Customer Reviews

Philips Magnavox PM435S 4-Device Universal Remote Control

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I bought this when my TV's remote finally died. I checked to be sure it would work with my 14-year-old Magnavox TV, satellite TV box and fairly old Phillips VCR. It works, but the buttons don't exactly line up. It took some work to figure it out, for example, the sleep setting on my TV works with the "Quit" button on the remote, not the "sleep" button. The fast forward, rewind, play and stop buttons on the remote do nothing for the VCR, but the buttons in one of the circles do the trick. For the low cost, I didn't mind too much the fact that I had to figure out what button did what, and I followed the set up directions to a T, *three times* thinking I had goofed it. It's taken plenty of falls, been chewed on by my baby, slept on, dropped, lost and stepped on, and it's still working perfectly.

My elation at no longer needing to do the remote control dance between my JVC television, my Samsung DVD recorder, and my Panasonic VCR came to a screeching halt when I realized I no longer had an eject button for my VCR and DVD-R. Shucks! Now I have to get up and go up to them, feel around for the eject button. If I have to get up and do that, why even have a remote?! (I know, that sounds lazy, doesn't it?) I'll see if I'm able to get used to not having them spit out the tape or DVD first before I go to it to take it out.

Programming was frustrating but not impossible. The key is to just put in the codes yourself rather than letting the remote try and find it. That's a headache. The pamphlet they put inside the manual was really all I needed, and the easiest way to program was just to trial-and-error the codes myself instead of trying several times to get the remote to find it on its own. (Some model TVs, like JVC and Panasonic, have several codes you have to try before it takes. I got lucky in that the first number I tried was the right one!)

I also must note that although I bought the PM435S, mine looks nothing like the one they show here. Mine has large, blue, easily-seen number keys and large blue buttons for ± vol and ±channel, and large blue buttons for the main DVD functions. There is only one set of directional keys, not two as shown, and all other keys are translucent but don't have backlighting.

For what this remote cost, the lack of an eject button isn't a huge issue, but I still wish it had one. The remote doesn't have lighted keys, either. It does, however, fit nicely in my hand, even if it is rather large. And most importantly, it works! I can turn the TV on and off, switch to input/video, turn the volume up and down, change channels, turn the DVD recorder on and off, go to the menu, set the timer record, and the play/pause buttons work. What else do I need? To my mind, since this does work so well, I can't justify paying upwards of $200 for a remote, because I can't imagine what else the expensive ones would do better. I'd pay $10 extra tops for backlit keys and an eject button, but that's the limit.

I am astounded at how well this works. I have a JVC TV, a Sharp VCR, a Panasonic DVD and a 13 year old Yamaha Home Stereo (yes, it works on this as well, I simply used the CBL/SAT button and got it to work). For 8 dollars you can't go wrong.

I purchased this remote because the remote for my Norcent DVD player stopped working a few months after I bought it. This remote is easy to use, the set up is very easy. It's slim and fits perfectly in my hand. It works better than my regular remotes at home. I like it a lot.

Simple to program. Simple to use. Still new so I don't know about the 2 AAA battery life (another comment said it ate batteries.) This was less than half the price of an original replacement TV remote plus I can control my DVD and VCR. A good buy.

We got this remote to replace a dead remote for a TV in our bedroom, not even for the purpose of hooking multiple devices together. We decided on this remote by the highly scientific process of going to the store, and selecting the cheapest universal remote they had available. The remote worked with the very minimal effort of finding the TV's code in the manual (which has a large selection of device codes (though in my experience, the first code for any given product usually works). Recently, we have switched tvs around and added various components to our setups and it has worked with almost every device (including a 13 year old AIWA stereo system and the Cable tuner from some company I've never heard of). It only has had some trouble with this DVD/VCR combo from Philips that we just got (which surprises me to no end). I would give it only four stars for that small caveat if it wasn't so darn cheap. For the price, the general multipurpose-ness of this device deserves the full 5 stars.

This device is excellent when it works. I purchased it for use on my Zenith television primarily. The included code book did indeed include the code for my model. After entering the code, the device was recognized and worked without flaw. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the remote occasionally clears itself of its code storage rendering it useless until the code is entered again. When it does work, however, no complaints.

This is a great remote. It's lightweight with soft buttons, and it controls many functions. Compared to the 5 previous universal remotes I have bought in the past, this one definitely is the best. Any remote can control a TV, VCR, or DVD. There's only so much you can do: on, off, play, stop, etc. I programmed my stereo receiver into the "cable" button, and I was able to control practically every function my receiver offers. I've always looked for a remote that I thought would be able to handle the many functions, but they never do. This one was able to control my bass boost, treble boost, surrond sound, preset programming, sleep, function selection (TAPE, CD, TV, VIDEO 1, 2, 3, etc), the list goes on.

The only thing I found weird with this remote is that the "mute" button is used to store a code. All my previous remotes used "enter", so if I forget how to program this one, I'll have to remember to press "mute".

Before, I could turn every component on or off and adjust the volume, but I'd have to get up to press "Video 1" or adjust the bass. Now, I can do it all sitting down, so the "mute" storing of the code is really not that big of a deal to me.

I am very happy with this philips 4-device universal remote control. Very easy to set up. Took less than 10 minutes to program my Magnavox TV, Hitachi VCR and Cyberhome DVD player. I no longer need multiple remotes and can control all with this one remote. I bought Sony Universal Remote control V202 first and could not get it to even Power On. I am glad I bought the philips one after returning the sony one. I would definitely recommend the philips 4-device universal remote control to everyone.

For the price I paid, it would be inappropriate to go off on one about how weak the case is and how easy it is to break the battery flap.

The long and short of it: it supports a gazillion devices (including my brand-less HD LCT TV and HD DVD player) and has run on the same set of Duracell batteries for many months.

Unfortunately, the batter protective cover broke after I initially inserted them. No biggy there.

There outer case isn't as rigid as it could be. It's cracked on the surface at the bottom.

The remote still works tho and is cheap enough to replace (as I did - but locally, this time).