URC A6 Pre-Programmed and Learning Universal Remote Control for up to 6 A/V Components

This is the first time I've made such a sweeping statement in a review title, and in all caps, no less. However, I wasted many hours programming and attempting to program this remote due to my ignorance of one important thing: the Learning Method (facing two remotes together and programming one button at a time) on this Universal Remote has a very limited memory. This is stated nowhere in the manual, and I only learned about it after many hours and then a telephone call to the Universal Remote 800 number. What the limited memory means is that programming the Universal Remote to eliminate more than two component remotes requires a very careful programming sequence (see below under "HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW...."I suspect that this is the cause of many of the 1 and 2 star reviews. If the Learning Method memory runs out, further button transfers will simply fail, leading one to possibly conclude that the component remote is incompatible or the Universal Remote is defective. Again, chances are, the Learning Method memory is simply full. In my case, the Universal Remote only had enough memory for three components.These are the components in my A/V system, each with its own remote:1) Samsung 490 Plasma TV2) Panasonic SC-XH150 DVD Home Theater Sound System3) Samsung BD-E5300 Blu-ray Disc Player4) Sony VAIO Computer (for recording TV programs with Windows Media Center) with Vista MCE Remote Control (Model VRC-1100)5) TiVo Premiere XL BoxI tried programming each of these components' remotes into the Universal Remote, except for the TiVo. I didn't bother with that since the TiVo doesn't have a standard ON/OFF button and is unusual in other ways as well. However, commands from all four other components' remotes were accepted by the Universal Remote.The Universal Remote accepts commands from other remotes in four ways:1)Quick Set-Up Method -- Turn on a component and then while holding down the corresponding component button at the top of the Universal Remote (TV, for example) press the 10 numbers on the UR's numeric keypad one at a time. If the component (TV in this example) turns off after one of the numbers is pressed, you've successfully programmed at least the ON/OFF button (and maybe more, or all, buttons) from your component (TV) remote to the Universal Remote.2) Three-Digit Code Set-Up Method -- If method 1 failed, try entering the 3-digit code numbers assigned to your component's brand. These codes are at the back of the Universal Remote manual. Turn on your TV (for example) and enter the 3-digit codes for your TV brand until one of the codes turns off the TV (maybe none of them will, though). If the TV turns off after one of the 3-digit codes is entered, you've successfully programmed at least the ON/OFF button on your TV remote to the Universal Remote.3) Auto-Search Method -- If methods 1 and 2 failed, turn on your TV (for example), press the "TV" and "SEL" (Select) buttons on the Universal Remote and then press the UP or DOWN arrow buttons for up to five minutes until your TV turns off (if it does). If the TV turns off after one of the arrow button presses, you've successfully programmed at least the ON/OFF button on your TV remote to the Universal Remote.4) Learning Method -- If methods 1, 2, and 3 failed, you'll be using this method to program one button at a time.In my experience, method 1 worked for my TV, and method 2 worked for my DVD Sound System. Only method 4 worked for my other components, though it did work for all the components except TiVo, which I didn't try.I'm guessing that most people will find that the first three methods, if successful at all, will only have partial success. For my TV and DVD Sound System, only the ON/OFF, Menu, Volume Up/Down, and Channel Up/Down buttons transferred properly.HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO PROGRAM AT LEAST THREE COMPONENTS IF METHODS 1-3 FAIL OR ARE ONLY PARTIALLY SUCCESSFUL:The Universal Remote has "Punch Through" features that allow copying of several standard functions (Transport Control, On-Screen Display, and Channel Control) from one component button set to another. It also has Macro features allowing up to a twenty-command sequence to be programmed to one button. The Punch Through and Macro features apparently use a separate memory bank from the Learning Method. Thus, one can maximize the capability of the Universal Remote by following the sequence below:1) First program your TV into the Universal Remote.2) Next program your DVD player into the Universal Remote.3) Program your other components into the Universal Remote using methods 1, 2, or 3, but NOT 4. If methods 1, 2, or 3 failed, or only partially succeeded, use method 4 (Learning Method) to program the most essential functions, EXCEPT FOR Transport Control, On-Screen Display, and Channel Control. Those latter three can be transferred via "Punch Through" without using up Learning Method memory, which seems to be limited to several dozen commands (which are used up quickly).You should be able to program at least three components using this technique, and if you're lucky and methods 1, 2, or 3 were largely or completely successful for several components, you may be able to program all six components into the Universal Remote. Although the Universal Remote is designed to control up to six components, unless you are very lucky and find that at least four or five of the "Pre-Programmed Codes" work perfectly with those five components, the Universal Remote will not have enough memory to handle all of the learned commands necessary for the sixth component. My experience was that three components filled up the Universal Remote's memory bank. If you run out of memory, you can erase a single command, an entire component's commands, or reset the Universal Remote to factory settings and start over, if you wish. Erasing a single command is helpful if you run out of memory and find that a certain button on your DVD (for example) is more important than a certain button on your TV (also for example).Good luck, and be patient! It may take an hour to properly program and test the Universal Remote, even following a careful sequence.

