ARRRGGGGHHHH...so frustrating. Some history is needed, I'll try to be brief.

I have been trying for years to find a universal remote that will work well for all of my equipment. I started years ago with Radio Shack remotes. I even went the JP1 route. Tried various OFA remotes, I even went the Harmony route. They all worked mostly, but I could never put the other remotes away. I can't imagine how many hours of my life I've spent trying to get universals to work for everything.

I have two things working against me. The first is that I'm not a technical genious. The JP1 thing was just too complex for me. The more important thing is that Audio/Video is not a hobby. I have a busy life, and don't have hours to spend on these things.

Sorry to bore you. KMart is clearancing these R7 gamer remotes for $3.50. The price is national. It may be marked with a different price but it rings up at $3.50. I was fed up with my remote adventures, but couldn't resist at this price. The keypad layout is good for Tivo, and that's of ultimate importance for me.

It has a large learning capability, and is able to hold some macros, so I was kind of excited. The excitement ended when I was unable to get the remote to learn any keys from my other remotes. I tried another R7 and got the same thing. I tried learning from a Samsung TV remote, a DTivo remote, an Infocus projector remote, and a Pioneer receiver remote. I then tried learning from my Harmony, and that that did not work either. I have re-read the instructions many times as I figured with that many combinations not working, I must be doing something wrong.

1) Press and Hold Component and Enter Buttons for 3 Seconds until Comp. light turns on.
2) Press button you want to program on Gamer Remote
3) Press button on original remote
4) Component light will blink twice. (Repeat the above two steps for all buttons to be learned for device)
5) To Save, Press and Hold Component and Enter Buttons for 3 Seconds until Comp. light blinks 3 times.

I do all of this and the remote blinks the way it is supposed to, but when I try to use it, it doesn't work. Not one learned button has worked. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks. My wife thinks I'm nuts with these remotes, and I'm beginning to believe her.

Reminds me of the 80's when target discounted the memorex cp8 down to $20, everywhere else was selling at $99. Bought two and get them home and they wouldn't learn damn from any of the components remotes I had at the time. Bargain back to the store. : (


I was playing with gamer, it learned tivo addresses 1 & 3 with no troubles. And most of the commands from my MSNTV 2 unit, except for Refresh command off the wireless keyboard, nothing I could do to get it to learn it. Other URC remote did with no troubles.

Sorry it didn't work out for you. But thanks again for the tip.

During learning, when you press the key to learn to on the gamer, press and release, do not hold.

Slightly off topic: Other than the color, the labelling on the buttons, and I suppose the preprogrammed code sets, how does the URC gamer remote differ from the URC R7? Would the original poster have the same problems learning with an R7?

The differences, are the labels, color of case & backlighting, and the codes. Missing are AUX devices & CD players codes.



Couldn't say for sure, but the lone command I couldn't learn on the Gamer, wasn't able to be learned by the R7 either.