remote controls

I've had mine for almost a year now. I have a fairly complicated AV setup many different brands of products. The RM-VL900 easily replaces all of my other remotes.

The remote itself has 3 macro buttons at the top. These buttons will perform up to 16 commands. Use these for turning on or off all of your components at once with the touch of 1 button. The 8 component selection buttons below also double as macro buttons. Press them to change components, press and hold for 2 seconds to perform a macro. This is a great feature when switching your AV system from one component to another requires multiple commands. These macro buttons not only make it more convenient for you, but also make complicated AV setups much more accessable to non-technical people. Any function that the remote can perform can be included in a macro, including learned functions.

The rest of the buttons on the remote are your standard fare of VCR, DBS, and TV control type buttons. Every button is programmable/learning. You can look for your remote on the list of provided codes, or just program all the buttons yourself using the learning feature and the old remote. You are not limited to traditional layouts and can program any button to perform any function you want. You can even mix remotes under a single component. Use the DBS component mode to change channels on both the VCR and the DBS system without have to switch the remotes component mode if you want. Nice.

The button themselves are well laid out. You have big channel and volume buttons on the bottom. The volume buttons can be set to change the volume on your TV or reciever no matter what component is selected on the remote. The other buttons have different shapes and sizes and are laid out in such a way that you can quickly learn to find your way around the remote without having to look at it. Try that with one of those fancy LCD remotes.

The only 2 minor drawbacks with the remote are that only the component select buttons are actually lit. The others are glow in the dark. This isn't a huge drawback because they glow fairly well, and after you get used to the remote, probably won't be looking at it anyway. The other drawback is that programming it is a little complex, and the manual isn't the clearest. Given all the functionality of the remote, I doubt they could have made the programming much easier, but they certainly could have made the manual a little clearer. The manual, while not clear, is comprehensive. Spend a few extra minutes with the manual and I think most people will be able to figure it out.

This remote doesn't just replace other remotes, it makes using your entire AV Theater setup much easier to use. There's not much more I can say about it, it's just a few backlit buttons away from perfection.

The RM-VL900 is likely the best value in universal remote controls. All of the keys are learning capable and the programming process is simple. In minutes, I programmed macros to turn on and set my system for use with each component (digital cable box, DVD, VCR, etc.) with one touch. Also handy is a volume "pass-through" that controls the volume though the amplifier regardless of which component is selected. This option is easily set or undone in a couple of seconds.

I considered fancy touch-screen remotes costing hundreds of dollars but personally, I prefer hard buttons that I can feel in the dark. The key layout and varied shapes and sizes make this model easy to use without taking your eyes off your big-screen. While buttons can't be relabeled, they can be programmed for any function and it's easy enough to remember which does what.

The keys are not backlit but they all glow in the dark -- not just the transport and channel/volume controls as on so many remotes.

Considering the sleeker looking RM-VL1000 for a few dollars more? Forget it! I too was enticed by its LCD screen and joystick but it turned out to be an ergonomic nightmare. Simple functions required several steps. Just reading the instructions gave me a headache!

Is the RM-VL900 the perfect remote? No, but it earned five stars from me for its unmatched user-friendliness and a price that allowed me to buy two (no fighting over the remote in my house!) Incidentally, when you buy the second one -- and you will -- all of the commands except the macros can be transferred from the first one in seconds!

With any universal remote, there's always the possibility that it won't be compatible with a device (i.e. TV or VCR) that you have. In that case, a learning function is essential. If it wasn't for this Sony RM-VL900 having it, I wouldn't have been able to use it to operate my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3250 digital cable box. Once everything was set up, there was no need to use any other remote. This remote is SO fabulous!! Its glow-in-the-dark feature is nice. The remote's keys absorb light & give it off when the sun goes down. Unfortunately, in total darkness, it'll only glow for 20 minutes before going totally dark. I watch TV with the lights on, so it wasn't a big deal for me. I guess it would've been easier for Sony to make the remote (like other competing models) draw power from the batteries to make everything glow all the time. But that would drain battery power, and Sony would've had to install power saving features that limited the functionality ... which wouldn't be a good thing (I used to own a RCA universial remote like that. Didn't like it at all.) Overall, I definately got my money's worth purchasing the Sony RM-VL900. It puts other universial remotes to shame!! :-)

FYI: If you're buying this to replace another because a previous model, you can transfer a lot of what's in the former over to the new one. Learned functions? FUGGETTABOUTIT!! You'll have to teach those to the new remote all over again. The process is relatively painless, though, so it won't take long at all.