I still remember my wife telling me with great sincerity that I had made the single greatest upgrade to the home theater setup in our den. It wasn't an HDTV, a subwoofer, a separate power amplifier, or a new set of speakers. It was a universal remote control. My first exposure to a universal remote from Universal Remote Controls (URC) was the OEM version of the SL-9000 that came with my Outlaw Audio Model 950. Prior to that, I had used a Yamaha learning remote (included with my Yamaha receiver in 1997), a UEI Catalyst48 universal remote (included with my Outlaw Audio Model 1050), and a Sony RM-AV2100 (Christmas gift from a friend) before deciding to try out the remote that came with my Model 950. I've been using URC remotes in the den ever since then.

I had planned to order the remote and its RF base station after selling off a couple speakers, but a fall on Memorial Day left me restricted to moving with a walker and not driving for three months (I recommend against breaking your femoral neck clean through). As a result, the logistics of getting 70lb tower speakers photographed, advertised on Audiogon, packed up, and shipped out became more than I was ready for. Eventually, I gave in and ordered the remote and base station one Sunday morning anyway. After a month with my limited mobility, I felt like I had a reasonable chance of being able to work out how to set up the RF base station with minimal assistance from the family, and my wife told me to just go ahead and order it. I ordered the MX-900 and MRF-260 on a Sunday morning and had the package in my hands that Thursday, which was not too shabby for transit from California to Tennessee.

The look of the remote itself was initially something of a change, since I'd been using a remote with the basic shape of the MX-500 for around five years. The straight sides with triangular notches above and below the volume/channel controls combined with the changes to the LCD screen (one column of buttons instead of two) to represent quite a change considering that the basic concept (buttons with editable LCD labels at the top and buttons with permanent labels below) was the same. Once I had it in hand, though, I found that it was not as much of a change as I'd suspected. The buttons had a good feel to them and the shape allowed me to have pretty easy one-handed use of the remote.

The MRF-260 was where I had my first real shock: it was tiny. The pictures left me with an image of something like a 802.11 wireless access point, and I'd skipped over the scale cues offered by the rear panel emitter jacks (1/8" headphone jacks). In reality, the entire device sat in the palm of my hand. Since this is a component that is going to need to get shoe-horned in somewhere out of sight – part of the point of changing from IR to RF, typically – the MRF-260's small size is a good thing.

The process of researching the MX-850, MX-810, and MX-900 actually yielded a nearly complete configuration file for the MX-900. I did a little fine-tuning on it while waiting for the remote to travel cross-country, and by the time the MX-900 arrived I had a file ready and waiting for it. (It helped that I'd been using an MX-700 for years, and along the way I'd set up every device I wanted to control in an MX-700 file somewhere.)

Since I'm using the MX-900's RF capabilities, I also needed to set up an RF base station. In my case, that means the MRF-260. Setting up the RF base station itself is straightforward: set the address (0 to 15) using a small dial on the back, plug it in, and connect some IR emitters. In some cases, you may need to adjust the variable output emitters if the emitters are overpowering the IR sensor and causing inconsistent behavior. You'll also need to remember what address you selected, and if you have multiple base stations serving different equipment you will probably want to put each on a different address. You can also use the base station's built-in IR emitters in some cases by aiming the emitters at a rack of equipment. In my case, the built-in emitters are sending lots of commands to an otherwise empty shelf. You will also need to set up the MX-900 to work with the base station, though. Each device can be set to transmit IR only, RF only, or both, and each device that will be sending RF will need to be assigned to the right base station (defined using a name of your choosing that you then associate with the address you picked). I set my devices to send RF only in most cases, with just the devices that weren't tied to the IR distribution system or RF base station getting set to output IR. My reasoning there was that it was more efficient for battery life to send only one signal with each button push. That brings us to the MX-900's software.

The MX-900's software will take a newcomer some time to master, but it offers a great deal of power once some of the central capabilities are understood. The MX-900 benefits from URC's routinely-updated database of equipment IR codes, but I have long preferred to handle much of my remote setup by directly learning codes to buttons. For numbers, volume, transport controls, and a few commands like that, it can be a bit more effort than just using the database, but for other commands (especially all of those commands that will end up on the LCD screens) learning allows me to locate and label each command in the manner that best suits my needs and tastes. The MX-900's learning function avoids a problem that I had at times with the MX-700: it requires to you send the signal twice to verify that it learned it properly. This avoids those cases where the remote picked up some sort of signal but not quite the exact signal that was needed, thus leaving you with a useless learned command.

