Universal MasterControl RF-30 review at Paradox Designs

Design

The remote’s design is professional and simple. It does not have all the fancy design elements seen on consumer remotes of this type[1. Eg. Logitech Harmony Series] , but sticks to something you would see in a professional show room. Buttons are all silver with black glyphs (Except for the power buttons), and the remote is a flat, smooth, black. The weight of the remote is balanced, placing the optimal position for holding it just below the number pad.

Display and Backlight

The display is quite useful, for the amount of space it occupies. The contrast is adjustible, by holding the main button and pressing either the UP or DOWN buttons. The backlight is red, and lights up all the keys well in a dim room. This version sees a change in the backlight from that of most Universal brand remotes. Instead of inverting the display, which was cool but made it hard to use in dim lights, this merely backlights it. The backlight duration is configurable, from anywhere to 1s to 99s. You can also set it so the back light is only on while the button is held, this is done by setting the duration to 0s. The duration controls are done from the Light menu item in the setup.

RF transmitter

The RF-30 has an RF transmitter in it, but this is not for controlling RF devices. This is for interfacing with a PowerBlaster RF-IR basestation, which is sold seperately. The base station allows you to control your components when your in the other room, or out of line of sight. The base station has a main IR Flasher on the front, with 2 pointing forward and 4 pointing up, as well as plugs in the back for stick on flashers (that you place over the IR recievers of your devices). The RF functionality cannot be turned off, nor can the IR functionality, so if you have the blaster in the same room as the remote, and devices are in line of sight, they may recieve double commands.

Remote’s IR Blasters

The blasters on the remote are quite powerful compared to most other remotes. While there are only 2 blasters, they are very bright, and can even be seen through the dark plastic covering if you look closely. They have the ability to penetrate several layers of fabric (i used a bed comfortor, no less) and control the devices. When they are in the open, i pointed the remote at any angle away from the device, and the device still responded to the command.

Final information

The RF-30 is a very good remote, made even better by its price. Its ability to control many of your devices is unparalelled. While it does not have features like computer setup, command copy and paste, etc, these would clutter the remote and drive its price up. Its clean lines, and simple look will blend in with any home theater, and give a level of professionality not given by devices like the Logitech Harmony. Its device-oriented control is quite easy to use, and can be done very efficiently, and works like many other Universal Remotes. People who are not technically savvy should not be the ones setting this remote up, as it can be daunting, but they will have no problem using it.