I recently purchased a new TV. It happens to be an RCA L32HD31R (which I'm happy to explicitly name, because there is no point in protecting the guilty). It's not ultra high-end - it's a fairly run of the mill 32" LCD. It is certainly not meant to be the centerpiece of an impressive home theater. So I have to ask why does RCA think they have to provide a remote control which uses different codes than all that have gone before?
Some small percentage of people might connect their TV directly to an antenna, but the much larger majority use their TV as little more than a display with speakers. They select their channel with a cable box or their Tivo (sorry DVR, we don't want Tivo to become another Klennex/Xerox). What people require is that their TV remote uses standard codes that every universal remote know about. They want exactly 3 functions from the TV remote - on/off, volume, and switch to the DVD input.
Engineers at RCA: Come on, guys. This is not rocket science. You don't have to invent new things. Your jobs is to adopt existing standards. Coming up with a a set of remote codes that is incompatible with previous RCA products - or ANYONE ELSE'S - is an act of hubris. You either think you are smarter than other electrical engineers (trust me, you're not) or that your products are so compellingly awesome that customers will not want to toss your remote in the drawer and use the universal that came with the cable box (trust me, your products are not and the customers will).
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