So, picked up a 40" Samsung yesterday for a client's use with DirecTV. It's a UN40H5003AF. It seemed to work just acceptably, but for less than $300, how could you complain?

Here's how: I can't get it to shut off with the DirecTV remote.

Using the remote control setup method that comes with the H25, the model number is not in the list. Choosing "I don't know" gives me a power command that works when in the remote control setup process, but once I exit that and try to just use the DirecTV remote, the OFF button turns off the H25 but the Samsung says "This function is not available."

So I switch the remote and receiver over to the kind of remote control setup where five digit numbers are listed. I try the first dozen. Maybe three don't work at all. The others work just like with the other method: "This function is not available."

This is very time-consuming because POWER works when you're in the setup mode, then doesn't work when you've exited the menu system.

Anybody have any idea how to overcome this? Sure, there's another dozen codes to try, but this was, of course, the last thing I was trying to do last night before leaving, already late. I'll try the rest when I can.

Thanks.

There are reasons cheap TVs are cheap. This is one. :)

I have run into this before as well. Not much you can do about it except use 2 remotes or heaven forbid the actual power button on the TV itself....assuming it is not too cheap to have one of those....I think it is a UL requirement though.

I know DirecTV boxes have HDMI control. Does this work to power on the TV? I usually turn it off out of habit so I have not tested it.

I ran into this last week.
On the old style DirecTV remote, you could slide the switch at the top to TV - and the big toggle power button would still work the TV. But the ON & OFF buttons would only work the DirecTV.
On the newer DirecTV remote, you only have the ON & OFF buttons. So you are screwed.

Not sure if this is a DirecTV issue or Samsung issue. But switching the TV to a different brand will work. Not sure if the new higher model Samsungs have the same issue with DirecTV.

O.
My.
God.
An aspect of HDMI might solve a problem!
I imagine programming the DirecTV remote to turn a Sony TV on and off. (If you don't program a DTV remote to control a TV, some TV, any TV, the remote won't even turn off the DirecTV unit!)

Thanks.

The 5003 series don't have discretes for many universal remotes (URC), in addition to misbehaving with DTV remotes. I'd have to look at our notes but I think that we had to go up to the 5200 to get discretes. Seems like the shortage of a toggle with DTV is another issue.

I don't think I've ever been quite as cheap as you are in this case, but with some models, there are reports that upgrading the firmware fixes a few discrete issues. Your mileage may vary.

The problem is definetly with Samsung and not with DTV. It is with their lower end models. The problem is, their lower end seems to be gradually expanding. Just about anything now in a 40" and smaller falls in this category

Ernie, you may have better results if you fuss with CEC and AnyNet.

When it comes to Samsung, what usually dictates what code to use is repeating volume commands, in the directv remote there is only 10812 or 10702, that give repeating volume.

Does the remote have an 'R' at the end of the model number? If so, you might try setting it up to control the Sat receiver via RF and then do the TV control setup again. When RF is used, part of the procedure requires aiming the remote at the Sat receiver (it made no sense to me, either) when acquiring the code set for the TV. I did this last month when I had to replace a TV at a country club and the remote wouldn't send the proper commands, so I called Tech Support and got it cleared up.

This might be what we have to live with when budget drives the purchasing decision.

You've brought up something important, but the way edmund explained it, it's a little different from your description.

There are two different ways to set up the white DirecTV remotes. One method presents a list of codes to try, one after another. I find this works every time unless I have a TV like the one we're discussing here. The other method asks you what brand and model you have, and tells you to point the remote at the receiver while setting up. I find that method works so rarely that I ALWAYS change the setting on the receiver to use the five-digit-code method.

This is long but REALLY worth knowing about.


In a nutshell, the two methods of programming can be chosen by exiting all menus, then:
Press and Hold MUTE and SELECT until the remote blinks twice;
Enter 9 6 3
At this point, CH UP sets one method and CH DOWN sets the other method. (IIRC, CH DOWN gives the code number method.)


edmund explained the details like this, or this is how I paraphrased it for my tech notes, a few years ago:


Actually and literally yesterday I set up two white remotes in an entertainment industry office and I had to resort to this. All the information was right there in my phone in Evernote. And when I had set up the other two dozen remotes in this office a year ago, it had been necessary... no, that's not true; it would have been wasted time to use the default process, so I changed the receivers to the CH DOWN method.

I think that's what was brought up in Post 2, that I said in Port 4 that I'd have to try out.


Really? I was quite sure that several codes gave repeating volume. I'll have to check!

For sure, one of the first numbers gave non-repeating volume. It's been irritating to go to a client's home and find that the DirecTV installer programmed the remote but apparently didn't hold the volume button long enough to realize that the code did not repeat. It's ridiculous to see customers hitting volume over and over and over.

Thanks for the 963 tip. I had no idea.

Freddy,
edmund has always given us really good, and accurate, remote control advice, but the details he told us about DirecTV just floored me over and over:

1.You can't program the remote to control an audio amp (AV1 or AV2) until you've programmed it to operate a TV, even if it doesn't operate a TV in your system
2.Instructions for getting the remote to tell you, via LED blinks, what code is now operating in the remote
3.This whole 963 thing
4.Instructions for setting up eight different IR code sets so you can have that many receivers in one room with no control confusion

Maam, it's a $4 remote