Mike Riley, Ottawa about the UCommand-515:

It took an extra four days, but FedEx finally delivered my UCommand. I see some folks would be interested in finding out about it. After spending a couple of hours playing with it, and then the evening using it, here's my first impressions:

Wow. And when you consider the price: Wow, wow.

This is a comfortable, solid unit. It's heavier and wider than a standard-issue remote, but it is a darn-site smaller and easier to hold than most of the touch-screens out there.

The biggest problem I have with universal remotes is programming them. While the UCommand currently does not have pre-programmed devices set up, I quickly discovered that they're not necessary. The procedure to get your favorite commands on boards is simple, slick and quick. You point the top of your device's remote at the bottom of the UCommand (big points: both units are right-side up, so there's no key-search vertigo). In Learn mode, the UCommand keys simply begins to flash, one after the other, to let you know what button to push next on your remote. It reads the incoming command instantly, and lets you know it with three different indications: first, the selected button flashes; second, the OK button flashes; third, it beeps. It took me all of two minutes per device to program all the visible functions.

Even more to my liking is it's capability for handling two-way remotes. I can't get my Radio Shack to Learn anything from my Sony "Remote Commander", because it sends out pulses, and then waits for receipt of more pulses. Even going to the next room, to be away from the receiver, wasn't helping much. But this UCommand fella: boom! Instant learn. Finally, I have full surround control functionality on similar-looking buttons, to select the sound fields, and control the front and rear levels and balance.

One note: there are a maximum of 28 keys available per device screen, so to invoke all the functions of my Sony receiver I had to also use the AUX screen. But that screen let me select 4-way arrow keys and place them in a circular pattern around the Menu/Enter button, just like I wanted.

The touch-screen itself is nicely sensitive, and a quick tap is all it takes to activate a key. The OK indicator flashes, too, to let you know it worked. There's even a light-sensitivity setting to tell the UCommand at what levels of ambient room light it should fire up the screen's backlight. And, you can tell it when to turn off, from 10 to 30 seconds, depending on your preferences and battery-saving concerns. Just a tap will turn the backlight on anytime.

Screen layouts change instantly as you select between different devices from the eight available along the bottom two rows of keys. An icon appears on the selected device key, to let you know what you're currently operating. And the signal from individual keys fires off immediately; no frustrating waits. This thing even has pre-set buttons like "Line In". On the AMP screen, I've got buttons for Rear Up/Down, Center Up/Down, Sub Up/Down, Surround select, DTS, DD 5.1, and so on.

One highlight: my Sony receiver has an odd Power On/Off button, but this unit worked fine with it. If you require discrete On/Off codes for macros, as long as your original remote can send 'em, the UCommand can take 'em.

On the other side of the coin, since the screen is not dot matrix, you cannot design or revise the button icons. However, each key on each screen has four or five icons associated with it, plus a blank, so you can reassign the icon to indicate the command. And they're logically laid out: if you pick a FF button for your second VCR, for example, the RW button appears beside it, to the left, automatically.

You cannot move icons, either: if you want to move the Pause icon to another key because of your screen layout, you can't. There are few duplicate icons available. You can assign the Pause function, or any function, to any key, but you'll have to remember what it is.

I use reading glasses, so not having "real" volume and channel buttons, and a "real" recall button, means that even though the screen keys for those controls are always in the same place (if you like it that way), I have to slip on my glasses to see the Recall button. However, this is a small price to pay for a 100-percent capable Universal remote, that finally means I can put away all my original device controllers that I keep around "just in case"

I haven't set up any macros yet, but you can assign up to 25 steps to any key on any panel. And you can add pauses between steps, to allow for activation of any command.

All in all, this is one heck of a unit. I especially like the extra touches, like the Setup Mode Screen that makes you hit specific keys before you get access to the edit modes, so you won't accidentally erase your earlier efforts. Crisp Solutions states that batteries should last for 9 months to one year, which is pretty amazing compared to other touch-panel screens that suck up a lot of juice for their display. And of course, you can mix commands for more than one device on any screen. So you can have DVD or VCR transport controls, say, on your TV screen, saving you from having to flip between two different screens.

Tonight I'm going to be digging down into the sub-menus of my individual device remotes, to add those commands to the UCommand. Heck, this thing even learned the "auto-switch to DVD and VCR line inputs", allowing me to instantly access those devices without having to key in a channel, or create a macro. You gotta love that.

I hope this enlightens the curious amongst you. I'll pop up more information as I spend more time with the UCommand, but you know, this thing is so simple to program and operate that I really don't think I'll find much more to tell you -

I should add that I'm also very impressed with the overall quality and workmanship that has obviously gone into the release version of Crisp Solution's UCommand. This unit has a solid, strong feel to it, much more substantial in terms of plastics grade and unity than most remotes. It would be very hard to scratch the plastic plate covering the display.

Add to that the excellent documentation, something that is still all too rare in consumer electronics. First, it's all in real English, not oddly translated. Second, the first drafts I saw were extremely well written and laid out, with helpful illustrations. Third, a very complete Quick Reference Card is included which covers everything you need to know to make changes. It is ironic that the device is so simple to program, that you probably won't need any of these guides after your initial foray.

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