I have this obsession of controlling all my audio video equipment from the comfort of my couch. I have a remote for my TV, audio system, cable box, Xbox 360, original Xbox (soon to include the power on hack) and PS2. Oh, I even have a remote controlled A/V switch which is pretty cool but not in use at the moment.

The real trick here is to get as many devices working with 1 single remote as best as they can. That means turning the TV, audio receiver, and cable box on and off at will with the push of a single button.

It’s easy with the remote that comes with my Comcast DVR. It has space for three devices. Here’s the real catch though, I don’t want to have to switch buttons to change channels and the volume. This is where channel lock and volume lock come into play. By default, whenever you hit the volume buttons and channel buttons it activates that feature on the cable box. Now you are able to unlock it and switch to that device to use it but that requires more button pressing that I don’t like.

One of the features of the remote is that you can re-lock channel lock and volume lock to any TV you desire. Tv’s only? Yes, my research last year indicated that only the device button for the TV and the cable box can become volume locked. The solution to this is to swap the aux button with the TV button and vice versa. The nice thing is Comcast tells you how to do this. Well, partially. There really is no explanation or reversal instructions given.

This should not harm your remote nor void any warranty, but I do not take responsibility if it does.

1. Press the TV device button.
2. Press and hold Setup until the light blinks twice in fast succession.
3. Now press 9-9-2. The light should blink twice again.
4. Press the TV device button and then press the AUX device button.

Congratulations, The TV button is now controlled by the AUX button as well as the TV button.

Now, we are going to do the same for the AUX button:

1. Press the aux device button then press setup until the light blinks twice in fast succession.
2. Press 9-9-2, the light should blink twice again.
3. Press the AUX button and then the TV button

Congratulations, the auxiliary device can now be programmed to respond to commands used after the TV button is pressed and vice-versa. Do so by pressing the device you want to setup, pressing the setup button until you get the lights to blink twice and then enter the 4 digit device code.

Now on to volume lock.

1. Press the TV button, which is now your re-mapped AUX button.
2. Press and hold the Setup button and wait for the lights to flash twice.
3. Now press 9-9-3 and the lights should blink twice indicating a correct code.
4. Now press the device button again that you previously hit. You should see flashing lights yet again.

Awesome, now you have a remote that works like mine, very cool and less buttons to press.