You know what? It's not that I'm fiddling. I use it to set the sleep timer on my TV, and I need the following TV buttons: "Menu", the 4-way joystick, "Select", and "Exit". If my plasma was like my Toshiba DLP, I could just assign a single "Sleep" function on the first page of the Activity, but unfortunately my stupid TV requires 5 different buttons navigating through the menu before I can select Sleep Timer (which explains why I need a good universal remote to operate this.

How am I going to do that without the Picture button?

Here's four options:

1.) I can devote more than one page (7 buttons) on the "Activity" to those functions (and have to use the touchscreen, which will take three times as long to set since I am forced to look at the screen and can't feel the buttons).

2.) I can go into Devices and get the correct buttons (still have to look at the touch screen).

3.) I can replace my Philips plasma with a different model with a better menu and dedicated button for sleep function that could use only a single . Feel free to send $3,000 to my Paypal account and I will then agree with you 100%, no, wait, 110%.

4.) Or.... I can hit Picture and then Sound (on my 676) and go straight to the functions I need.


Yes, some people fiddle. I don't. I set up my receiver ONE time with the incuded setup mic and then fine tuned it just a little more, and after that, I only adjust the volume, input and sleep timer. On my TV, I change the input, the screen size depending on the source, and set the sleep timer (volume is never on). (But I still need the Menu, Guide, Transport buttons, etc. for my cable box.) I wouldn't think that was considered fiddling. What I wish I had was a remote that was so easy to use, I could use it in the dark, without a remote backlight and (obviously) without ever looking at it because the tactile feel of the buttons is so intuitive. But, even if I was a fiddler, shouldn't the remote allow for easy fiddling?

What I don't understand is why people think just because ten buttons work for them, then that's all the buttons anyone else needs. In that (perfect) world, I am a 24 year-old Hugh Hefner wih Bill Gates' money...