Sony RM-V202 Remote Control

Pros: Great design, excellent quality, excellent button placement,low cost, works great!
Cons: Does not control every single feature.

* If you are looking for a remote to control every feature of your TV, VCR, DVD and SAT/Cable, this remote is not for you, but if you just need a remote that controls the basic features that you most commonly use than you are looking in the right place. T ...

Pros: Inexpensive, Search function, Easy to find the manual on the internet, uses AA batteries
Cons: Searching can take a LONG time

Overview: This is a basic universal remote from Sony. It can control four different devices including TV, VCR, Cable/Satellite, and DVD player. Programming: Programming this remote is simple and explained very well in the manual. Also Sony keeps ...

Pros: It is silver and shiny
Cons: Not compatible with other SONY products! Not compatible with other non Sony products!

You would think that a SONY universal remote would control at least SONY branded components. You would think that being SONY it would mean quality. Not so.

This remote was purchased for a SONY DVD player that was missing the original remote. Setting up procedure was a pain. After finding the right code, the remote would control some functions of the DVD player, but NOT advance and rewind. That's right, Play and stop worked, as well as some other buttons, but advance and rewind did not.

Called Sony tech support, mainly to express disbelief at the situation. They informed us that the so called Sony universal remote is not necessarily compatible with Sony branded products. They wanted to walk through the set-up procedure again. Humoured them.. with the same disappointing results. At which point, was informed again, that, unforunately, this Sony universal remote is not guaranteed to be compatible with Sony products. So sorry.

Tried to set up a GE TV, no appropriate code found. More difficulty with setting up Sony VCR, had to use manual code search to get it to work.

Pros: Has AA batteries, as opposed to AAA batteries
Cons: 3-minute memory backup

This remote works well controlling the tv, vcr, dvd player, and second vcr I have it set up for. It doesn't control all the features, but enough for casual use.

Pro - it uses AA batteries, as opposed to the AAA batteries used in some remotes. I prefer changing batteries less often.

Con - 3-minute memory backup - how much would it cost to add a small flash memory chip so that it would never lose its memory? $0.25? I have a small child, who recently removed the batteries from the remote. It's a pain to track down the device code information and reprogram it. In this day of low cost flash memory, you would think this limitation would be done away with.

Pros: Good looking
Cons: Doesn't work with a plain, vanilla DirecTV receiver.

I chose this Universal remote because it is a Sony, looks good and was mid-price range. How difficult could a remote be?
Very, in this case. Actually, it works fine on the tv, dvd and vcr. But it will not work on the RCA DirecTV satellite receiver. I went through every set-up option, every troubleshoot, erased the memory and tried again. By now, I had wasted much more time than it was worth.

I called Sony customer service and had to go through it all again with her on the phone. No go. Here is what she said: "I'm sorry, ma'am, but Sony does not guarantee that a universal remote will work with all components. HUH?

I insisted that this component was standard issue for anyone with DirecTV; tried to use logic (forget it); asked to be bumped up to a higher authority (forget it); threatened to tattle to Epinions, Amazon, etc. That put me on a 30 minute queue, which had me do it all again, and responded the same when it still didn't work. Sony offered no recompense.
If Sony will not stand behind a lousy remote, I definitely will not consider them for larger purchases.