JP1 Remotes

Would anyone care to compare/recommend the JP1 flavors (for example, RS-15-2116) against theUSB-Web-programmed Harmony SST-668? I own the 15-2116, but the wife finds it too cryptic.

Round these parts, the answer is a slam dunk, the JP1 remote would win, but if you were to ask over at the AVS forum you'll find alot of support for the Harmony.

Cryptic is the word for all buttons (has no WAF) and almost impossible to use is the word for all touchscreen.

After researching and having used JP1 for quite a while and having a TC1000 for a long time, I narrowed choices to the Home Theater Master and the Harmony. I am now the proud owner of a Home Theater Master MX850. With an upgradeable code base and a pretty slick programming interface the 850 works for me. The new center select went a long way too. And now the labels are really for a physical button that my lovely wife cannot miss as she could with the TC1000 touchscreen.

I was really scared off by the Harmony need to use some specific website for programming. For example, let's say that Harman Kardon had made me use their website to program my TC1000. Well that would certainly be a life limiting option. Their support for the product went away many years ago. I can still program that remote using my computer. And I am not comfortable with what I read about how long it takes to customize even the most simple of things with the Harmony. They assume they know how you want to use the device.

JP1 has every capability of any computer programmable remote from my knothole. But without the ability to label buttons. For me the JP1 remotes are really only good for a simple system. Once I get to my home theater with only six components the JP1 remotes just don't have enough macro capability nor can I label the macros with words to the effect SAT to DVD or whatever. For my dads system the new 8811 I bought from Rob will be the perfect remote. And when I tell him M4 does something he writes it down on his little cheat sheet and eventually as he uses the system that piece of information becomes a part of his routine.

No matter what you do, keep a JP1 around for learning and developing new devices. It is the slickest interface for that. Once you have the JP1 upgrade you can port that over to the pronto system and usually import that into other systems.

In the under $50 category the JP1 wins hands down feet up and every which way but loose.

Whatever you do, do not get a remote that you cannot program some way with a computer. Button pushing on the remote and scrolling thru menus etc. will never get you where you want to be if you wife is to find it not too cryptic.

The Robman wrote:Round these parts, the answer is a slam dunk, the JP1 remote would win, but if you were to ask over at the AVS forum you'll find alot of support for the Harmony.

After Tenet and the missing WMDs, "slam dunk" has gotten a certain odor...
In any event, although I am impressed with what I could do with the 15-2116 (control a Yamaha Home Theater with a reciever and dvd player, a vcr, tv, and a dvr), the inability to label buttons, and the insufficient number of buttons is a problem. The DVR remote alone has 12 special purpose buttons that I cannot find on the 2116!

That's a limitation of the 15-2116 rather than the concept of JP1, if you want to work a PVR the URC-6131 PVR remote is a very good choice.

But, as with any hard buttoned remote, you have to have the mental ability to figure out how to program buttons that don't have a logically labelled button ready for them when you use a JP1 remote. If this is going to be a problem, then a remote like the MX-500, the Philips Pronto and maybe one of the Harmonys is the way to go. If you have the ability to find logical button placements even when there doesn't appear to be logical buttons available, then a good JP1 remote is the way to go, because you can probably make your JP1 remote do alot more than any of those other remotes, and for a tiny fraction of the price.

venik wrote:The DVR remote alone has 12 special purpose buttons that I cannot find on the 2116!

Are those commands that are used everytime you use the DVD? I find that many of the less-used or obscure commands can often be left out of many upgrades. When they must be available, shifted buttons always come in handy.

Rob recommended the MX500 which is one of those remotes where you have to use manual button pushing for every step of the programming. For just a few dollars more you can get the MX700 which can be programmed with essentially the same program my mx850 uses. Download the MX700 programming software and manual. Update the code base and see just what is available. Set up the pictured remote with all your devices. Just see if the keys you describe are there in the many pages of keys. You can do everything you need without even buying the remote. You can essentially "use" it right on the screen to see how the macros work, what the screen looks like, how you want to arrange the special buttons. etc.

