Almost every device I've seen with "chapter skip" functions do not use the channel buttons. Thus, I always program chapter skip to channel up/down. I'm not sure why they didn't do that in the first place.

Since the labels around the cursor section are somewhat hard to read, I'll post what they are here, starting with the top left:

|<< & MENU
PLAY
>>| & GUIDE
FAST FORWARD
PAUSE & INFO
STOP
REC & EXIT
REWIND

So, assume we move chapter skip to the channel buttons (which I would have done had I designed the remote), you free up MENU and GUIDE. I would move the INFO button from PAUSE to PREV CH. Those devices that have PREV CH probably don't have PAUSE (yeah, I know some VCRs do have a previous channel function, but none of mine do!) That only leaves REC and EXIT on the same button. If I had a device with both (oddly enough none of my devices have an EXIT button, just MENU) I'd probably move REC to the LCD section to reduce accidental usage.