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Topic:
New review of the SL-9000
This thread has 21 replies. Displaying posts 1 through 15.
Post 1 made on Saturday April 17, 1999 at 16:43
Daniel Tonks
Historic Forum Post
I've finished my review of the Home Theater Master SL-9000. You can view it by clicking here. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know!
OP | Post 2 made on Saturday April 17, 1999 at 23:50
Stephen Tu
Historic Forum Post
Excellent, spot-on review. Perhaps you should note that you have reviewed the second revision of the remote. The first revision lacked the very useful feature of only the second device button press switching the receiver, had a buzzing backlight that occasionally locked up the remote for some people, and no sticker labels. On the plus side, the first revision supported 5 x 5 device-specific macros, 10 commands each, which is more useful than the current revision. Overall, I strongly prefer the second revision; new buyers should make sure that they get a newer model and owners of the first should obtain a warranty exchange if the backlight locks the remote like it did with mine.
OP | Post 3 made on Monday April 19, 1999 at 12:19
RayT
Historic Forum Post
Your review was quite thorough and covered all the good points and bad points of this remote well. The fact that this remote has real buttons for most functions makes it so much easier to use by feel than the touchscreens. But this is also it's weakest point. The keys are labelled very poorly in the bottom half of the remote. I really have no use for keys like ALT, NEXT, FAV, DELAY+/- in my DVD, VCR, receiver modes. It would have been nice if they were labelled stuff that's more meaningful so you don't have to resort to those ugly stickers. I had lots of trouble sticking them on (I didn't stick them on the keys directly, but rather underneath them). It's hard getting them straight and aligned. The result is pretty cheap looking considering this is a $200+ (Cdn) remote. With this remote, there is little chance that any guests or even my wife will have luck operating my DVD, receiver, or programming my VCR without having me around.

The lack of DVD cursor keys is a big no-no in this day and age. I programmed five of the bottom keys to act like a cursor pad but they are really cumbersome to use (small keys, nondistinct location) compared to a dedicated cursor pad like that on my DVD or VCR remote.

Anyway, this is the one of the few choice in fully programmable remotes except for ones like the more expensive Marantz and the even more expensive touchscreens. I personally prefer the Marantz RC2000Mk2 more because it doesn't suffer from the labelling syndrome due to its customizable soft keys and real cursor pad. The Marantz is the remote I recommend to my friends if they are looking for an all-in-one solution.

If you compare this remote to its pricier competition, it looks like a bargain, but you can get a lot of bang for your buck from OneForAll Home Producer 8 or the amazingly cheap Cinema 7 remote ($17.00 Cdn at Costco)
OP | Post 4 made on Monday April 19, 1999 at 18:10
Marten Liebster
Historic Forum Post
I have a Sony DVP-500D DVD player and a STR-425 receiver. Will I have any problems with the SL-9000?

Marten
OP | Post 5 made on Monday April 19, 1999 at 23:03
Daniel Tonks
Historic Forum Post
I have a Sony S500D & Sony GA8ES receiver and it works fine - the only problem you may have is with the Input controls. It's a bit tricky.
OP | Post 6 made on Tuesday April 20, 1999 at 08:53
Ray B
Historic Forum Post
I have tried all the other remotes in this price range and found that this one is the only one with an ergonomic design that my wife and I both felt comfortable with. The slim "stick" like design as well as learning capabilities are its best features.
The distance of its IR is remarkable and the stickers are an asset if the labling doesn't suit your needs. I'm not sure how long the labling stickers will last, but if you clean the area with alcohol under the button before using the sticker, I'm sure it should last quite some time.

Once again daniel your review is quitre helpful to others. Keep up the good work.

OP | Post 7 made on Tuesday April 20, 1999 at 10:06
Marten Liebster
Historic Forum Post
First of all, thanks Daniel for maintaing this page!

Secondly, please define a bit tricky. The OEM remote for my 425 has 6 buttons for the different inputs. To access the 5.1 input (which I use for my DVD player), I have to press 2 of those buttons at the same time.

Can the SL 9000 handle this important (for me) piece of equipment?

Thanks again,

Marten
OP | Post 8 made on Tuesday April 20, 1999 at 13:55
Daniel Tonks
Historic Forum Post
2 buttons at the same time? You may have to set up a "blind" (something like a book or magazine) to block the first part of the signal. I had to do this to learn the direct access buttons for my Sony TV, which were also dual-button codes.

