According to this this thread, the only way to use a universal remote is to learn everything from the original remote.

You will need a remote with sufficient learning capacity to learn all of the commands. Even with universal remotes, there are many commands that must be learned, but of course in your case everything must be learned.

You can get an RM-AV2500 here for $82.89 plus shipping, a little more than the $75 you mentioned but not excessive.

You can get an RM-AV3100 here for $95.49 plus shipping.

I have the 3100 but either remote will work well. It just depends on what you want to spend and how many features you need.

The files section of this forum has excellent reviews on both remotes.