Sony RM-VL600 8-Device Universal Learning Remote
by Sony
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony RM-VL600 8-Device Universal Learning Remote
Customer Review: Easy to Use, but No Universal A, B, C, D Buttons!
Summary: 3 Stars
This remote can be purchased for a good price (I paid less than $25/new), and offers 90% of the functionality of more expensive universal remotes. I bought it because it isn't as intimidating as the Harmony Series. I loved it for a while, but I ran into issues when I upgraded my A/V gear.
The remote's learning feature work very well; I used it successfully to map my WD TV LIVE remote and my Apple remotes. I was very happy with it until I upgraded my TV and DVD player to the Samsung PN50C6500 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV (Black) and the Samsung BD-P3600 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player. That's when I discovered that the A, B, C, D buttons on this remote are macro buttons and cannot be used as the A, B, C, D buttons on the TV and the Blu-Ray player. I was able to map the Blu-Ray players A, B, C, and D buttons to the VCR, CD, TAPE, and AMP buttons, then map the macro buttons to them. That means that you can map A, B, C, and D on one of your devices, but that is it. I like this remote's design, but the lack of true A, B, C, and D buttons limits its usefulness.
Customer Review: Great for most things, but not Dish Network!
Summary: 3 Stars
I am using this universal remote to replace another universal remote that cost $125! I does almost everything the expensive one does, but if you have Dish Network, keep your Dish remote handy. I had to use the learning function to "teach" the Sony all of the Dish remote commands. Most are OK, but the annoying thing is that the directional buttons, which are constantly used by us satellite watchers to browse the guide or select porgramming. Apparently, when the Sony directional button is depressed, it only sends a signal once, and will not move the selector on the screen more than one position. The Dish remote will continuously move the selector in any direction, as when you are moving through the program guide. To make matters worse, most of the time, you have to press the button twice to get it to work. Had I known this before purchase, I probably would have kept looking. However, now that it's all programmed, I have narrowed down to 2 remotes, instead of 5. Nice job for an inexpensive remote control.Customer Review: Large, does not program panasonic VCR
Summary: 3 Stars
I have a Panasonic VCR. The Panasonic codes will not allow the changing of channels by using the numbers (you can by the up/down buttons only) and will not program the VCR. It is easy to "teach" if you have the old remote. I did program the number buttons so they are usable. I guess I could spend many hours and figure out how to program the remote for VCR recording. Since Panasonic is a major brand I would have expected this functionality out of the box.
The remote is large. Bigger than I expected. It is larger then Harmony remotes.
I am using it with a Sony flat screen. Most of the controls are there however I needed to have it "learn" the wide screen adjustment.
For the money (I paid $5 more at BB)it serves it's purpose. If all you need is a TV remote control get something smaller.
I purchased a GE remote at Target for less and it does program a sony vcr (yes, I live in the dark ages).
Customer Review: Not at all good for more advanced devices...
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this product based on its solid rating and excellent price. There is, however, a trade-off.
1) The code for a Sony Blu-Ray player (yes, the same company that manufactures this remote) is unavailable. You can skirt this by manually "learning" all the DVD commands one by one.
2) The deal breaker... My Samsung 55-inch LED remote has features that this remote would simply not learn, including the pivotal "source" command which switches the TV from HDMI1 (in my case dedicated to digital cable) to HDMI2 (for DVD). Major flaw.
3) This one's rather petty. With my Samsung HDTV remote, holding down the volume up/down buttons rapidly moves the volume level. With this remote, the volume is much less responsive. You need to repeatedly tap the button to adjust the volume level, which is much slower.
Lesson learned. A chimpanzee has no business driving a Porsche.
Customer Review: I'm a programmer and this thing was Difficult to program
Summary: 3 Stars
While programming all the devices was easy, doing some more advanced things was extremely difficult. I am a programmer and very handy with all electronics and this could not have been more annoyingly confusing.
For example: it has a feature that when you switch to the DVD functionality it will turn on the amplifier and control the volume on the amplifier while you are in DVD mode. That was VERY difficult to setup.
(I ended up replacing the cable remote with a newer one and that was really simple to program to do the exact same thing)
So this remote ended up just laying around useless (well unless I loose the other one somewhere)
It is also too wide to fit comfortably into my hand.
However it does do what it is supposed, if you CAN figure it out.