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Recommendations for a Universal Remote?
cpritchett asks: "I'm starting to work on my home theater system, but am wondering what to do in the way of a universal remote. Yes, touchscreen remotes and ones that give you TV listings may be nice, but they are also pricey and the touchscreen doesn't offer the nice, familiar, tactile feel of a remote we've all grown to love. So, what's your recommendation for a good universal learning remote for under $50?"
http://www.hometheatermaster.com/htm/products/mx-5 00.html
I've seen this one touted for years on AV and home theatre fora. It's $189 retail but it's been around long enough that you might find it under $50 used.
Alex.
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA005810/remocon/pr emocce.htm
Conservatism: The fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is your inferior is being treated as your equal.
You can start your research into JP1 at the Yahoo JP1 Forum.
The Home Theater Master MX-500 is the best universal remote I have EVER used. I never thought I would spend $100 on a remote control, but believe me... it is the only universal about which I have been able to say that I no longer use ANY of my other remotes - TiVo included.
Amazing battery life, great IR output, excellent display, nice combination of hard-buttons and programmable soft-buttons.
I also have a number of friends who have all learned the same thing about the MX-500. Buy it and never worry about remotes again.
I've got a Jensen Universal 5 which has been incredibly useful over the past year or so. You can switch between five peripherals, it supports a ton of different devices/manufacturers, and you can auto-scan if your device isn't officially supported... maybe it is! The buttons are nice and firm and the shape is ergonomically pleasing... the only drawback is that the peripheral-switching buttons have a tendency to fade, but after a year of using the remote you've already memorised which button belongs to the TV, the DVD player, etc. To top it off, it was about $20 CAD! Can't go wrong!
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
Just go to the local department store and buy any under-$10 universal remote. I refuse to spend any more on something intended to keep my fat ass firmly planted on the couch.
Following the reviews of Remote Central, I picked up a Sony RM-VL900 a few months ago. Admittedly it may be more than $50 (I got mine for $59.99 at Best Buy) but you should be able to hunt around a get it for close to that price point.
;)
It is truly universal - the codes in the manual covered all of my equipment except for a few buttons on the DVD changer and the Receiver. They were absolute cake to learn with the original remotes, though.
The range is solid for a remote in this price bracket, and it's taken more abuse over the last 4 months than many of my previous original and universal remotes. Dropping, sitting on, stepping on, etc.
I've had a few touch screens in the past and even allowing for their superior flexibility in programming and button labeling, etc etc, this is my favorite of all the universal remotes I've tried. Just can't beat the tactility of the hard buttons, anyway.
Check it out!
"This is Zombo Com, and welcome to you who have come to Zombo Com" - www.zombo.com
Grab any WinCE device that has Nevo installed on it. This has to be the easiest thing I have ever used. It's programmable not only for all devices but can be programed for certain people profiles and to work in certain rooms. IE: Wreck room and Living room are two switchable profiles. Not to mention hotkey macros.
You need to think about what you want to be able to accomplish with your universal remote with the equipment you have. Devices like a Tivo have remote features that do not factor into a lot of universal remotes control designs; like a '30 second skip' button in addition to the Fast Forward button. With most universals you would have to make a choice as to which function you will assign to the 'FF' button.
I only have to juggle three components; RCA TV, Panasonic Receiver/DVD/CD/Tuner, and a ReplayTV with my universal remote. After buying and shelving about 5 different universal remote controls I've settled on the RadioShack 5-in-1 Remote. It the only remote that come close to duplicating the special functions of the ReplayTV. The key was having enough generic buttons that can be programs against the 'real' remote or the ability to reprogram the existing button for different functions. The RadioShack was the only remote to offer enough buttons to be satisfactory. It is the remote my wife uses 99% of the time but I still prefer to juggle the Replay and Panasonic remotes to retain full functionality. My conclution about a mixed brand system like I have is that only a programmable remote with the LCD screen would truly replace them all but I do not like them because of the lack of tactile feedback.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I got a one4all non-learning remote from Wal-Mart for about $10 and have been completely satisfied. It comes with a booklet that allows you to easily program it to control a wide variety of common TVs, VCRs, DVDs, etc. It also allows for custom programming of individual buttons, so if you want to build your own keymap if basically allows that. Even better, their email tech support will send you undocumented codes for even more units than are described in the booklet. It includes a couple "macro" buttons that allow you to program a series of other button-presses so that you can, for example, turn on all your equipment with one button. It has a pair of infrared LEDs which it apparently uses to provide a strong signal across a wide angle.