Not what I expected. After getting a URC RF-10 and being very happy with this remote and thinking that since this remote seemed to have the same basic learning function and was a URC I would more than likely be happy with it. I was wrong. This item has a few good things about it but the things it lacks cause it to come up short in my view. First, the product description says it's a preprogrammed and learning remote. This it is but with a very major problem on the learning side which popped up pretty fast when I started setting it up. I have the following items to use this remote with: 1. Sanyo TV; 2. Philips VCR/DVD player combo.; 3. Toshiba DVD recorder; 4. Magnavox VCR/ DVD recorder; 5. Sony Blu-Ray player, and a 6. Motorola Cable box from my cable company. I had no trouble getting the TV, the Cable box and Toshiba DVD recorder set up but with only a few minor items on the TV and Toshiba recorder. The Philips has always been bad to set up as it need a single set up for both the VCR and the DVD player. This remote surprisingly worked fairly well on this and I was surprised by that. (My RF-10 also was able to handle it but it wasn't easy to get it to learn the commands....) On this remote, I wasn't, as I suspected I would be, able to find a code and had to get the remote to learn the commands one by one. This didn't turn out to be to bad, as I only had to change a few items around and I got it up and running OK. But after this I started running into problems. I put the TV on the TV item; the cable box on the cable item; the Toshiba DVD recorder on the VCR/DVD item on the remote and I put the Philips on the Aux slot on the remote. That left the Sony Blu-Ray player and the Magnavox VCR/DVD Recorder. There was only the Lights item and the Audio item slots left. I decided to place the Magnavox on the Lights slot and the Sony on the Audio slot. This is where things started to go wrong. I had not had any problem getting the learning function to learn any of the commands up to this point and expected no surprises as the RF-10 was really able to set up after you got the hang of it. I started the A6's learning the Magnavox's commands and about 12 of 14 commands in the A6 started giving off five blink errors no matter what command I tried to get it to learn. At first, I thought it must be my batteries in the Magnavox's remote going bad so I replaced them. This didn't solve the problem. I tried clearing the A6 of all the commands in the Light slot and trying again. This didn't help. I then cleared the A6 of all the programming by resetting it to factory defaults as per the instruction book. Then I redid the TV, Toshiba, Cable box and Philips without any problems at all. When I got to the Magnavox and started inputting it's commands, again I ran into a apparent limit to how many commands I could teach it to learn before the 5 error light blinks pop up. I decided to see if maybe there was a limit to putting commands under the keys I was trying to use. Nope,. I couldn't find any limit other than the number of macros you could store and that was set at 20. I then cleared a number of commands (about two the first time and three the second test) and tried learning the commands again. Once again when I got to the point where I had been stopped by error blinks before, the A6 again gave off the 5 error blinks that stopped me from entering any further commands in. I played around with this and there was the same limit that I ran up against each time. This surprised me,. On the RF-10, I never ran into anything like this. It appeared that on the Audio and Lights slots, there were limits to the number of commands you could enter. I managed to work around this by leaving off a few things from the Magnavox's remote I used very little and so got the needed commands into the A6 for it. But when I tried to enter commands for the Sony Blu-Ray player, I found that the Audio slot where I planned on putting it wouldn't even accept a power on command without the 5 blink error code! Nothing I tried allowed me to enter any of the Sony's command into the A6 without the 5 error blinks. So I finally gave up on it. I went thru the instructions and could find nothing that stated there was a limit to the number of command in each of the A6's device's slots. Nor were they anything about limits to learning commands. I found this interesting and wonder why it's no noted anywhere. Once you have the commands learned, the remote functions very well and I had no problems getting it to carry out the needed functions when called upon. But the lack of noting the limit on number of commands that can be entered and the seeming over use of codes (I've never had much luck using codes) to program the remote with caused me a good bit of frustration trying to use this item. I did finally get it set up so I could use it a bit but not by any means like I wanted to. Given the performance of the RF-10, this remote falls far short of carrying out what it is supposed do.