Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Maine, USA
Posts: 8

I recently purchased a MX-600 and I am having a problem recording a macro that turns on 16:9 enhanced mode for a Sony kv-27fs13 TV. As far as I know there is button (or combination of buttons) that you can use to switch to 16:9 mode. So every time I want to watch a DVD, I need to go into the MENU, then under SETUP, down 5 clicks to the "16:9 enhanced", over one, up one, and MENU again to exit. This is a REAL pain in the ass, as some of you probably know.

Since there is no button on the Sony remote to "teach" the MX-600, I recorded a macro that performs the above steps. The problem is that it only works about 1/3 of the time. Most of the time the macro choses other various options in the sony MENU, and I think its becuase the TV is not receiving all the steps of the macro (there are 14). This happens even why I point the remote directly at the screen, and using RF and IR.

Does anyone know if there is a faster/better way to turn on 16:9? Am a doing something wrong when programming the remote? Is this a common problem with macros of this size?

I found someone who has a complete list of commands for this TV, but its for a MX-700 and the Editor software. Is there someway else I can get access to these commands for my MX-600?

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Charles M Berry
ex-college punk

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My 32FS13 does not have a discrete that goes to 16:9 enhanced mode -- I have to do the exact series of steps that you mentioned (both my Harmony and URC-200 are set up for this). However, I have no issue with getting the MACRO to work properly. You might want to add some delays after each command in the Menu -> L, D, D, D, D, etc.... command string. You might be overloading the TV with IR blasts.

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Maine, USA
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cmascatello, thank you for the response.

I tried adding a .6 second delay between commands, and I am still getting the same problem. I dont seem to have any issues with the other macros I have written, just this one. Its odd, since every time I run the macro, its seems to finish is a different part of the Sony MENU, as if the macro is corrupting itself.

Have there been any reports of faulty MX-600, and is this a sign of problem with the remote?

Just to make sure I am not a total idiot, let me list the steps that I am doing to record the macro, maybe one of you will find any faults in it.

(1) MAIN + ENT
(2) MACRO
(3) M2 (this is where I am storing the macro)
(4) TV
(5) MENU
(6) RIGHT
(7) RIGHT
(8) RIGHT
(9) RIGHT
(10) RIGHT
(11) DOWN
(12) DOWN
(13) DOWN
(14) DOWN
(15) DOWN
(16) RIGHT
(17) UP (turns on/off 16:9 enhanced mode)
(18) MENU
(19) CHANNEL UP (to save macro)

If I was able to program via the software editor by trading the 600 in for an MX-700, would this solve the problem?

Any help/advice would be great.

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Charles M Berry
ex-college punk

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Let me play with your combo a bit . One thing, did you learn the commands for menu, up, down, etc. or did you use the pre-programmed settings? You might want to try learning them if you have not done so already. The only other thing that I see that is different in my version is that I go LEFT in step(6) rather than through all of the other menu options (at least I think that is how I have it).

I'll let you know what I come up with...

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I have not "learned" the commands, I guess I will try that next. I did go left, as you suggested, and this saved me several programming steps, but it still has the same problem. I greatly appreciate your help with this.

If the remote works perfectly fine using the key combination above with me manually pressing the buttons, will "learning" the commands really make a difference? It seems odd that if I push them it works, but the macro of the same commands does not work.

Sony pisses me off. I have seen older Wegas' with an automatic detect for 16:9, but they dumbed this one down since its a cheaper model.

The other option is to go into the service menu (which I am hesitant to do), and apparently you can make the tv start with 16:9 activated. I wonder if this screws up regular TV, or if you can just switch it off by changing the input source.

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Charles M Berry
ex-college punk

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How do you get into the Service mode? I have never tried it on the Sony sets -- kind of curious what options are buried in there.

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I will need to look for the website that lists how to get into the service mode for you, but this isn't really something I am interested in doing, since it seems too risky. I guess I will just keep chaging into 16:9 manually, even though it was one of the big reasons I dropped $230 on a remote....

I did try "learning" the buttons, and this also did not solve my problem, BUT it was very cool, and I ended up learning all the buttons for all my devices. I ran into a very interesting bug/problem, that I want someone with a sony wega to try and replicate. With my remote, when I punch through "channel" between the DVD player and the TV, I can no longer access the MENU via the Menu button on the remote (hard button). I had to erase ALL my macros, punch through, and learned keys in order to get it to come back. I added all these programming back one at a time, and found that it was the punch though causing the problems. Volume and Play punch though are fine. Odd...

I also have a general question to anyone with the base station. Whenever I run a vacuum, or the furnace is about to turn on (static on TV), my base station freaks out like its recieving a million commands from my remote. Could this damage the base station?

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Charles M Berry
ex-college punk

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Registered: Dec 2003
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I think I am going to have to admit defeat here, since I can't seem to ge the macro to work, and no one else has come up with any secret way to get my Sony into 16:9 mode. I will continue to do it manually, as I have done for the past several years.

Other than this one problem, (which is really Sony's fault), I am loving my MX-600. I would high recommend it to anyone. I just wish I had more components to control, since this remote is kinda overkill for a TV, DVD, and Reciever only system.

I would still be interested in knowing if other peoples RF base station's go wacky when the vacumm is run.

Cmascatello, thank you for your input.

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Charles M Berry
ex-college punk

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