How to program your DirecTV remote control

If you need to program a new DirecTV remote control to work with your TV, DVD player, or other device, or if you need to reprogram an old DirecTV remote control, the DirecTV website makes it easy to do so.  To start, go to this web page:

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/remote_codes

A list of different DirecTV remote control models will be displayed on the left side of the screen.  Click on your model, or the model closest to yours.  The Remote Control Code Lookup page will load.  Several different options for devices will be listed -- choose the type of device for which you are trying to program your remote.  The choices are Television, Video - DVD, Audio, Satellite Set Top Box, and Video - VCR, with Television being selected by default.

Underneath those options is a text box labeled "Brand:" where you can type in the brand of the device you want to program the DirecTV remote control for.  Once you start typing, various options will appear underneath so you can select the correct one.  For example, if you type "san" then "Sansui" and "Sanyo" will both be displayed.  You can select the model of your device as well, but that's not required to continue.  Once you've selected the device brand, click on the blue Search button.

There are various codes that work for each brand.  The DirecTV website will show you the code that's most popular for that brand, as well as the instructions for programming it into your remote.  The instructions vary by remote model, though they're all fairly similar.  (Some of the buttons on different models have different names.)  Follow the steps listed, with the code provided, to program your DirecTV remote control.

Once you've completed the steps, check the remote's operation to see if the code worked.  For a television, try turning it on and off with the remote, as well as using the volume, mute, and channel up and down buttons.  If everything works, you're done.  If the remote doesn't work, or if some of the functions on the remote were enabled but not others, you can get a different code by selecting "Find more codes" on the DirecTV page.  A list of alternate codes for that brand will appear, and you can try one of them, with the same instructions, until you find the one that works perfectly for your device.

For more model-specific information, here are links to some DirecTV remote control user manuals:

- RC32
- RC64
- RC65
- RC71

(Originally published on Bubblews.com, November 2013)