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User reviews for the Sony RM-AV3000 from Sony Electronics.
Ratings
Reviews
MSRP (USD)
Average: 3.71/5.00 Median: 4.00/5.00
101
$199
As Sony's top-of-the-line remote control, the powerful RM-AV3000 features control of 18 devices, 45 macros, full learning capabilities, timers, a large LCD touchscreen and a good complement of hard buttons.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 87 made on Wednesday May 5, 2004 at 9:28 AM.
Strengths:
Gives the user total control - power at your fingertips
Weaknesses:
requires a good grade of battery to perform , weaker batteries = loss of distance on remote signal strength
Locks up (see fix below)
Review:
This is an awesome site . When I first bought it I was extremely sceptical and believed that it would only pick up my DVD Recorder , as it was brand new . To my amazement it works on a reallllly ol Panasonic VCR , a 10 year old Panasonic TV which had one of the first remotes o come out , back then . And my Satellite pay TV (Foxtel) .
My only problems were :
firstly signal strength , which was fixed once I removed the cheap quality batteries I had inserted.
secondly - the infamous lock up . I read about 30 reviews and thanks to one of the many bight sparks , they suggested the short & long burst method .
After deleting all the keys for the sattelite /cable remote .I set it up again using the short burst which meant I pressed the key on the remote for a quick second rather than waiting for the beep , after letting go it beeps anyway .
Other than this , thus far it is an absolutely awesomne remote . I feel sorry for Sony , who themselves don't know how to fix this problem , which means they'll lose a lot of customers .
MY MOTTO : Sony = RELIABILITY - Toyota Only Buy Sony
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 86 made on Wednesday April 21, 2004 at 4:59 PM.
Strengths:
1 - Controls all my components (5) 2 - Easy to control components with the macros 3 - High on the WAF. My wife has an easy time with the one touch macro function to turn on/off the components 4 - Great range (does not require line of sight to work)
Weaknesses:
1 - Not small enough for on hand control 2 - Screen is difficult to keep clean
Review:
I purchased this remote because my wife is technologically challanged. My wife loves this remote and it is making the system(s) work as it was designed. I have not really referred to the manual and found programming the remote extremely straight forward. Definitely recommend this remote.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 3-6 months.
Review 85 made on Monday April 12, 2004 at 11:55 PM.
Weaknesses:
I also had a problem with the remote locking up repeating the same function over and over. one time it was the volume up button on my new hdtv. Extremely irritating.And sony has been able to give me no help to fix it
Review:
waste of money, and risk of damaging tv speakers. I hate having to remove the batteries from this thing to reset it. I have to do it SEVERAL times a week
The reviewer has used this remote control for more than two years.
Review 84 made on Friday March 26, 2004 at 4:41 PM.
Strengths:
- Will control just about anything, and if not, you can teach it. - Backlight is great, can turn off "beeping" sound. - Can actually rename functions (at bottom of screen only)
Weaknesses:
Keeps jamming up and repeating the same function, over and over. Only way to solve this problem is to take out one of the batteries and put it back in. This is a very, very, very, BIG product weakness. As a result of the continous jamming (which happens about four times a week now), sometimes the memory completely clears and I have to spend 2 hours reprogramming it and then fine tuning it for the next couple of weeks. Only to have to do it all over again the next time it forgets everything.
Review:
Not worth buying because of the above. I contacted SONY numerous times and they ignored my request for help. There's a 3100 model out now, but I don't know if they've cleared that problem up. I wouldn't take the chance.
I have to give this a "poor" only because of this weakness and poor cusotmer service...otherwise it would have got an "excellent"!
The reviewer has used this remote control for 3-6 months.
Review 82 made on Wednesday March 10, 2004 at 11:36 AM.