I've enjoyed using the MX-900. It probably helped that I had the programming largely done before it even arrived, so I was able to go straight to using it (the beloved "instant gratification" that is rare when dealing with universal remotes). There is an inevitable learning period, when your fingers re-learn where commonly used buttons like mute, info, pause, and menu now reside, but the layout is sensible enough and similar enough to the MX-700's that the process was relatively painless. The balance and feel of the remote are comfortable, and I have been pleased with the overall feel of the buttons.

After all of the work involved in programming the remote, actually using it is almost anti-climactic. In our system, you start out at the main page and can press the "On" button to fire up the entire system for cable TV viewing (the default starting point because that's what the family is most likely to want to do). In addition, each device has a macro set up for the "Off" button that will shut the entire system down (including all components associated with that initial "On" macro as well as whatever device is currently being used and any other components that have discrete "off" commands). The TV will also be left in a state that works for TV viewing (both input and aspect ratio control). I've got devices grouped two ways. "Watch" includes the trusty old VCR, the DVD recorder, the HD-DVD player, the Blu-ray player, the OPPO 983H DVD player, and the cable box, with a few other less-used devices tucked away on page 2 (kitchen TV, HDMI switch, den lights, HDTV, and the SMS-1 subwoofer EQ). "Listen" includes the surround processor (which rarely gets controlled directly), the living room two-channel music system (with both the RR2150 and 980H combined on a single device), the AM/FM tuner, the Roku Labs SoundBridge network media player, OPPO 983H multichannel analog output (for SACD and DVD-Audio playback), and the OPPO 983H digital output (for CD playback). Simply by pressing "On" that first time, macros allow you to subsequently simply select the devices you want to use and let the RF signals make any necessary adjustments (turn devices on, change inputs, and so forth). If I want to access a device page without changing the system, I press and hold the device button and after a second or so the MX-900 will change to that device without sending any signals. In addition, there's a "FIX TV" button on each video device page that has two macros: a "press" that sets the TV to the correct input and a "press and hold" that turns the TV on or off. Since moving to the RF system, we've not needed these, although I use the "press and hold" at times to turn the TV off when trying to get our daughter into bed in the evening (that and mute or pause can simulate a complete system shutdown while still leaving the system running). The RF control has basically eliminated issues with aiming during long macros, which has been great. It has also been good for pausing or re-starting shows from a distance (such as from the kitchen or hallway) when wandering through the house on my walker or sitting at the dinner table. The one thing to be cautious of is unintentional button presses when the remote is in a pocket or between couch cushions, since the RF signal is oblivious to such obstructions. The simple solution there is to switch to a non-RF device if you are walking around with the remote (I've been using the kitchen TV device when carrying the remote in a pouch on my walker) and "press and hold" to change back to the active device when you need to do something. It has taken a bit of getting used to the idea that aiming isn't required, and we still sometimes point the remote toward the TV when using the remote. It doesn't hurt anything, but it is sort of funny to see that familiar habit linger.

I got the MX-900 primarily for the RF ability, and in that regard it has been an excellent purchase. In addition to that, however, the MX-900 has also been a great remote in other ways. It has passed the spouse test. My wife remains convinced that a good universal remote is essential to any sort of home theater setup, and she continues to like URC remotes. I didn't need to make many adjustments to the MX-900 programming to help her, as previous refinements on the MX-500 and MX-900 seem to have covered that. The RF ability was a huge hit with her, as it was with me, and the narrower shape seems to have fit her hand well. It's a minor thing, but the bright blue backlight also seemed to score some "cool factor" points with her. The fact that using the remote has been something of a non-event for the family speaks well of the remote's usability.

As much as I like the MX-900, there is one clearly critical aspect of that liking: I invested a fair bit of time getting my configuration file just right. Granted, the hours involved would have been much reduced for a less complex system – and most home theaters are less complex than mine, which includes a DVR cable box, four optical disc players, a VCR, a network media player, a subwoofer EQ unit, and an HDMI switch all connected to a surround processor – but there's also some learning curve to factor on for the MX Editor software. That process can be a bit daunting the first time you attempt it, and it is potentially frustrating if you are trying to tame a really complex system. The cost of hiring someone to set an MX-900 up for you is likely to exceed the cost of the remote itself, so folks need to be sure they are ready to tackle the programming or pay to have it done for them. This is why I have included an older copy of the software with this review, as it will let people look over the software and get an idea of how the programming process works. I think that doing the programming yourself is beneficial in the long term: it insures that the setup is one that makes sense to you (rather than making sense to someone else and potentially being counter-intuitive to you) and it allows you to easily make adjustments later as you change your hardware. And once the programming is done, the time spent will pay back for years in the form of a home theater system that can be used and enjoyed without the hassle of a coffee table full of remotes.