Sweet Remote
Written: Feb 16 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent Hard Buttons
Easy to Set Up
Great Custom Features
Cons: Big for One Hand Use
Sucker if Purchased from Best Buy
The Bottom Line: Offers great flexibility for everyone. Not too difficult to use out of the box. This remote will grow with you instead of you growing out of it!
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| jellos's Full Review: Sony RM-AV3000 LCD Touchscreen Remote Control |
I've been around Sony's Commander line for a few years. Both of my brothers have the two previous models. When I saw this model come out I had to take a look since it is the biggest improvement the past few years. Sony added more hard buttons to the bottom. This was very much needed. I noticed my brothers using their cable/sat remote to switch channels. Now the commander wasn't the universal remote they once thought. Not that it couldn't handle the codes, it was they had to use the touch screen to change days, pages, channels, etc. The touch screen works well, but they found themselves missing the buttons and what not. The 3000 has these on the bottom and boy does it work well. When switching to TV, DVD, or Cable, the 'arrow' buttons change accordingly. DVD modes the arrows are now your cursors for selecting DVD menus. A great addition to a good line of remotes.
Programming wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I've heard the manual is not so user friendly, and it isn't. Sony did add a pull out update to the manual which helps greatly. I have 6 components that are all different. Two are Sony. This remote is ready out of the box for all Sony components. For my TV and CD player it was great. Otherwise I had to use preprogrammed codes. There is a huge list and I did not encounter any problems finding mine. Some buttons I had to 'learn' but all in all the process was very smooth and I was up and running in an hour or two. After a few days of use I went back and did some minor changes to make it even easier. I haven't used it but the remote has a search function to find your preprogrammed codes, which could come in handy if you lose the sheet.
One thing I like are the custom labels. Each component gets 4 buttons at the bottom that you can label, up to 8 characters, and a ton of symbols. The system buttons which are macro buttons are also great. At a touch of a button I can turn off all my components, turn them on with another button, change inputs and sound so I can play PS2, change inputs and sound again - turn on DVD player - open the tray with another button. Before this remote it was a matter of several buttons on 3 different remotes. My girlfriend loves the idea of only one remote on the table!
I will caution everyone. This remote is hard to use with one hand, not impossible just a little difficult at times. Since it has the addition of hard buttons at the bottom, it's easier then previous models to hold in one hand. This new models is thinner, and maybe lighter then previous models. It is more hand friendly to make it easier to grip in one hand.
This remote also has timer functions that could be useful but I haven't used them so I can't comment on them.
I've heard of people having problems with this model. They claim that the remote gets into a infinite loop of transmitting and locks up the remote. They have returned it and encounter the same problem. There are many solutions to fix this and they can be found at this wonderful web site. www.remotecentral.com I urge everyone who is looking into this remote or any universal remote to check this web site out. Their forum is a great place to help and reviews. If you are thinking of buying this at a dept store or bought it from Best Buy, etc. TAKE IT BACK! You can easily find it online for around $120.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jellos
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Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
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