I've owned the Marantz RC 2000MKII for 5 or 6 months and can honestly say it is one of the most satisfying products I've ever purchased. I don't know from any other universal remotes, but I'm not even curious. Here's a nifty tip for fellow
owners of this fine product: if you're like me you don't use all of the function

buttons. Also if you're like me you have one or two scenarios in which you use

your mkII ie. watching a dvd w/pre-amp on etc. The mkII is great, but having to

hit a function button each time to adjust a dif. component can be a hassle, so take an unused func. button and cross program all relevent functions from various remotes into it. I have vol/source/etc. for audio, skip/pause/etc. for dvd, input/menu/etc. for tv. all under aux. func. Is this thing great or what?

I bought the Marantz 2000 Mark 2 remote one week ago. I have to admit it takes alot of patience to program everything in, but it was a very wise investment. To With most "universal remote" I've found you still need the original remote sometimes to access some functions like the video and audio controls on a TV, but the Marantz will control every function. The bonus for me was, none of my equipment is made by Marantz, and most of it is 5 years old or older. This remote controls it all. I agree with the other reviews here, the remote is a little top heavy, and hard to use one-handed. I must stress though, the amount of control this thing offers, offsets those drawbacks. It's easy to read, and I like the way it beeps when I push a button. And it looks classy too.
Don't buy a universal remote until you check this one out.

Allows buttons to be organized almost any way you can imagine, practically impossible to misplace.

Doesn't learn everything the first time -- not always on the second, either.

I received this remote as a gift recently, and although I've only been using it for a few days, I find it extremely impressive. The buttons are large and easy to read. The setup process is straightforward enough that I was able to teach it all the commands for my TV, CD and DVD players, and preamp in the first sitting. The acid test for how effective it is? I was able to perform a number of operations which normally require 3 separate remotes within one operating mode of the remote. For example, I switched my TV from cable to video, turned on my DVD player and started a movie, and changed the volume on my preamp, all within the configuration I programmed for the "DVD" button on the remote. Since the 3 components are all of different brands (Sony TV, Pioneer DVD player, Audio Alchemy preamp), there was no overlap between codes. That kind of convenience makes this remote worth it, especially since the commands on the LCD screen can be named whatever you want. Some people might wish for more than 4 characters per name, but that would require a much bigger LCD screen, which would in turn disrupt the excellent layout of the numerous non-touchscreen buttons.

I have a few quibbles for the price. For one thing, there are a number of keys that I set up to do the same thing in every mode. For example, I set the volume keys to control my preamp in all the modes I expect to use -- since all my sources go through my preamp, this makes sense. It was a little annoying that I couldn't copy the codes from mode to mode, and had to teach the remote the same commands several different times. I don't know if ANY learning remote does this, but if it's obvious to me, I don't know why the designers didn't think of it. I probably wouldn't have noticed, though, if it wasn't for the fact that I sometimes had to try training the same key 3 or 4 times before I could get it to actually learn the command I was trying to teach it. The remote would sometimes report that it had successfully learned a command when it actually hadn't; I only uncovered these learning failures by testing the remote. The lesson is not to assume that the remote has been successfully programmed until you've seen each key do what you expect it to.

The problems I described above only create problems during setup. Once you've actually got everything programmed, it's an absolute pleasure to use. Because of the numerous false starts, I can't give the RC5000 Mk. II 5 stars for value; I expect something this expensive not to hiccup even once. I haven't had it long enough to know if the battery life complaints from some posters are true; if so, they would be another reason to knock down the value, as 4 AA batteries makes for an expensive power supply. However, it does a wonderful job centralizing control of my components, and projects a strong enough signal that I don't have to press anything twice to get a command done once (I find Pioneer's remotes to be very bad in this respect). Since its actual operation is essentially flawless, I think it deserves 5 stars for performance. The RC5000 is like a moderately exotic sports car -- say, a Porsche -- in that the driving experience is wonderful, but you'll spend some time in the garage just to keep it road-ready.

Similar Products Used:

Audio Alchemy RW-1, various Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer, Harman/Kardon remotes, Home Theater Master 9000.

Like everyone else, I've got a mix of equipment. Much of it is eclectic (like Naim gear, which it turns out actually uses Philips basic remote codes), so I didn't expect it to be fully supported by pre-programmed learning remotes. Therefore I wanted a learning remote.
I'm a computer programmer, so I understood the benefit of automated processes. Therefore, I wanted it to learn macros. I also wanted the ability to diddle with the interface.

Finally, I like tactile remotes with buttons, not glass windows. I like to hang-on to the remote, knowing which buttons are under my fingertips without having to stare into a display.

The Marantz RC-2000 Mark II does this and much more. (I didn't consider the Mark I, because it didn't have channel up/down buttons.) It's a little front heavy, although after six months I've gotten used to it.

The plethora of buttons seems intimidating, even though I believe that all the buttons are necessary and well organized. My wife doesn't like it, just because she thinks it must be complicated. She want's the all-in-one remote to have the apparent simplicity of a basic TV remote. I could have gotten something like a Pronto, but it has the curse of the glass screen.

