Rating: 
Summary: Best thing ever for those with too many components
Review: I was skepticle of buying this remote, but once I got it I realized it was the best thing I ever did. Between my theatre system, bedroom, and home office, I have 12 components. I was able to program every component I own into one remote.
It definitely takes some time to program that many components, but look at how much time you spend switching between remotes when you have multiple components.
I have several differnet brands of equipment, Sony, JVC, RCA, and Aiwa, to name a few, and it works great with ALL of them. I even had a brand new flat screen Sony television that came out after the remote, and the remote worked right out of the box.
If you have some patience to program the remote I guarentee it will be the best purchase you ever make for your home entertainment. I shopped arond on the net and found some great prices these for this remote.
Rating: 
Summary: Works well, but expect to spend some time programming it
Review: I've spent hours and still haven't gotten all seven components programmed. But, let me say that it's great to only have one remote to work all my items. I can sit at the dining room table, shut off the tv and satellite system, turn on the stereo, select a cd and work the volume. It's pretty nifty.
Rating: 
Summary: Frankenstein monster of a remote
Review: If you have only sony devices it is great but if you have other brands you will have to add functions to what is already provided for that brand.
1) the manual is horrendous, incomprehensible, unusable. considering the complexity of the device the manual is inexcuseable.
2) when you put the remote in setup mode the fields on the lcd display flash, unfortunately they flash very rapidly and I for one was not able to read them when they were flashing so fast. This makes programming the device extremely frustrating.
3) frighteningly complex to try to program (i have been a software engineer for over 25 years) and I had to program it to use my replay since brilliantly it did not include page up/down or a button to bring up the channel listings for this preset device (the preset sony devices have much better functionality)
4) if you are over 40 or have presbyopia of any degree, forget being able to see the lcd buttons without your glasses they are small and dim without the backlite. (did i mention that they flash very rapidly when you are trying to program them?)Frankly I am giving up and returning the unit, it really was not worth the effort. Good luck to those of you who choose to keep it.
Rating: 
Summary: it looks easy....
Review: it may look easier to use but i have a philips dvd-r and the code for it wasn't listed so i had to learn each and every button and then some of the feautures still didn't work for it. and even though it is a sony product my sony 400-disc changer isn't listed. only half the functions from the old remotes are on it and are programmable. i'm returning it and buying a pronto.
Rating:
Summary: the many uses for this remote
Review: My husband and I have all Sony products 57" HD progressive scan tv, recievier(6.1 surround, the new component cables), 3 Ps2's(we all play Socom II online), DVD, 32 inch 13 yr old Sony Trinitron, Sony 5.1 speakers home theater and VCR. Now this remote we bought 2 years ago because my husband had to have everything on the same remote. At first I was a little gun-shy about using such an expensive remote(we paid 199.99 2 years ago) but after my husband programed it(that's still his job) I easily figuered it out. We use it for everything; T.V., DVD, receiver, VCR, cable box(Comcast doesn't offer Sony(only Direct Tv but we don't like them), and another T.V. for me to play my PS2. This remote is amazing it can also control light fixtures, thermostats, everything that has a remote control feature I think. But the only problem I have is the touchscreen can be a little touchy sometimes. I highly recommend this item
Rating:
Summary: the many uses for this remote
Review: My husband and I have all Sony products 57" HD progressive scan tv, recievier(6.1 surround, the new component cables), 3 Ps2's(we all play Socom II online), DVD, 32 inch 13 yr old Sony Trinitron, Sony 5.1 speakers home theater and VCR. Now this remote we bought 2 years ago because my husband had to have everything on the same remote. At first I was a little gun-shy about using such an expensive remote(we paid 199.99 2 years ago) but after my husband programed it(that's still his job) I easily figuered it out. We use it for everything; T.V., DVD, receiver, VCR, cable box(Comcast doesn't offer Sony(only Direct Tv but we don't like them), and another T.V. for me to play my PS2. This remote is amazing it can also control light fixtures, thermostats, everything that has a remote control feature I think. But the only problem I have is the touchscreen can be a little touchy sometimes. I highly recommend this item
Rating:
Summary: works pretty much as advertised
Review: My multiple - brand and multiple - component home entertainment system needed a dose of user-friendliness so that my wife didn't always have to ask me how to switch between broadcast TV / DVD / VHS. Based on reviews I've seen, this product seemed to be the ticket (macro capability), and the price wasn't too bad.
Programming macros in the RM-AV3000 was a chore, because the user manual is poorly organized, and one has to jump around between different sections of the manual to find out how to accomplish a single task.
