Remote Control Replacement Project
03:00 PM: Just programmed this new RCA 4-device universal remote control I purchased this morning ($10) on our shopping trip, to control our White Westinghouse 13-inch color TV used by Mom in her sitting room. The original remote barely works; the buttons must be pressed very hard in order to register and we’re missing the battery cover. The new one however, works great. Now I haven’t tested every function. But it does the power, volume, and channel changing, and that’s all Mom really needs.
05:16 PM: Just programmed the other RCA 4-device universal remote control I purchased today to control our Mitsubishi TV and Scientific Atlanta cable box. I’m replacing the Tom’s Views –> US Electronics ENT-EXPL-3005 Universal Remote that we’ve been using for several years. The battery door is missing, only some of the buttons work, and the printed labels on most of the buttons are worn off so that you can’t tell what each button is for. Yes, we definitely needed a new remote.
05:40 PM: I found an extra, brand new looking Tom’s Views –> US Electronics ENT-EXPL-3005 Universal Remote. You’ll remember from above that I had to discard another one of these because it was worn out. I remember looking for the codes list some time ago. But it turns out that you don’t need one to program this particular remote. It uses a built in code search feature, and all the instructions you need to set it up are printed on the battery lid. I followed these instructions for Mom’s Mitsubishi TV and Scientific Atlanta set top cable box, and it worked well. So now, she’s got two remotes for this set.
06:30 PM: Just programmed this Philips SRU4208WM/17 universal remote control to operate my Scientific Atlanta DVR and Sony TV. I had to use the Learn feature of the Philips, and the original remote control, to “teach” the Philips one how to bring up the DVR’s recorded programs list. The Philips remote has no List key. So I taught the R Zones key how to send this List command. This was accomplished without problems, but it does mean that if ever I have to reprogram the Philips, I’ll need the original remote. No biggie though. But it would have been nice if the Philips had a List key.
Another setback I noticed with the Philips is that it can’t turn more than one device at a time on or off. If you’re controlling three devices with this remote, then in order to turn them all on, you have to press the button for device one, then the power button. Then, you press device button 2 and the power button, then finally, you press device 3 and then the power button. To turn them all off, you repeat this procedure. But with the US Electronics ENT-EXPL-3005, once you have all the devices programmed, you can just press the power button once, and it issues the appropriate commands to turn on/off all devices. That’s nice. Many remotes that I’ve encountered do not have this all-on and all-off feature. So be sure to look for it when you buy a remote, and ask the remote manufacturers to incorporate it into their universal remotes. It’s really a handy feature to have.
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I utilized the “punch through” feature on the Philips SRU4208WM/17 universal remote control for DVRs today. This allows actuation of the volume on the TV instead of that in the DVR, even when the remote is in DVR mode. This way, I don’t have to keep switching back to TV on the remote, just to change volume. It’s better to control volume on the TV and keep the DVR volume up all the way because you get a higher signal-to-noise ratio — less hiss, hum, static, and other superfluous noises. If instead you use the DVR volume, then in order to get louder over-all volumes, you must turn the TV volume way up; and then, there comes all that amp and cable noise.
Also, I overcame the problem of the Philips remote not turning on and off all devices with one button press. To do that, I changed the preferences on the DVR so that when you turn it on and off, it correspondingly switches on and off the power to the TV outlet it provides. Normally, this outlet stays “on” always, even when you switch off the DVR. But with the setting changed, I can put the remote in DVR mode, and when I switch on and off the DVR, the TV now goes on and off as well. This saves having to put the remote into TV mode when you want to turn off the TV.