcat=Universal+Remote&modelnum=RCR815

I bought mine at Walmart about a year ago and it works well with the HR20. I used it for my stand-alone Tivo before the HR20. It controls my audio receiver, DVD player and my TV as well. Backlit, learning, macros and a PVR layout were the things I was looking for. Even Best Buy carries these things for $15.99 and I believe this week they have 10% off remotes.

Oh yeah, it said something about this on the box or in the directions and I laughed at it...something about it being one of the most comfortable remotes to hold onto. Then I held it and laughed again, but I agree, it just fits in my hand better than any other remote I've used.

Just looking over RCA's website, here's another one that may be worth considering: http://accessories.rca.com/en-US/modeldetail.html?maincat=Remotes&subcat=Universal+Learning+Remotes&modelnum=RCU807. Although, it doesn't appear to be backlit.

I've never owned the 6131 and only know what I've seen in ads about them. A lot of people recommend the 6131 but from what I can see from the ads, it's not doing anything that the RCR815 doesn't do already, plus the RCR815 is backlit.

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rtphokie

· #19 · Feb 4, 2007

I've got a DirecTV HR-20, plus 2 Direct R-10 operating on different remote codes. All are in the same room.

I love the URC-6131 but cant find codes for the HR-20. Will an upgrade help this?

Would the MX-500 be a good choice for my devices? How well does the MX-500 handle macros (I'm particularly interested in automating turning on and off captioning on the HR-20 which takes 7 clicks).

jschuman

Discussion Starter · #20 · Mar 12, 2007

I just pulled the trigger on an MX-500 from newegg, so I'll report back how that works out for me (though I have no doubt it will be great)

1 - 20 of 29 Posts

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