| Review
and Info: SRC-2010 (aka UC-626) Written 21st May 2002 UPDATED 7th July 2002 I n t r o d u c t i o n : The SRC-2010 remote is now available in Australia, and for under AUD$300 (Radio Parts, Melbourne). I've set up this page as a REAL and local (Australian) information resource. This remote is known as the UC-626 in the USA and is distributed their by a couple of companies. I have purchased a 2010 locally and it rates a 10/10 for value for money, and does everything I'll ever need. I have literally put all my remotes (5) in a drawer, their batteries are out for good! 
Download: SRC 2010 User's Manual.pdf |
| O v e r v
i e w : Sun-Wave in Tokyo manufacture the SRC-2010. It's a touchscreen LCD Blue Backlit Universal Remote control. It has a main menu that supports up to ten items. Each item contains four sub screens (max 42 individual buttons). They say you can control up to 10 infrared devices, but of course you could control many more, but the menu system allows for ten named sections. The LCD buttons can be renamed, moved, resized and substituted with an icon (from a menu of icons, it does not support custom icons). |
M y E x p e r i e n c e : This remote has solved all of my multi-remote blues. It's very easy to use, and flawless. I purchased my remote from Radio Parts. AUD$299.00 rrp. The stock at Radio Parts do not ship with a link cable (at the time of writing), PC cable (SLC-2081) or batteries. Tivoli Hi-Fi do stock this cable (AUD$59.00). Radio Parts are getting stock in, I'm told. NB: You may wonder why I favour Radio Parts in this review. (A) The service and support is excellent. (B) This remote is AUD$100 rrp cheaper at Radio Parts (at the time I'm writing this) than anywhere else I can find in Australia. (C) They stock a wide range of electrical parts and accessories, so you can get everything from one place. There is a silver model available, but they are not currently stocked at Radio Parts. I also bought the PS300 universal power-pack from Radio Parts (AUD$22.95). And 3 rechargeable AAA NiMH batteries. I'll post more photos soon, but the power-pack comes with multiple connectors, one of which fits a plug on the side of the SRC-2010. When the pack is set to 4.5V you can charge the NiMH batteries inside the remote. Which I do. Very handy. 
The unit comes with a good manual. Learning how it all works takes no time at all. If you are typing in button names etc. on the unit (ie, Not on your PC) then I recommend leaving the protective shipping plastic on the LCD touchscreen, and using the corner of the battery cover or a blunt pencil to type on the tiny LCD keyboard interface. The minimum button size definable on the unit is large enough for big fingers to play with without any worries. Just the keyboard interface is small. The backlight is cool, the auto light sensor is good. It does make a sound when the light is on. It's a sort of a high pitched buzz - which you can't hear at arms length, it's just a tiny sound that you hear if you put the remote up to your ear. Worth noting if you thought your unit was faulty - it's not. They all have it. Minor backlight bug + WORKAROUND: If you set the LED light 'on-time' (the amount of time the LED stays on for after your last key-press) at the minimum of 5 seconds - the backlighting becomes 'buggy'. Nothing serious, it just switches off when you press some buttons, which can be really annoying. So set it to a minumum of 10 seconds - and you won't have any dramas. Further note to this, it seems if your batteries are low (or possibly cheap) this bug may still occur. T h e S o f t w a r e & L e a r n i n g : I borrowed a link cable and I have used it to set up my buttons on the PC. It does make the process faster, but it is NOT necessary. The linkup works well, but I do recommend downloading the RemoteComm User's Manual to quickly hook up and transfer data between your remote and PC. RemoteComm is cool. It makes the process of setting up your buttons quick and easy. It is good on the actual remote, but with the software you can set up your buttons before you've even bought your remote, see all four screens of each component at the same time, and drag buttons between screens. Very snazzy.  Download: RemoteComm.exe Download: RemoteComm User's Manual.pdf I downloaded my button setup to the remote. Recording all my other remotes into it was very quick - 5 minutes. The IR record sensor is at the base of the SRC-2010, so both remotes are the right way up when you record. You just put them both on the coffee table the right way up, and you're set to go. Another neat feature is that the record process is batched. You select Learn, then press the component you wish to record. At this point the first button on the SRC-2010 is shaded. You press the corresponding button on your SOURCE remote, the SRC-2010 beeps, and the next button is shaded. What I'm saying, is that you don't have to press a button on the SRC-2010 and then one on the your SOURCE remote - they are done automatically for you - so it's a very fast process. The batch process can be interrupted, you can jump to any of the Hard buttons by pressing one on the SRC-2010, or jump to any of the 4 LCD screens, press an LCD button, and that will become shaded, ready to receive a command from your SOURCE remote. All good. ONE BIG TIP: If you are recording a button you want to continuously send if you hold your finger on it (like volume up/down) then hold the button down like this when you record it into the SRC-2010. One small limitation: I uploaded my final settings back up to the PC to keep them on file. As it happened, I did make some changes, so I downloaded back to the remote again. This all worked fine, but the above mentioned "continuous-send-buttons" were lost, and became single click again. So they had to be re-recorded. No big deal, but worth knowing. (NB:A new version of the RemoteComm software may have fixed this problem, but I do not know if such software has been released) Bonus: You can email your PC settings for the SRC-2010 saved in RemoteComm for friends who have the same components. Even each component separately if they only have one or two that match! O n e M o r e B u g: I'm sorry to have to report, I have found a bug with the software for the 2010. I'm still trying to resolve the issue with SunWave and get a fix sorted. Quite simply, if you use RemoteComm software and the link cable to set up your buttons - and then download them onto your remote - adding buttons later using the remote's interface can cause an error. Nothing terminal - but adding a new button may result in the creation of a blank button that cannot be labelled. It CAN be deleted (via the software). But if you borrowed a link cable (like me) and now want to add another button, this becomes impossible. You have to make your changes on the RemoteComm software and download them again. I have found no issue if you use just the remote interface to cofigure your buttons, or just use the the PC software and link cable. Only when there is a mix of the two. I will post more on this bug when I know more. |
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Cable required for linkup to the PC. (I tried making one... but I think there is a voltage change taking place)   Download: SLC 2081 User's Manual.pdf Yes, there is a base station, but it's hardly worth it at around US$79.95. Or over $200 Australian locally I'm told. 
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| Note International resellers of this remote still stock and sell the old versions (SRC-2000 and UC-616 to name but two). These remotes from Sun-Wave are rebranded in all manner of ways, so be careful what you buy, make sure it's the current model. I have not tested any of the older versions. Links Buy the SRC-2010 @ Radio Parts - Melbourne, Australia Buy the SRC-2010 @ Tivoli Hi-Fi - Melbourne, Australia Info about the SRC 2010 @ SunWave (manufacturers) Info @ USA distributors (UC-626) Crisp Solutions |
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