Hi, I am new to the remote world, and not sure where to start. I list our equipments in my signiture.

I lost the remote for our Magnavox DVD + Home Theater System, and was thinking about just get a good universal remote to replace it. To replace the magnavox remote will be about $60. We are thinking about upgrade to a individual home theater system plus a DVD player in the future. We thought we can use the universal remote in the future to avoid the clutter. We got a cheap Philip 8 device remote from Bestbuy, but cannot control the volume of Magnavox through that. We returned it. So my question is:

1) What are the features I need in a univeral remote when I have a lost remote?
2) How should I "classify" my Magnavox since it is both a DVD player and receiver?
3) What is a good remote for me?

Thank you very much!!

If you were to get a "One For All" brand remote, the LG TV will work mostly with the very common TV/0030 setup code and you could use advanced codes to re-program any buttons that are incorrect. The Panasonic VCR will respond to the VCR/1162 setup code. I don't have any info on the Magnavox, so it's hard to predict what setup code the Magnavox might respond to, but you might get lucky and find that it responds to a built in code. If it does, you can likely fill in the blanks using advanced codes.

Devices like the Magnavox are commonly called HTS (ie, Home Theater Systems), but you could also simply call it a DVD/receiver combo.