Another beef is that I can't figure out a way to make it change output control via macro. For example, if I have the #1 macro setup to turn on the TV and to set the amplifier to take input from the TV, then I want the control to finish by thinking it should control the TV. If it happens to be set for CD before, then it stays that way after the macro has played. If anyone has found a way around this, please let me know.

Other than these two minor quibbles, I'm very happy with this product.

Great piece of equipment. Now I only have one remote that always get lost instead of 5. Macros. Backlight. Looks fancy.

Problems with NAD. Uncomfortable to sit on, which might be a good thing. The backlight could be on for just about 2 secs more. A bit big and heavy. Not very cheap.

I'm writing here because i think this is useful information for NAD owners. I contacted NAD about the problems learning the Marantz RC2000 NAD functions and here's what John Milder from NAD told me:

The problem you are experiencing is that the micro in the remote handset is in sleep/battery-save mode, and when a key is pressed to wake it up the first few microseconds of the transmission contain invalid data. The learning remotes usually pick this up and retransmit this invalid data faithfully. So the NAD units do not respond. The way around this (and this is what the custom installers do) is to point the remote away from the learning remote for a moment (or shield it with your hand to block the transmission) when you first press a key to wake it up, then quickly re-orient it and press the key to learned.

I think you will find this take care of things.

Similar Products Used:

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Hi again,
I know that the policy is that you are supposed to only post one review but I had to share my other thoughts and newly found tips after my initial review.

Anyway, have used the RC2000Mk2 for a good solid week now. I solved my problem with my NAD remote codes. Previously I was having trouble getting the RC2000 working with my NAD T750. It would learn all my codes for the NAD remote but the NAD receiver did not receive them from the RC2000. After much experimentation I found that I could get * some * things learned by doing the following:
- Hold the NAD remote about 8-10 inches away
- Activate the learning sequence.
- If the remote is too far away (RC2000 doesn't get the signal or says "again" or "NG", move the remotes closer a bit at a time until it works.
- Do it in a dark room. I used a flashlight to see things and turned off the room lights. I turned off the flashlight when it came time to press the button on the NAD remote.
- Keep both remotes on a table and don't move them during the learning sequence.

Even with all this, it only worked half the time. But with the suggested two inches distance, it never worked.

From this you can conclude that the emitter for the NAD has a long focal length, thus the necessity for the larger than 2 inches for it to learn the codes properly.

Secondly, if you have troubles, you might consider using one of the One-For-All remotes to teach the codes to the RC2000. I was able to get a whole bunch of NAD codes into the RC2000 by setting the One-For-All remote to NAD mode and teaching the Marantz that way. The One-For-All remotes have a really extensive list of codes (I used the preprogrammed Cinema 7 model which costs $16Cdn at Costco - pretty good remote for the cost and it does two macros too!)

I also heard that sometimes you can get better results if you "blip" sending remote's button while teaching the RC2000. I was able to get better results with my cable converter this way. For the majority of my remotes, holding the button down during sending worked better.

Other thoughts:
- The macros work beautifully. You can edit them after the fact and change the delay for each individual keystroke. I wish you could include volume controls in the macro though. I also wish you could label them on the LCD screen.
- The unit is very front heavy and feels a little awkward if you are using bottom controls often and holding the bottom half with your hand. They should have moved the mode buttons to the bottom to balance it out.
- The screen is a little bit hard to read even with the backlighting. The backlighting is nice and bright. I suspect it will have a great drain on the batteries.
- The buttons feel great, good tactile response. This thing is huge but still comfortable to hold surprisingly. I do wish it was a bit smaller.
- They really should have a way to blank out an unused button with the clear button.
- I used one device page and put all my power on-off buttons on one page. This way, I can control turn off each device without going to each and every device mode.
- Having the ability to assign macros to the device key is a nice touch. I wish there were more macros though.

Anyway, I can conclude that this is the best non-touchscreen remote out there now. Having custom labels means that there will never be any doubt as to what a particular button will do. I considered all the alternatives:
H/K TC1000 - amazingly easy setup and powerful PC programmability, completely customizable, useful wheel control. Bad: Price, bugs, rather slow response time, and its rather big.
Philips Pronto - good size, easy to program, PC software available: Bad: very high price.
Sony AV2000 - decent price but no custom labels for keys (there is a choice of several labels for some keys), not easily hand held.
HT Master SL9000 - decent price but no custom labels for keys.
Rotel and Cambridge Audio - Not bad price, all touchscreen but no custom labels.

I am writing this review with only a couple of days usage of the new RC2000Mk2. First of all, the first Mk2 remote I got was dead. It wouldn’t emit any IR codes. I got a new one and this one seems better. Weird thing, I was right in the middle of programming a key sequence and the thing turned itself off. And this was after about 15 minutes of owning it.
Anyway, programming worked for 7 out of my 8 remotes without a hitch. It’s quite easy and very quick. It helped that I mapped out the keys before I started. This map will come in handy in case I need to reprogram. Even the programming of the custom keys with new labels went quickly. I really wish they offered a way to delete keys and pages not used. I had to blank them out one at a time with spaces instead. The trouble occurred with programming the codes from my NAD T750 receiver’s remote. It would accept all of the NAD codes but I was only able to get a few of them actually working. The NAD would not acknowledge receiving the signal from the RC2K. I experimented with different distances. I had the best luck when I had the remote about 2.5 inches away and in a dark room. More experimentation is in order.

