Philips Magnavox PMDVD6 user reviews (universal remote control)

4.0 stars

"Does what a $70 Learning remote does, but for $15!" on March 1, 2005 by djspaceace

Pros: Modern, thin design fits well in hand. It's a cheap LEARNING remote!

Cons: The "one color" buttons may make it hard for those used to Crayola colored buttons to remember button functions. Small button labels and Finicky Learning newer DISH remotes.

Summary: Depending on how you browse CNET, you may or may not see the negative reviews for this product. Regardless, I find complaints about the codes not working for this or that home theater item laughable. This is a LEARNING remote. If the codes don't work (and by definition that's why it's called a learning remote) you teach it how to replace the old remote. In today's gadget filled world, to have a 4 digit code developed for every US, Japanese, Korean, Tom, Dick and Harry brand of whatever is an awfully high expection for a consumer. Especially when many of us are budget conscious and would rather buy Apexs vs Sony. Having more "Me Too" brands out there make things cost less for us, but keeping up with codes for everything is a lot to expect of a company. Some years ago, universal remotes were made with a fixed number of codes. If none of the codes worked, you were out of luck. LEARNING remotes were available, but were usually the cost of a small TV itself. Well now learning remotes have come down in price and this Philips PMDVD6 is evidence of this...and what a good thing it is, too. I bought mine at a local Target for $14.

I have a Vizio plasma [fr Costco], an "Aspire" progressive scan DVD [fr RadioShack], and a Dish Network 811 HD receiver. The remotes for the plasma and Dish were like the older universal remotes, if the codes didn't work or if the brand wasn't listed, you were usually out of luck, but with the PMDVD6 I was able to eliminate having 3 remotes and have a single, sleek remote reside on my coffee table. For those of you reading this as a result of Googling how to teach a learning remote to take the place of the Dish Network remote, the key is to change the remote address to "1". (See the Dish manual). Anyway, teaching one remote to learn the other is simple, but admittedly, a finicky process. Simply face the remotes to each other, preferrably on a table and not in your hands. You get into the learning mode in the PMDVD6 and hit the button you want to program on the PMDVD6. Then hit the button on the remote you are trying to eliminate. When you get the acknowledgement blink from the Philips, you've now programmed the PMDVD6 button to do what you wanted to do on the old remote. You go through the process for every button you use, like: Guide, Last channel, Info, mute, arrow left, arrow right, etc. Sometimes you have to get creative because newer remotes have "page up" and "page down" buttons. The PMDVD6 doesn't have a button labeled for this, but I use the FF or REV buttons. When controlling the program guide to page up or down, you don't need a FF or REV button, so using them as substitutes work. That's part of the beauty of this remote--the flexibility of programming almost any button on thePMDVD6. The bad part is that sometimes (especially with the UHF DISH remote) you have to try this process several times for the PMDVD6 to learn the button, but have patience, because it will work. Programming the DVD and the TV remotes into the PMDVD6 was a lot faster.