Sony RM-VL600 8-Device Universal Learning Remote
by Sony
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List Price: Our Price: $18.95 You Save: $6.04 (24%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony RM-VL600 8-Device Universal Learning Remote
Customer Review: Awesome and Affordable
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been reading Amazon reviews for years, but this is the first one I've written - THAT'S how much I love this remote! First, let it be said I don't consider myself particularly "tech savvy" - I can read a set of instructions, IF they're well written - fortunately the manual for this remote is well laid out and easy to follow.
About my equipment: for Christmas, I bought a Pioneer Kuro PDP-5020fd HDTV and a Panasonic DMP-BD35k Blu Ray player for myself (um, I mean, for my FAMILY :) but at present I am mixing these modern technical marvels with a much older stereo system (NAD stereo amp and CD player) and even older Sony VCR for recording. All this with a cable box to boot. So you can imagine how many remotes I was trying to juggle. I was concerned that this cheap remote (got it under $20) might not be able to control such varied things effectively. Also I noticed that Amazon's "bestselling" lineup for universal remotes had the much more expensive "Logitech" brand in the top 6 slots, followed by this remote. These Logitech remotes ranged in price from about $60 to a whopping $260. Now I generally agree that you get what you pay for, so I was worried this little $20 remote might not do the job. I'm so happy to report I was totally wrong!
The Blu ray player worked great after simply keying in the (provided) code, but the Sony had to "learn" some of the TV's remote control functions. This was easily accomplished following the manual. That said, in fairness I didn't try to teach the Sony every single command from the original remote - frankly if I need some of the more obscure commands once in a while it'll probably be easier just to dig out the Pioneer remote. But the 10-12 basic things I taught the Sony will easily satisfy my needs 90% of the time. Also, the codes provided for NAD wouldn't work on my older stereo amp. However with the "Codesearch" option I was able to find the right code in 5-10 minutes, and it worked fine. Finally, because I sent the sound from the TV through my stereo amp, I found that at first I had to switch to the remote's "AMP" button every time I needed to mute or adjust the volume - very annoying. But Sony was way ahead of me - they addressed this issue in the manual, and after a few easy button presses the volume/mute worked regardless of whether I was set on TV, cable, or amp. Sweet.
I did notice some of the other reviewers seem to have had some issues with programming various components, so I imagine it would be advisable to contact the manufacturer for advice if you have any unusual brands. But all I can say is everything worked perfectly for me. Best of all was the "One-Touch System Control". It was a snap to program ONE button to turn on the TV, cable box, and amp when I want to watch TV. BING, one button for everything "on" or "off". There are four of these system control buttons, so I programmed another to turn on the TV/DVD/amp when I want to watch a movie, and another to turn on only the amp/CD player when I just want to listen to CD's. Really, really nice.
Not to rag on other brands - I'm sure the Logitechs are super-cali-fragi-listicly fancy, with their LCD screens and all - but honestly for day-to-day use it's kind of hard to imagine that the average consumer really NEEDS to spend up to 10 times as much as for this little sweetheart. KUDOS, Sony!
Customer Review: Super Value
Summary: 5 Stars
Good: I programmed my Tivo Series 2, DVD player, Stereo Receiver and Tv onto this remote. Awesome!!! It's easy to program the remote to learn extra functions from the remotes it replaces. I even programmed the Tivo 30 second skip function onto this remote which itself has to be programmed on to the Tivo remote.
Nice macro function that lets you program a series of commands onto 1 of 4 buttons. I use one of the buttons to turn on my stereo and TV at the same time. Not sure I'll the other Macro buttons yet or not.
This remote has more "infrared signal power" too. I don't have to have as good of "aim" as with my 4 old remotes.
A great feature is you can program the remote to operate the volume of your stereo no matter what device mode you are in. This is a built-in feature that specifically does that.
You can also say program the video input function of your TV onto the DVD and Tivo modes. It's just that you have to do it individually. Not a big deal though.
