Denon receiver and 721

[hihostevo]

I have just read Scott's review of the 721 and wanted to ask a question, but the thread seems to have been closed.

Have you (or could you) try the 721 remote with a current Denon HT receiver?

I have a 6000 and a 501. Neither of their remotes will operate the Denon HT receivers I have. Their information (for the Dish remotes) only has a single code for Denon and it does not work. I have also tried stepping manually through all of the codes with no success.

I spoke with both Denon and Dish about this at last January's CES show, but neither seemed to care. Dish buys the codes from a third party and does not seem to care if they function or not.

I found this to be such a pain I have switched back to cable and my two 3000 series ReplayTV units... at least that way I can use one remote to control everything. I do miss the better quality video and audio I was getting with my 501, so I was curious if they had fixed this problem on the 721.

thanks,

Steve

[sampatterson]

You can buy a good home theater multifunction learning remote for $49-$99 that will control just about anything that can receive IR. I have 2 different Denon, Mitsu & Toshiba Tvs, various makes of VCR and DVD, etc.

I spent the extra $$ for the remotes just so my wife would have 1 consistant set of remotes in all rooms. That way if I change a piece of equipment she doesn't have to learn a new remote also. I program it so the same keys do the same thing, even on the new piece of equipment.

[hihostevo]

Yeah Sam I have considered that.... it's just that I am old and lazy. I know in the dark where all the buttons are on the Replay or dish PVR remotes so it makes it difficult to take the time to program and learn a new system.

I just do not understand why the dish pvr remote (nor my 6000 remote) will not operate the Denon equipment.

Steve

[larrydj]

hihostevo, I have exactly the same problem, with my Denon 3300, a very popular AV receiver. You'd think if someone is buying a sat receiver that has Dolby Digital that they may actually hook it up, wouldn't you? I had the same problem with my Dishplayer.

I've put everything on my Pronto, and have shelved the 721 remote. Too bad, it would otherwise be a good auxillary remote.

[tm22721]

Yes I have had the same problem with Denon and other brands just not working with Dish remotes. Very frustrating.

Just another example of Dish Network false advertising. Promote a feature such as 'multi-function remote control' to get the sale, but no need to follow through because there's a sucker born every minute.

[hihostevo]

What bothered me the most, is that during the January CES I took the time to introduce the head of Tech Support for Dish Network to the President of Denon. I explained to both of them the problem and asked them to fix it. Their booths were within 20 feet of each other.

Unfortunately, I was not encouraged by their responses. Each of them just claimed to purchase the codes from a 3rd party and did not really care if the Dish remotes could work the Denon equipment.... let me repeat that... neither of them seem to care!

Their incredible lack of concern with their customer ( I owned two Denon receivers and two Dish receivers) was disparaging, to be polite.

Customer Service with either of these firms seems to be only talk.

Steve

[scooper]

Dudes - it's NOT life or death. And just because it doesn't work with YOUR equipment doesn't mean that it is NOT a multifunction remote - it merely means that Dish hasn't updated their remote codes in a while. The Blue button remote with my 4700 and the one I got with the UHF upgrade kit on my 2700 DO work my TV's and A/V receiver (at least as far as power on/off and volume control). But to truly get 1 multifunction remote, you're going to have to get a 3rd party one (preferably a learning remote).

[tm22721]

you're going to have to get a 3rd party one (preferably a learning remote).

3rd party remotes don't work too well with satellite since there are too many specialized dish buttons to emulate. It is much better to have a Dish multi-function remote THAT REALLY WORKS AND IS PROGRAMMABLE.

[hihostevo]

scooper, what tm22721 indicated is the meat of the problem. Satellite remotes, especially satellite PVR remotes have a great many specialized buttons. My Dish remote would operate a Yamaha receiver, but it will not operate any of the recent Denon receivers....

and yes Dish needs to UPDATE their IR codes.... that is the symptom of the problem. The REAL problem is Dish's complete lack of concern! If they gave a hoot when I pointed this problem out to them at CES LAST YEAR, they would have had the problem fixed before the 721 came out.

Steve

[bearklaw]

Originally posted by tm22721


3rd party remotes don't work too well with satellite since there are too many specialized dish buttons to emulate.

Not true if you get one that has a lot of hard buttons (such as the Home Theater Master MX-500) or one that is fully programmable and LCD based, such as the Pronto.

I have an old Pronto (first generation, 1MB model) that I use with a 508, and it works great. With the right software you can layout the "buttons" (areas of the touch screen LCD) any way you want.

On the other hand, cheap universal remotes do tend to be limited by the fixed button layout.

-BearKlaw

[hihostevo]

Why should you have to purchase an additional remote for $100 to $300 just to get your HT equipment to operate?

Dish is selling you a Multi-function remote with their 721/508/501 etc. They buy and program these remotes so they will function with various AV equipment.

The problem is they have been very lazy in updating the IR codes. They are still working with the code-set they purchased 6 or 7 years ago rather than buying an updated one. They know there is a problem as myself and many others have complained about the old codes. They just do not seem to care.

You should not have to run out and spend another several hundred dollars on a remote to run the PVR you just spent $600+ to obtain.

My Replay units (3xxx models) are several years old, but the IR codes in their remotes run the new Denon receivers just fine. This just demonstrates how old the IR codes are that Dish Network is still programing into their remotes.

Steve

[boba]

HIHOSTEVO you just want your equipment tastes to be DISH'S tastes. If you check DISH'S list of codes you will find they have a lot of TV and VCR codes but only a few Tuner/ Amplifier codes, probably because they expect Home Theater users to buy better remotes. Universal remotes don't have to be that expensive, RCA has a universal remote with learning buttons (RCU800MSL) for about $20 that replaces a DISH remote very effectively and could be taught your Denon codes.