The button layout isn't the most ergonomic, but for $10 I was quite impressed. It worked much better than the other (slightly less-cheap) RCA "universal" remotes that I have tried.
--Chouser
"To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." -LL
I ended up buying a cheapo Philips learning remote. It was one of the cheapest learning remotes I could find...right around the $20-$30 pricepoint I was looking for. My advice for anyone thinking about spending at that level is to pony up the cash for something better.
Most learning remotes include a "database" of IR codes for popular a/v systems. I had mixed luck here. For instance, my VCR was recognized perfectly. My TV was recognized partially, meaning that I can change channels, but not use the setup menus. Fine, I programmed a few additional buttons using the learning feature, and was good to go.
My stereo reciever was not recognized at all. ARG! That got me a little peeved, but I spent a few minutes and started programming individual buttons again. However, I ran into a problem where certain buttons could not be programmed in! After troubleshooting this problem, I realized what the real problem was: The remote can indeed learn individual keys, but it's got to store that info somewhere, and the "640k-should-be-enough-for-anyone" stick of flash they put in there apparently wasn't enough to program in an entire remote! So while my remote was sold as a 5-function remote (replaces 5 remotes) it couldn't handle even two remotes worth of individually programmed keys.
My final frustration was that my DVD remote could not be programmed at all. Even if I removed some of my pre-existing codes to free up needed storage space, It was a no go. The learning feature flat-out wouldn't work!
I don't believe my dissapointments are tied to my particular remote. Its a common trap I (and other electronics consumers) fall into. Moral of the story; unless 100% of your components are between 1 and 3 years old and all from the exact same company making the universal remote, treat a universal remote as a vital component of the system and spend accordingly.
Or, for that matter, any learning remote. Basically, it works like this: you push the "learning" button sequence, and then you aim your other remote at the learning one, and push whatever button you want to mimic. Then you push whatever button on the learning remote that you want to do that function, and, wa-lah, there you go.
It's a bit of a pain to setup, but it can assign whatever you want to whichever buttons you want. So, for instance, I've assigned the volume buttons to always go to the receiver, never the TV, regardless of which mode I'm in, or, when I'm in receiver mode, I can assign the numeric buttons to turn the receiver to TV, DVD, Playstation, etc.
And, uh, it's $20.
RCA universal remote. Small, works with DirectTV, my DVD player, my TV, and my VCR.
BigBangElectronics has a ton of remotes. Check em out.
i'm happy with my Sony Clie PEG-T665. it's not a universal Remote but rather a PDA that comes with a pretty good set of Universal Remote codes for the included ClieRemote program (creative name i know) driven a really awesome IR port. (for a PDA)
sadly i'm starting to find some newer devices that it doesn't work with - notably all-in-one DVD/Radio/Speaker systems.
there are some good 3rd party Remote programs that work with the Clie (and other Palm OS PDA's but the IR Port on most PDAs suck for long range remote functions) such as OmniRemote (a good program, but you have to teach it everything - it comes with no codes!) or NoviiRemote (a good looking program that i have not used yet - i'm happy with the Clie software)
Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
Try the Radioshack 8-in-1 15-2116 for $29.99. Programmable and learning. Best cheap universal remote ever! See Here.
In case you haven't come across it in all of the time you've spent on Google...you might check out http://www.remotecentral.com.
I bought the Sony VL900 a year or two ago and I've been really happy with it. http://www.remotecentral.com/vl700/index.html
:wq
Jp1 remotes are cheap and you can do alot with them.
I used to own a Pronto TSU-2000. I sold it, and bought a Pronto TSU-3000. I've had it for about a year, and it's still not fully configured.
My wife hates touchscreens. So, as a holiday present to the both of us, I bought the Harmony 659. It's got tons of real buttons. In under 30 minutes, I had it controlling EVERYTHING, including some fairly obscure (for remote manufacturers) equipment: My plasma TV, my SliMP3, my Zektor component switcher, etc.
It's activity-based, and configured via a java applet loaded from their website. You tell it the make and model of all your equipment. Then, you tell it what you need set to what to do things like watch tv, listen to music, watch a DVD, and so on (these are all customizeable). When you're done, it downloads everything via this java applet to your remote, using a USB connection.
30 minutes, and I've done with a $150 remote what I've yet to be able to do with a $500 remote.
And my wife LOVES the hard buttons.
.@.
... is found at AVS Forums. Although, to be fair, you may want to try Remote Central for this as well. AVS Forum posters would refer you to there pretty quickly anyway.
