Universal Remote Control (URC) R6

I originally bought the Logitech Harmony 700 with high hopes of combining the clutter of many remotes (Samsung LED TV, Samsung Blu-Ray player, Panasonic DVD Recorder, Cable Box, and Receiver). Spending… $120-140 for a silly remote meant it had to work perfectly. Well, the Harmony 700 didn't. It could never find the right input source on my Samsung TV. I spend hours at the computer reconfiguring the complicated web-based software and uploading to the remote, then rushing downstairs to try it on the system to no avail. I finally gave up and returned the 700, buying instead the URC R6 for 20 bucks. What a beautifully simple, elegant, and perfectly functioning remote for only a fraction for the cost of the Harmony 700. Sure, no fancy color LCD display or rechargeable batteries, but who needs all that? It also doesn't try to automatically toggle through the TV's sources to find the right input, but I can easily do that myself in a couple seconds. After setting up the R6 in an hour or so, it operated all my components perfectly and with ease. It even now has an extra PIP function missing with the original Samsung remote. The R6 also controls the sound volume from my amplifier/receiver for all components, something few remotes can do... fantastic. I'm thinking of getting a second R6 because it works so well, as a backup. For $20, the URC R6 acts like it's a $60-$100 remote. Great value for the money and highly recommend.

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I have used this remote for about 9 months now. At first I wasn't real happy with it because it refused to accept any new programmed buttons after the first 5 or 6. I finally decided to try to fix this and… reset the device back to factory settings. After setting up the buttons again, it now works fine with about 15 programmed buttons. I think I may have initially used too many cross function settings and it got conflicted and couldn't be programmed anymore. The second time around I tried to keep it simple and that worked fine. Pros: Price!!!! . Battery life is good; I'm on the original set for nine months now. Button layout closely resembles my Brighthouse/Scientific Atlanta cable remote. Cons: Buttons are noisy, too loud clicks. The two power buttons seem to me to be labeled incorrectly (swapped). Manual is a bit wordy; the programming instructions sometimes span pages and with a 30 second timeout, I would advice writing down simplified steps and using them instead of trying to follow those in the manual.

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Just got the URC-R6 yesterday and am very happy with it. Comcast just switched us over to digital requiring DTA boxes, and the "universal" remote they supply with the Pace DC50X DTA was able to control… neither of our old TVs -- a Panasonic PVQ-2012 TV/VCR combo and a Westinghouse LCD LTD-17v1SL. I understand that the Pace DTA uses a newer IR "xmp" protocol that many learning remotes cannot handle, but the URC-R6 proved to be compatible with it. The URC-R6 had a preset for the Panasonic, but I could not find one for the Westinghouse or Pace DTA. However, I found it very easy to teach it all the buttons from the Westinghouse and Pace remotes. Everything is on one remote again and working like a champ. I've got the Westinghouse on the TV button, the Panasonic on the VCR button, and the Pace on the Cable button. Usually for us, the remote can stay on Cable mode, and I've programmed the Panansonic's On/Off code onto Cable (the Pace box itself doesn't turn on and off, and it does volume control). Also, the URC-R6 has a "MacroPower" feature that allows several devices to be turned on/off with one press of the remote's power button, and if you want, it allows "punch through" for volume controls that allows one device's volume to be controled while in another device's mode, though that's not necessary in my setup.

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