I bought a Phillips universal remote (silver one, controls tv's, dvd's, vcr's and combos) -- and finally called Phillips after doing the code search manually -- and Phillips said "we know that they have quality control problems, and often change chips in mid-manufacture of a model, if you have tried the codes we have printed, and tried the manual step through - our experience is that the buttons will not control what they say, so for example the on-of might change the channel, or the FF on the DVD could move the volume up, but the stop button will move it down. You're best bet is to try to get a second remote from TruTech. But I'll warn you, I don't think you will have much luck because of the way they change chips, you'll need the serial number so they can pin-point the chip used on that model."

ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE!

Mine was a present from some people I helped out for a bit - and when my 1985 Sony finally bit the dust, they thoughtfully replaced it with a Truetech 2000T.

beggars can't be choosers I guess. and sometimes it IS better to look a gift horse in the mouth!