All of that said, probably the best remote control is out of your price range -- the MX-500 (or the MX-700, which I have and prefer) is about $100 (the 700 is about $170). It's a button remote w/ a small LCD screen that can be programmed with text entries of what the related LCD buttons do. Most of the remote control buttons are marked though. I've had several universal remotes (Marantz RC-1000, Pronto TSU-1000, and MX-700) and the MX series is by far the best. The MX-700's center joystick is a bit wonky (which my wife dislikes), but it's not bad. I've heard that the MX-500 and MX-800 joystick is better.
For your price range, your best bet is a JP1 compatible remote. I'm not familiar with the range of remotes available, so look at either of the above sites, or the JP1 Home Page.
Froogle says the minimum price for the Home Theater Master MX-500 is $97.52 + shipping.
Froogle says the minimum price for the Sony RM-VL900 Universal Remote is 37.08 + shipping. Be careful about companies that try to make a profit on the shipping.
Yes, but see the comment above: #7862052.
This one seems like it could be entertaining.
Heh, 1000 comments? 6656 and counting.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Radio Shack has the RadioShack 6-in-1 Kameleon? Touch-Screen Remote. It looks very nice. It's flat but the buttons do have a tactile response. There is a good review on it here
I use an X10 8 in 1 Learning remote. Yeah Yeah I know people hate X10, but this remote handles whatever device I throw at it. It also controls my two X10 modules.
What I'd prefer is a fixed broadcast point somewhere in the room that can be controlled from, say, my Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone. Even then, it has to cope with a weird range of remotes, including ones for an Apple PowerCD, and Olivetti Envision and a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum.
Anger problem.
The grandparent poster provided a convenience link for people wanting to buy that item. If he found the link for himself, why shouldn't he share it with us?
And has useful functions.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Sony has always been good in this regard, with the sloped up/down buttons for volume and channel and "sticky feel" (don't know what rubber compound they use, but it's good) buttons.
One thing that might be nice would be remotes that light up the buttons when touched. Some of my remotes have glow-in-the-dark buttons, but that doesn't always help at 3AM after the glow fairies have been asleep for a couple of hours.
Folks setting up a home theater should get these instead of the traditional all-in-one remotes just for the WAF (wife acceptance factor).
Cost me $20 US, replaced six remotes from six completely different manufacturers (sony tv, toshiba dvd, yamaha receiver, panasonic vcr, motorola cable box, hitachi cd player).
The only negative is that it's a remote you have to know how to use. That is, I know L1 controls recording speed in vcr mode, I couldn't hand it to somebody and expect them to know how to use it. If that's important to you, then you need to go way more expensive.
The best universal remote? That's easy! An intelligent and energetic young person who's highly motivated by realizing that a failure to respond to commands will result in a forfiture of allowance!
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
This is a great remote! I've had one for a few years. It helps if some/all of your gear is Sony since it works out of the box. However the lack of soft keys can be daunting when programming devices with "unusual" commands such as a Tivo. (Where the *&^* did I put "Thumbs Up!" key?). When it croaks I'll proabably spring for the $80 MSRP RM-VL1000 that has a few soft keys.
BalamYou can get the MX-500 Here for $97.52
You can get the Sony RM-VL900 Here for $37.08
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
i dont really know how well it works .. but i think it looks pretty damn cool .. and its close to your pricepoint. Ive seen complaints on battery life
c tv iew.jhtml?sku=OA101
http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/produ
I didn't like mine. The main reason was that with the DVD player, you typically want seperate "navigation" (up/down/left/right/enter) and "play" (play, pause, stop, rewind, ff, etc) buttons. With my SL-9000, I had to reprogram the number pad to do the navigation, which was a royal pain.
My new receiver (Denon) came with a very nice remote that is very similar to the SL-9000, but has a seperate navigation circle and play control keys. Highly programmable as well. So that's my current universal remove.
Can anyone suggest a good RF PC remote control? I seem to be moving more and more of my audio setup into my pc, and so Im chasing some sort of RF remote control that will do playback etc of MP3's and other PC multimedia file formats, or have a base-station/receiver that performs playback functionality reading media from a PC, like the Creative Soundblaster Wireless Music (http://www.creative.com/products/welcome.asp?cat= 119). Having onscreen playlist management on the remote control, and the ability to generically control the PC (ie send keystrokes) would be desirable. The Creative product looks pretty cool, but only handles audio (no video functionality). Anyone know of something that would do this? ive seen a lot of products that do some of these things, but nothing that has the lot in the one unit...