For example, to replace a factory preset, you have to first erase the factory preset, then reprogram it: Go to Page 32 for programming info... then, See page 37, then go back to Page 32. It would have been better if the preset could just be erased and reprogrammed in one step.
The same thing happens when you want to change a program you've created - except the procedure to erase your program is different than erasing the factory preset! Go to Page 32 for programming info... then, See page 35, then back to Page 32.
All of this is unnecessarily complicated - but is typical for a lot of home entertainment products. When are the manufacturers finally going to get rid of nonintuitive, nested setup menus? Unfortunately, this product is among the worst I've seen in this regard, and this is one case where you do not want to lose the user manual. Thankfully, there is a Quick Reference Guide that takes a tutorial approach and is a helpful supplement to the manual.
It was annoying to find that none of the "JVC" component code numbers supplied (in a separate booklet) worked with my 2-year-old JVC VCR (I have several other, older JVC VCRs, and all the remotes are all interoperable, so there is no excuse for not providing a working code number). Fortunately, the learning mode worked very smoothly. The factory presets worked for my Sony DVD player (no suprise). The optical output of the Sony remote was stronger than the remote that came with the JVC VCR.
I managed to lock up the unit. I tried to program the functions from a Hauppauge WinTV PVR remote, using the learning mode to replace the factory satellite presets (STB) of the Sony remote. The unit seemed to learn the remote codes ok, but pressing the newly-programmed channel up button on the Sony caused the transmit indicator to display continuously, and none of the other buttons responded. I had to pull the batteries (which means having to reset the clock) to get it to function again. I was able to reproduce the problem, and trying to reprogram the unit again didn't solve the problem.
The touchscreen backlight isn't needed in a well-lit room. The touchscreen smudges very easily. Cleaning it is a problem, because applying pressure to the touchscreen activates functions, even if the unit was previously powered off.
The unit has the same form factor to a remote I have for an old Sony big-screen CRT, but has a "heft" that conveys an impression of quality. This makes it a pleasure to handle and operate.
All in all, the RM-AV3000 accomplished what I wanted. My wife can press one button to select broadcast TV, one button for DVD, etc.. And it eliminates the clutter of the other remotes. However, the difficulty of programming it almost counteracts the joy of using it.
I have been using the unit for over a year, and recently had to change the batteries for the first time. I should note that I have the backight set to turn off after 5 seconds, and a longer setting likely would adversely impact battery life. It is a pain to have to reprogram the clock if the batteries are removed; this seems to be an unnecessary oversight in the design.
Pros: Attractive, hefty unit gives impression of quality. Decent signal output, better than many original remotes.
Cons: Display smudges easily. User manual poorly organized and confusing. Codes supplied for other products don't necessarily work.
Rating:
Summary: It solved my problem
Review: My TV remote died and the manufacturer wanted 60 bucks to replace it. This is for a multidevice remote with no learning capability and it lacked presets for many of my other devices.
So, I suffered for a while with a cheap replacement remote which didn't handle all the features of my TV. Then I found this remote. I managed to get the original TV remote to work a bit longer, so that the Sony could learn its commands. Now I have all the functionality of the original remote, and it controls my other devices as well.
My few complaints are that the manual was a bit hard to understand, and that the touch screen really shows fingerprints, and so it requires a lot of cleaning.
But I'm very glad I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: YES review updated 04/19/04 still no problems!
Review: Not a single problem. I have successfully used the remote to operate numerous components to include the television, CD player, Amplifier, DVD player, VCR, Motorola digital cable box and Lutron lighting controls. I especially like the macro functions, which have enabled me to turn the entire "system" off at a predetermined time each day. Could the remote use improvements? Yes, however, ask 10 people what they want, you'll get 10 answers! I like this remote, as it successfully replace 8 others.
Rating:
Summary: Almost the perfect remote
Review: Received the remote and immediatly tried it out on my sony gear. (I am almost all Sony, so this should have been a snap) But I had a snag. My Home Theatre System (Sony HT-DDW740) came out after the remote did and the RM-AV3000 did not work with it. I had to have it learn all the commands from the remote. Let me tell you programming the remote with all the buttons from my HTS was a pain. Also, when the remote is sitting on the arm of my chair, if I accidently touch the screen it will do strange stuf (change the channel, flip on something etc.) and that is a pain, but overall the remote has worked well. It worked on my DSS TV and DVD player with no problems. I would recommend this remote to all techies.
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