As for Sony inputs, it's a good thing most come preprogrammed. If you need any additional ones you may have to do a simular "blind" with timing. It's not the fault of Home Theater Master, but Sony sends out multiple codes on those buttons which no universal remote can learn.
OP | Post 9 made on Wednesday April 21, 1999 at 10:49
Marten Liebster
Historic Forum Post
Top of my head here (at work) ...

There are 2 rows of 3 input selector buttons.
The 1st row has Video (VCR), TV and Phono. The 2nd row has CD, Tuner and Tape. To select the 5.1 inputs, you must press both the CD & Tape buttons simultaneously to switch.

Pretty funky!
OP | Post 10 made on Saturday April 24, 1999 at 10:56
Ron Duca
Historic Forum Post

I received my SL-9000 yesterday afternoon and was quite eager to play with it. The pre-programmed codes were pretty complete for my receiver, TV, VCR and DVD player. Of course I had to have it learn a few missing commands and I move a few buttons around for convenience.

The remote however, would not take any of the pre-programmed codes listed for my Sony CD player. It's a model CDP-C545 and the original remote is a model number RM-D545. I couldn't even get the new remote to learn any of the CD player commands. I guess you have to have a basic pre-programmed code setup the the unit device recognizes. Of course there are not any technical support persons availabe at Universal Remote Control, Inc. on the weekends, so I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to resolve this issue.

I still have a little tweaking to do with the other device commands. But, unless someone on here has a clue about my CD player problem, I'll still be at least a two remote kind of guy.

Any Advice?

Ron
OP | Post 11 made on Sunday May 2, 1999 at 22:28
Vince
Historic Forum Post
How about this as an answer to the cursor problem on the DVD function? Program the cursor buttons on the remote to act as the menu select buttons on the DVD. Then program the bottom six arrow buttons(labeled Rear/Center/Delay) as follows:
"Rear" Top: Play



OP | Post 12 made on Sunday May 2, 1999 at 22:32
Vince
Historic Forum Post
Let me continue:

"Rear" Bottom: Stop
"Center" Top: Forward Search
"Center" Bottom: Reverse Search
"Delay" Top: Skip Forward
"Delay" Bottom: Skip Reverse

Seems like this would allow the cursor buttons to have their more natural function as menu navigation/select and delegate to the bottom buttons the less frequently used transport functions. (At least I use them less frequently than the menu buttons).
OP | Post 13 made on Tuesday May 4, 1999 at 12:27
david
Historic Forum Post
i just got this remote with my b&k re20 preamp
having trouble prog it to work with a rca dss reciever that comes with a uhf remote- i'm fairly sure that receiver also can take ir commands but not positive. i did try the auto method as well

any suggestions or similar problems with dss dishes?


OP | Post 14 made on Wednesday May 5, 1999 at 12:49
timd
Historic Forum Post
David,

I too have a similar problem, an EchoStar Dish Network box with a UHF remote, plus a Kenwood home theater receiver and other miscellaneous components.

Really don't expect to find a universal remote with UHF, but might there be a box that plugs into the Dish Network receiver (or RCA, for that matter) which accepts IR commands? Seems that would be more likely, but more $$.

The real rub is that I cannot find Dish Network receivers that have 5.1 outputs and/or AC3/DTS digital streams that accept IR; all are UHF to my knowledge. Any suggestions?

Many thanks,
Tim

PS. Daniel, thanks for providing this site, it is a great resource!
OP | Post 15 made on Sunday June 6, 1999 at 14:13
Tom
Historic Forum Post
I got my Home Theater Master SL-9000 last Friday and spent some time over the weekend programming it. So far everything is fine but I am having two problems:

1. The SL-9000 has problems learning from my Philips TV remote. Often the learn process fails and once it passes, I always have to press the button twice to send the signal. The LED on the TV that indicates that a signal is being received flashes only on every second button press. I have a 3 year old Philips 100Hz, 16:9 TV.

2. The second thing that confuses me is that I programmed some of the macro keys with device specicific functions (some are even preprogrammed as on the Sony DVD). If I then want to create a macro on one of the keys in either the AUD or SAT mode, the macro overrides the learned functions on some of the devices and not on others. Has anyone seen this? I want the AUD or SAT macros to be active only to be active if nothing device specific is programmed on a macro button. Any solution to that?

Thanks for any help,

- Tom
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