Anyway, the thing works well enough but it is quite front heavy. The buttons feel good and it can handle the capacity of my modest system easily. I think I would prefer one of the newer generation touchscreen ones if they were cheaper because there are lots of times that a particular device does not make use of keys. For example, in my VCR, I don’t need the “Skip to Next” key and the Scan Forward key at the same time. The backlight is very bright and the unit is a pleasure to use in a dark room. I wish it had a sensor to detect that the unit does not need to turn on the backlight. I can’t wait to program the macros which will make it truly useful.

The unit costs about $350 Cdn but you should be able to get it for around $300.

I've been looking for a replacement remote for my five remotes and am happy to say I found it. The Marantz is awesome. I thought my was defective - turns out I was pointing the remotes head to head instead of head to tail. Once I figured out my blunder, I got all basic functions and half the advanced functions from my Sony VCR, Onkyo Receiever, Toshiba DVD, Magnavox TV and RCA DSS (which was preprogrammed) programmed very easily. No problems at all. Now that I have the DVD, I don't know if I'll use the VCR anymore, but it's nice to finally have a remote that can handle the SuperFast Rewind Button after years of searching.
I don't know if there is a such thing as a perfect remote (I wish this was smaller and less top heavy) but this is better than those touch screen remotes. To use those, you have to look at the remote - you'll never be able to pick it up and feel your way to the button you need with that.

I've only been using this remote for a very short time but I'm sure it will feel second nature in no time flat (and my other 5 remotes have now been permanently retired)!

My main regret with this remote is I didn't have it sooner.
I bought this from onecall for $209 delivered 2-day FedEx. I'll be calling them next week to replace my Onkyo for an Onkyo 656.

Easy to use. Can program NEARLY anything into it.

A bit slow to respond, bulky, top heavy, chews batteries.

We have been using this remote for several years with our TV/VCR/DVD/Sound and it has been very good.

However, we recently bought the NEC 42MP2 Plasma Screen to replace our TV and had a lot of trouble getting the RC2000 to learn from the NEC remote--even seemingly simple on/off commands.

As everyone else on this site has said, the support from the Marantz site is virtually nonexistent, but after much searching I found a tip regarding possibly complicated macros or other problems (I expect similar to the NAD problems many people are having) which advised to use a cheap learning remote (such as a One4All, or similar).

Allow the other learning remote to learn the commands first, and then allow the RC2000 to learn from the other learning remote.

For us, this worked beautifully. For some reason, the RC2000 was more easily able to interpret the commands from the other learning remote than it was from the original.

So, if you have such problems, give it a try!

plenty of memory, easy to memorize where evrything is gtrat
price for a real universal remote

very directional, sometimes cantankerous to setup no off
switch

I have had good service from my sony remote but I have
really outgrown it. I have just the basic controls on my cd
player and I have to use my vcr remote to set the timer on
my two svhs vcrs, so I thought that I would try this
one. Its been out a while but a good design never goes
out of style. well, after using a touchscreen for a year
and a half this remote took a while to get used to. And
what idiot put the receiving sensor on the bottom? this just
made a cumbersome job even more so. But after evertythings
setup this remote was a delight to use Having the receiver automatically switch to the source with 2 button pushes is
nice but its not quite spelled out in the instruction as to how to do this. This remote also lacks universal volume, where the volume is controlled by the receiver no matter
what input is selected, but this turned out not to be so bad
because while you have to program EVERY source volume with
your receiver remote, once your done thats it. and since there's more than enough memory for a second system you can program the volume for that seperately. the amout of memory on this thing is amazing! And it took the codes for my dig cable with no trouble. And now I have access to "nonessential" features that I had to leave off my sony
Now for the shortcomings. This remote is directional, probaley in an attempt to save batteries, because when you turn off the light this problem decreases very slighty. But
this isn't major for me because all of my stuff is controlled by one of those rca remote senders and all I have to do is point the 2000 at it(bty these remote senders
are nice if your tired of your living room looking like
circuit city blew up or you lady is giving you grief about
your system) the power and versatility of this thing is so much that I decided to work with it and after a few days it was grafted to my right hand, something that took a lot longer with the sony touchpad I had. I,m running two systems with it and have plenty of memory left over. And its
really the only option if you dont want a pronto or one of
its clones( the home theater master or crisp controls dont
even come close in spite of the ad that the home theater
master guy put in his "review" on this page)The sony touchpad that I had has been upgraded but I doubt that it can control ten componets like I'm doing with this one. If
you dont like touchpads or scrolling through a lot of screens this is the remote for you, not just for your system but your entire house

Similar Products Used:

sony 2000 touchpad