Overall remote layout is fine. My Tivo remote is a bit more comfortable to hold, but this one ain't bad at all. I think the video input switch is in an odd position. Sometimes I like to switch between inputs, say watching a Live show and then watching or playing something else in between commercials. Good news is one can program most any button to be video input.
Bad: Remote is already coming apart. I have a 1 1/2 yr old whose job it is to test out the durability of remote controls and this one isn't as durable as the other 4 remotes I have. The top half was coming off a bit yesterday, but I snapped it back into place. Seems fine now. It's not going to be a problem for most people, but be aware that it seems less durable than my random sampling of 4 other remotes that have been tested by my little one.
Not a con of the remote, but one thing that makes the Macro function less useful is I can't directly tell my TV what input to switch to. So even if I have one button that tells my TV, Stereo, and DVD player to turn on and the DVD to play I'd still have to manually switch my TV to the DVD input. I could program the remote to push the video input button 3 times, but who's to say my TV started on Video 1 or Video 2? Minor quibble. :)
Another small negative is I've found that some buttons can't be reprogrammed. I tried to reprogram the record function in Tivo mode and it couldn't be changed. I found a few other buttons in certain modes are like this.
Doesn't light up.
Ugly: Nothing.
Overall this remote is a super value. $18 is what I paid on Amazon for it. It does everything you'd want with a remote and more.
Update 2/8/09: The remote is still going strong even if it came apart once or twice more. Great product!!
Customer Review: Best $18.31 I've spent!
Summary: 5 Stars
This thing is great. I have some really obscure non-brand-name components and none of the preprogrammed codes worked for me. Of course, that doesn't matter when you have a learning function like this remote does. I was able to program each function from each of my 5 remotes onto this Sony remote. I had been considering the Logitech Harmony remotes very seriously and for quite a while, and boy am I glad I didn't spend all the extra money for all the extra bells and whistles that you just don't really need.
You can have 4 macros assigned to the A, B, C & D buttons and each macro can have up to 16 functions. One thing that I did not see published anywhere except for in the instructions is that you can also assign additional 16-function macros to each of the 8 component select buttons at the top. You tap the component select button to select which component to use, but you hold down the component select button for 2 seconds and it runs the macro. This gives you a total of 12 macros you can use! Way more than I need. I use the A button to power everything on and watch satellite TV, and the D button to power everything off. Once everything is on, I use the component select button macros to switch between components (example when holding down the DVD button for 2 seconds - Change audio input on amplifier, change video input on video switcher, power off the satellite box, turn on my DVD player... all with the push of one button!)
The cons:
When teaching the remote to learn volume commands, it learns how long you hold the button down on your original remote. After programming, a tap on the volume up would increase my volume by 4 points and a volume down tap would decrease just one point. I had to reconfigure the button and make sure I pressed the volume up button for the same amount of time as the volume down button while teaching this remote the code. Also with the volume controls on this remote, it's not repeating. That means you can't hold the volume button down and increase the volume of your TV. You have to tap, tap, tap, tap until you get to the volume level you like.
One other con for this remote was that it has no "DVR" button. It seems that almost everyone has a DVR nowadays so I thought the lack of having this button on the remote made it seem ancient. I think I programmed the DVR function to the "Digital/Analog" button. It's cool that you can assign what ever you like to where ever you like. You can even assign power on/off to the channel button if you want. Once you memorize what function you assign to which button, then this won't be a problem.
I really didn't want to give this remote 5 stars because of these cons, but 4 stars would have been too little. Since I can't choose 4.5 stars, I'll round up and give this remote a full 5 stars!
Customer Review: Perfect remote under $25
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought three of these for my home last week to replace a pile of remotes in my living room, den and bedroom. For each room, I needed at least some of the buttons on each of the remotes to do this or that. No more, thanks to the "learning" function.