Strengths:
Clear display,ease of use,size
Weaknesses:
unable to list cd titles entered in Sony cd carousel
Review:
I spent quite a bit of time on this site invetigating this remote, and also time on the Sony site. I own all Sony components, with the exception of my NHT speakers, so the programing was all done with the exception of my satelite, and macros. I don't understand the users that were unable to program or make sense of the manual, I found this product quite easy to use, and well built. I have only one complaint, it is unable to list all the cd titles that I have for the 3 400 cd carousels on my system. The lack of this ability still makes it necesary for me to use the remote unit that came with the cd units.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 81 made on Friday February 13, 2004 at 8:04 AM.
Strengths:
Great design-High WAF (wife approval factor) Very powerful and reliable learning mode Enough-lenght macros for all you can imagine
Weaknesses:
Manual poorly written Annoying flashing-keys interface No PC connection Too many non-customizable keys
Review:
I received my AV3000 from US (I live in Spain and I saved more than 100 EUR -128 USD- by purchasing it overseas). After owning it for a week, I'm very happy with it. I dedicated several hours to investigate what this thing is capable of, so I'm familiarized with it.
First, out-of-the-box the remote is beautiful, great design which will be easily welcome by your wife. Maybe a bit big, but the wide, clear LCD display needs big dimensions to be read easily. I love the blue LCD lighting, which can be adjusted in several ways (i.e., light-on when touching a key, light-off after x seconds, etc).
The RC come with pre-programmed Sony components codes, which I don't use (except for the TV). To set preset codes is very easy, and you can preset all your A/V equipment in a few minutes. Unfortunately, some basic controls and many of the advanced ones won't work until you program them via learning mode.
I have to say the interface used by Sony is really crap. Keys do flashing when you are setting them or creating a macro, making a bit difficult to select. This is not a problem when you get familiar with the remote, but it could be way better and may confuse newbies. The remote doesn't have a PC-connector like the Pronto has.
Learn mode is VERY easy and powerful. I teached almost all the controls in less than 1 hour, and even customize many of the label on-screen keys in a while. The remote accepted ALL the commands from the original remotes I have and did perform all of them perfectly.
Label customization is great, but only component labels are fully customizable (up to 8 letters/digits). Operational soft keys aren't, or are only partially (3 or 4 labels elegible for each), which is kinda annoying if you need a key to perform a command and none of the predefined labels don't match what you want. Luckily, there are 4 customizable labels per page, with 3 pages for each component, so you'll have up to 12 fully customizable soft-keys per component, which is enough for me.
Up-to-32-steps macros are easy to create and run by using "system" keys (up to 18 available, I think). I found particulary interesting to create macros when pressing and holding component keys for 2 seconds, which will help you to power-on and get your TV volume, DVD and AMP ready to go with a single keypress: Just load the disc and play! I had some trouble with preprogrammed system 1 and system 3 hard keys (user's manual is wrong at this point), but after reading the forums at remotecentral.com I reset and deleted them, being able to load my own macros on these hard keys.
Execution of macros is also customizable. You can enter delays whenever you want (use TIMER key for it) and even adjust the time between the performing of commands. Remember that some components, like TVs, need to warm-up before accepting another command!
Other noticiable things are the 4-way directional keys, which seems to work in every component that uses them for menu navigation, and the TIMER key that allows you to timer macros to be performed at the time/day you want.
Now the bad things. Operating may be a bit tricky only if you are a newcomer and follow the poorly-written user's manual. A Spanish version of it came in the box, and I found it's better than the English one.
The remote seems to have problems with certain components (Marantz among them, and I have a SR5200 Rcvr): An incorrect learning (not always by user's mistake) could make the AV3000 to become stuck, entering in an endless transmitting loop which can be stopped only by removing a battery (losing clock setting, by the way). If you suffer it, teach the remote correctly waiting for a beep before releasing the original remote key being teached (that's what is called "long burst" in the forums).
Finally, I want to say that although the box says it's "for NTSC", it worked fine with all mi Euro (PAL) components.
Overall it's a very good remote, too expensive if you buy in Spain but it's worth the price if you can get it by 120-140 EUR. So, i give 4 stars out of 5.
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