I had my program all written in two flavors before I ever saw the remote.

Rob, I take it that the URC-6131 is JP1 compatible? It seems like a good suggestion, although it is ironic that a $10 6 device remote will do better than an 8 device remote. I am making a lot of progress with upgrading the 15-2116 for the Panasonic DMR-85H, but the dearth of (labeled) buttons is still an issue.

Mark, Some of the functions are not used every time, but if I have to keep the original remote for occasional use, it defeats the purpose or a ine-4-all, doesn't it?.

Spooky, where is the web site where I could play with the MX700? I might try that for my wife, although I think their prices are ridiculous, especially when compared with the $10-$30 prices of excellent JP1 remotes.

Thanks for all your help--

Here is the MX 700 page. You can download the editor program from there. I found an MX700 shipped on ebay for $174 with two year replacement warrantee. Did not buy that I went for the MX850 since it had better usefulness for my lovely wife.

http://www.hometheatermaster.com/htm/mx700/index.html

And take a good look at the 6131 there are not enough spare buttons for me for macro heaven. Shift buttons would never work with my lovely wife.

venik wrote:Rob, I take it that the URC-6131 is JP1 compatible? It seems like a good suggestion, although it is ironic that a $10 6 device remote will do better than an 8 device remote.

Are you kidding, have you seen how many 6131 related posts there are here? The store bought version of the URC-6131 is not JP1 compatible though as it's missing a couple of vital parts, so you'd need to get the URC-6131 from me if you want the JP1 ready version. If you've seen a $10 listing for the URC-6131 somewhere, I can guarantee you that this is the non-JP1 version.

But just to give you an idea of the URC-6131's popularity, I sell it for $23 compared to the URC-8811 which I sell for only $19 and I easily sell 10 times as many 6131s as 8811s.

If you do end up considering the HTM remotes, before you commit to spending multiple hundreds of dollars on one of the high-end models, be aware that you can indeed update the MX-500 using a homegrown process (much like JP1) with a device called the IRClone.

As for the lack of spare buttons on the 6131, I agree that they would be useful (and the 15-2116 also suffers from a lack of spare buttons), but I think the shift idea is being short changed here.

In my humble opinion, the best place for "system on" macros is on the shifted device button in question, so pressing shift/DVD should fire up the system ready to play a DVD (for example). Shift/power should be a global all-inclusive "power off" macro. Assuming that your device support discrete codes, of that you've found workarounds for the ones that don't, this should be possible.

Thanks, Spooky. I did download the MX700 editor and was impressed. Those lovely wives sure costs a lot of dough... But would it be more fun to marry an engineer?

I am gonna look for one who is an engineer next time.

And yes the MX500 can be programmed using the IRClone. But together they cost more than an MX700.

If you like the MX700 be open to the MX850. Sure its a few more bucks, but it is useful with an RF extender. I might just put the RF into service to reduce remote waving errors during macros.

The RF IS appealing, but the idea of strapping those IR blasters on each device (I have 6 in my rig)-- won't it look like a spider web? The lovely wife will be fit to be tied, and I am not into that...

I was just thinking of putting the transmitting face of the MX250 pointing toward the cabinet.

I did some testing tonight. I can point the MX850 backwards through the door into another room and the signals work. So I will be able to reserve the RF for more mundane tasks like operating the DTivo when I want to capture video to the computer in another room. I may still use the MX250 without the spider arrangement.

Rob,
I guess that Great Minds Think Alike, since the way you propose programming the 2116 is exactly the way I did program it about a year ago. I find it usable, but my wife seems refractory to the multiple functions that a given button (for example, ENTER) has, depeding on what preceded it.
In addition, the storage area for keymoves is almost full, and some of the PVR functions are still not implemented. I can live like that, especially since the PVR has some general FUNCTION menues that can be navigated with the arrow keys.
The question is not really: "Can it be done?" but rather "Can it be done CONVENIENTLY?"