Home > Consumer Reviews > SONY Universal Remote Commander(R) Remote Control

I did a lot of research before buying this remote (actually, two of them.) I successfully programmed the RMV401 to recognize a GE TV, a JVC VCR, a Pioneer DVD, a Sony Sat., and a Sony CD. I was getting excited. Then I tried to get it to recognize a Sony Receiver (STR-DE685). It wouldn't. Went through all troubleshooting. Called Sony help line. They walked me through all troubleshooting, then finally said: "We don't guarantee compatibility with all components." Ok, I can understand not being compatible with a component made in Finland, but a SONY! Unforgiveable. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. So I have to return both of them (long drive back into the city), and continue searching. It's too bad, because this is an ergonomic and well-designed remote, except for this problem. The problem with all Remote makers is they don't specify which components are compatible. They should do this.

It seemed to work well at first. I had some problems getting it to set, because it requires more force than you'd expect to trigger the set command. Successfully got it to work for a Zenith TV, Panasonic VCR and RCA VCR. It also worked on a Sony STD-D550Z receiver, although not all the commands would work. It would run the basic commands for a Sony 5 disc DVD player, but couldn't switch discs (very annoying). I'd still have to pull the DVD remote out of the drawer if I planned to cycle through CDs or wanted to view more than one DVD. I could not get it to work on the Sony STR-DE985 receiver I just bought. Like the other review I read, I'm pretty amazed it doesn't work on Sony devices. The inability to learn commands makes this remote pretty much useless, even if you have Sony devices. Waste of money