You start out, of course, by putting in the code for each device as found in the table in the back of the manual. Under Satellite, DirecTV codes were listed but not my DishTV device. No problem. The "search for correct code" function found it after just a few keystrokes.
Now, after that, some of the functions were missing. For instance, after coding in my DVD device, the Sony600 remote did not seem to have a button that would open/close the DVD tray door ... even though the original DVD remote did. No problem. This Sony600 easily "learns" what your original remote buttons do. The Sony600's DVD "exit" button didn't do anything, so I taught it to do what my original remote's "open/close" button did. How? Basically you just point the two remotes head-to-head, push the Sony600's "learn" button, push the button on the Sony600 that you want "to learn," then push the button on the original remote that you want "to be learned." Ta-da! Save the "learning" and you are done. I was able to transfer EVERY function from ALL my other remotes onto my Sony600 ... I now have one remote (in each room) that will do EVERYTHING ALL the other remotes did.
AND the range is much better than the old remotes as well.
Plus you can train the Sony600 to record and replay a sequence of keystrokes you make on the Sony600 ... it will replay the sequence with a one button touch (the A-B-C-D buttons at bottom are for that). I trained it to do several of these "macros" as well. For instance, I have some wireless headphones attached to the TV ... to make them work, I have to go into the TV's menu and work my way over to the place where I redirect the audio output and such. Turned on the Sony600 "learn" mode, then just performed all the required kestrokes .... TV, menu, down, left, left, enter and so on ... then saved it to the button at the bottom. It's just that simple.
All that for under $25. This is an excellent investment, run out and get one today !!
[Update: August, 2010] I just bought another one of these (to replace one that I broke) from Amazon. I was shipped a black one. It used to ship in silver. There are some silver ones hanging on the shelves at BustBuy, etc. Personally, I like the black look better except the blue buttons would have looked better in black as well. Anyway, other than the color scheme, it's the exact same device, whether you see it in black or in silver.
Customer Review: Excellent value!
Summary: 5 Stars
There is NO perfect learning remote, if perfect means that it will work with every component ever manufactured, have a button for everything, and cost under $25. I like this one a lot, though.
I got introduced to multi-component learning remotes decades ago when Drew Kaplan (remember DAK?!) was selling the old BSR LRC-1. I was able to program almost everything on that remote and drew a few copies of the keypad that I kept on my computer along with a description of what each button did in each of its 6 states. When the contacts started to get iffy, I looked for a replacement but found that that they cost in excess of $100 and didn't seem to have the same functions as my LRC-1. When some of the buttons started failing entirely, I took another look and was surprised at how the marketplace had evolved. Cheapskate that I am, I decided to give this Sony unit a try and I'm glad I did.
The RM-VL600 allows up to 8 devices to be programed. I don't use them all, yet. It has a very nice feature whereby when you choose a particular unit from the top rows of buttons, it sends out a power on signal in addition to choosing the rest of the remote's function. This gives immediate positive feedback that the right unit has been chosen and saves an extra Power button push.
I have not tried to map every function from every remote into the RM-VL600. Some of the original remotes are so confusing that I can't follow all of their functions without a manual. However, common sense says that it will be necessary to compromise if the RM-VL600 has fewer buttons that the original.
Right now, I've got the RM-VL600 set up to control my television and stereo components (all Sony) and I use it alongside the remote for my DVD recorder (which has many more--and complex--buttons than the RM-VL600). Writing this review is making me rethink whether I can transfer enough functionality to go it alone with the RM-VL600, but I don't see any obvious maps (in the sense of labels) for erase and TV Guide functions. Also, the DVD recorder's buttons work many levels deep.
The bottom line is that this is an EXCELLENT learning remote for basic to moderate needs. It may not work in all situations, but NO learning remote will. That's what reviews and returns are for.
(There is one Gotcha. At least there was one for me and it was mentioned by another reviewer. The TV/video button is a small dot at the very top of the unit. I searched for days looking for the TV/video button before concluding there was none, until one day it magically appeared!)