Rating: 
Summary: Not even close, pathetic actually....
Review: I recently purchased this remote and high hopes it would replace my dying sony rmvL1000 since i didi'nt need to control 12 components,and I had cracked the LCD screen [and even dropped it in some soup!, but still works]. Saw this remote and saw how much thinner lighter it was than other remotes out there and thought i'd give it a shot. Boy was I wrong.
THIS REMOTE DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH MEMORY!!!
That facts alone makes it a loser. As with any learning remote it should have enough memory, in case you have some components that are'nt listed in its "universal" list. Out of 8 possible components to control i can only control 4 properly before it ran out of gas. The receiver volume punch thru was'nt that big of a deal since you can reprogram the volume + - and mute keys to the receiver but there in lies the problem and you run out of memory really quickly by the time you reprogram all the modes to control the receiver.
They really need to allow people to give 0 stars reviews for products that just dont cut it, like this one.
Rating: 
Summary: YES there is a receiver punch-through!
Review: I was starting to agree with the folks that said there is no audio punch-though for your receiver UNTIL I came across this web site:
http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-sony/thread.cgi?4020
I was able to reprogram my Sony Home Theatre system to work with this remote.
(For me at least) the PMDVR8 works as advertised.
Rating:
Summary: All In One!
Review: If you don't feel like keeping up with all of your remotes..put them in a safe place and pull this out. It has tons of codes for your devices and it's much simpler to use then having to put all sorts of remotes in your hands.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent remote for the price
Review: It is unbelievable that for this price Philips can make a remote control of this quality for 8 devices. It has dedicated buttons for Tivo and Replay TV. It has a learning button. Permanent memory retention means that you don't lose your codes when you change the batteries. It's laid out in a way that makes intuitive sense. I picked it up and it felt good in my hand. For the price you won't get two things that I like in a remote: back-lit buttons and macros. We watch movies in low light to dark, and back-lit buttons are a must. I'm taking away a star because of the lack of internet support. I couldn't find the manual or the codes online. So if the manual is lost, there could be problems.
Rating:
Summary: Remote Control Nerd-vana
Review: It's the best 13 bucks you will ever spend. I have attained remote-control nerd-vana: before I finished my 1st cup of coffee, I was controlling my RCA TV, Panasonic VCR, Hughes DVR, Apex DVD and Sony stereo system, by using the no-brainer code search function. The remote only controls basic functions on the stereo, but all I want to do is turn it on/off and control the volume anyway. Some of the DVD keys were hard to figure out (finding "zoom" was trial and error) but I'm pleased that I can control it - no other universal remote that I've tried has worked with the Apex DVD.
It's light-weight, thin and the buttons are laid out well and are not "squishy" like other remotes. I am a happy camper.
Rating:
Summary: Most versatile at lowest price
Review: My home theatre collection is eccletic at best. Toshiba 32" TV;TiVo Series 2 stand alone unit;Dish Network 301 Receiver;RCA Surround sound; Phillips DVD;Samsung SIR-T351 HDTV Receiver. Needless to say I had a table top full of remotes. I found this remote at Best Buy and was surprised to see that it claimed to control everything that I had. Well, IT DOES. My wife likes it (most important).
Only drawbacks are very tiny button labeling on the unit (you have to be under 40 to read it), and having to switch modes when going between channel change and volume change.
I am also disappointed that I could have bought it much cheaper over the web, but...
Rating:
Summary: Can be programmed for Receiver Volume!
Review: Nice remote, no backlight - but for $15 its a deal.
As some have noted, the volume controls in TV mode cannot be programmed for your receiver/preamp.
HOWEVER, the Level+ and Level- buttons (the 4 arrow buttons at the bottom of the remote) can be programmed to control volume for just about any receiver using the learning function (while still in TV mode!).
I have a Toshiba TV and have the Level+ & Level- buttons programmed to control the volume on my cambridge audio receiver - I am using another remote with the Rotel Preamp on my other system.
In summary, works great for what I need it for with the very minor inconvenience of having to using the lower buttons for volume control (hence 4 stars).
Rating:
Summary: Not for Home Theater or HD systems
Review: The box said this is good for home video but it is NOT suitable for such use. The volume contol only works with the TV directly and cannot be changed to control the home theater amplifer. I was unable to learn commands from my Sony AV remote control. Switching from one device to another requires multiple button pushes to change the TV and amp. Of course there are no commands for HD sets like wide-screen format button or HD/TV mode button required for Phillips HD TV sets.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, then it flaked out
Review: This is the first universal remote I've seen of any price that has all the buttons I need to control my A/V setup (the main one missing from all other remotes I've tried is the two guide buttons, one for channel, one for recorded programs for a DVR), though admittedly I have not seen everything out there.
Anyway, I was able to set it up to do pretty much exactly what I want, including having the volume keys always control my Teac AV receiver, except when the remote is in TV mode.
One day the TV and DVR modes stopped working. Everything else still worked. I tried reprogramming in the codes, but they just didn't work anymore.
At best, I could use the Learn mode to get some keys for minimal TV and DVR functinoality.
But I can no longer have the volume keys do what I want--they now always control TV volume except in Audio mode.
If this thing were stable, I'd buy another five or ten to keep in case I broke them physically. But since something electronic seems busted, I don't trust it anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Close, But Not Good Enough
Review: This seemed like the perfect remote on paper, but in real life it comes up a little short. I wanted a universal remote with physical PVR buttons (including the Tivo thumb buttons) to replace my Sony RM-VL900. This one sounded perfect... it's even made by Philips who also makes Tivos... I thought compatibility would be great.As others have mentioned, this remote won't punch-through the volume and mute buttons from the audio device... only from the TV device. This doesn't work well for anyone using a separate head unit for audio. More importantly, it's universal remote capabilities are poor. It would not learn some commands from my Kenwood Amp, my JVC Plasma Display or... and this is the important one... from another Tivo remote. Additionally, some of the codes it would learn from the Tivo remote, would take over a second to execute. E.g., it would not let you press the learned buttons faster than once every one or two seconds. For those adept with a Tivo remote, this is a big fat pain. The Tivo interface is already unresponsive enough. All together, this is very close to being good... I especially like how much lighter and thinner it is than the Sony RM-VL900 and similar remotes. Unfortunately, it's defects keep it from operating as a viable universal remote.
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