hi - i am attempting to setup my radioshack 15-2116 8-way remote to control my dvd player which is a black diamond bd48dvd ( made by mitubishi i think ) - but i have tried all the mitubishi codes in the manual and none work - neither are there any black diamond ones.

i also want to control my satelite box which is a grundig box created for the sky company ( in the uk ) which is called a sky digibox - there is no other name on it

thanks

Exactly, you're using U.S. based remote on EU equipment. There isn't any codes to be had. Learn about JP1.

thanks 4 that - i've ordered a connector

i have been noticing ( as you said ) that sometimes usa/europe etc is mentioned w.r.t. remotes but i'm puzzled why would the codes be different - i mean surely a sat receiver in the us works the same as in europe ( excpept for the voltage of course ) - and how is it that the remote works fine with my tv, vcr and av receiver ( none of them are american )

Well, there are many reasons, but fundamentally each individual manufacturer uses a different infrared code for their products. Some use completely proprietary formats while others share a common format but with a unique manufacturer address field in the data. Either way, the theory is that this prevents false responses when a consumer mixes a bunch of equipment from different manufacturers.

Because the memory capacity of universal remotes is finite, the set of pre-programmed IR codes in these is usually tailored to the brands and models that are most popular in a specific market. So, for example, if you have a piece of equipment from (or made by) a manufacturer like Sony who markets worldwide and is also fairly consistent in their IR code format, it is likely that almost any remote will operate it (though some market-specific individual functions may be missing -- e.g. teletext). But if you have a piece of equipment that is more narrowly available, odds are that you need remote specifically built for that geographic market.

In your case, neither Black Diamond or Grundig are brands that are strong in North America, and of course the Sky Digibox is not available at all. So it is unlikely that you will find the codes for these in a Radio Shack remote. Like Edmund says, your best bet is JP1.

BTW, one encouraging note: The Sky boxes are one of the few exceptions to the "each manufacturer is unique" rule. Sky requires all their manufacturers to use a standardized "Sky" IR code so the remotes are interchangeable. So any Sky Digibox code you find over at the JP1 group should work, regardless of the brand.

Good luck!

thanks for that - very helpful