TERK - Rechargeable 6-Device Backlit Universal Remote - Black

My daughter broken the original remote that came with Hisense TV. I wasn’t sure which remote to buy. I did some research and needed something inexpensive but still worked as good as the Hisense Remote we had and this one, is amazing. Glad i was able to program it and it works both for my RV and Surround Sound. Perfect remote ✔️

I setup the Terk 6-Device Universal Remote on my den TV to cleanup the menagerie of remotes and controllers I currently used. With the discontinuation of the Harmony remotes I needed to find a new remote to use for this TV. I currently have a Harmony Elite on my main TV, and I am familiar with the pros and cons of the more elaborate remote setup. The Terk remote, on the other hand is a more simplified remote that is akin to the universal remote that might come with your cable/satellite box. The remote has pretty decent controls and functionality. It can control up to 6 devices, has a rechargeable battery via a USB-C cable (includes cable only), and is backlit. There are also some limited macro functions and a few other simple setup controls like volume locking (setting a device to always be in control of the volume). This is useful if you are using a device that has no volume controls – like a video game system – and want to change the TV volume without having to toggle over to the TV mode on the remote. I set out to configure the remote for my setup. I have a TCL 55” Roku TV, Yamaha RX-V379 receiver, and an Xbox One S. I followed the instructions and looked up my devices in the included code list. TCL Roku TV’s only have 1 code so that was easy. Yamaha Receivers have 6 different codes, and Xbox’s have 2. Well, I ran into problems straight away with the Yamaha – none of the 6 codes really worked. I could control volume and turn off the receiver, but that was the most I could do. I decided to move on and set up the Xbox, which has codes listed under the Video Accessory/Streaming Player section. The 2 codes for it did not work, but I saw Microsoft was listed separately and had 2 codes. The second one – 35233 worked for the Xbox and gave me full control. It’s weird that those were listed under Microsoft. I drifted back to trying to get the Yamaha receiver to work, but I never could get it. I tried the scanning codes, but the most I got was volume control and the ability to turn the receiver off. I went online and found through some forums that the Terk remotes really don’t interface with Yamaha receivers at all. This was very disappointing because I have 3 Yamaha receivers, so there’s no room I could move the Terk remote to and still have full functionality of that system. So if you have a Yamaha receiver, just know that you will have zero control with this remote. Overall, the code entry is pretty straightforward. Its no different than the remote programming I used to do on my cable box remote to use my components. Programming the macros is simplistic, and is limited to one macro command per device. The macro control also has no way (that I have seen) to add time delays to a keypresses, so if your device is sluggish to accept inputs the macro may not work. Design of the remote is OK. It is very lightweight to the point of feeling like its missing something. The polished black top plastic looks nice when clean but quickly shows smudges and oils from your hands. The edge around the remote isn’t great – the plastic is nicely finished without any excess flashing, but the edge is hard enough that you can feel it in your hands. The power button illuminates with every button press. You have to manually illuminate the backlight by pressing the button at the bottom. The backlight will stay on for 5 seconds if no other button presses are detect, but will stay illuminated if you are actively pressing buttons on the remote. The buttons, for the most part feel great to push. All the number, device, and media control buttons feel good. However, I really dislike the center pad and volume/channel control section. Its bad. The D-Pad is somewhat recessed inside the volume/channel section. I found myself searching around with my thumb to find the edges to make sure I was pressing a direction button and not the outer volume/channel pad. The volume/channel pad fully surrounds the D-pad but isn’t pressable in the areas right next to the D-pad directions. The D-pad needs to be raised above – it is without a doubt going to be the most used set of buttons on the remote along with the OK button. I’m also not really happy with the little Netflix/Hulu/D+/YT buttons along the bottom. They are difficult to press single-handed because they are all the way at the bottom of the remote, and they are tiny. Using the remote is pretty easy, and it works great with my TV and Xbox. I have access to the full control list on my TV and Xbox. It is great to be able to control this Xbox without having to bust out a controller. I do have to use HDMI CEC to control the volume on my receiver since the remote doesn’t really care for my Yamaha. I wish I didn’t have to do this because TCL’s CEC handshake is poorly executed and does not interact well with my receiver or the soundbar I had before the receiver. One thing to note – save the instructions and code papers. Put them somewhere safe in case you need them. Terk does not appear to make these documents available online, which is annoying and confusing in today’s digital world. Overall, this is an OK remote. Its does a great job of controlling my TV and Xbox, and I have zero complaints there. The rechargeable battery is nice, and the use of USB-C means I won’t have to pull out outdated cables to charge it. I do have issues with the button layout that are off-putting to say the least, and I don’t care for the “hand feel” of the remote all that much. For me though it is a real dealbreaker to not have any compatibility with my receiver. I wanted avoid using CEC and be able to ditch the Xbox controller, TV, and receiver remotes. Instead I have to use CEC, and keep the receiver remote close by.

Bought this because my Tv some how didnt come with a remote, but i love it! Works with a bunch of devices and brands, plus its rechargeable?! No more buying batteries? Yes please

First time purchasing something at Best Buy and my experience has been great. Best prices around and there very professional. Purchased a 75 in. TV a game box and head phones and I’m very happy with my equipment. You also get 24 months free interest.

Whether you've lost your original remote, inherited an old TV, disc player, or receiver that is missing its remote, or just want to de-clutter your living room, the Terk rechargeable 6-device universal remote is a very reasonably priced, though somewhat basic, remote control that does a lot of what it needs to without much in the way of fuss or programming difficulties. There are a few shortcomings you should be aware of, but if you're looking for something to manage most of the basic functions of your audio/visual needs with a few accommodations thrown in for the modern streaming household, this unit should fit the bill. Programming is pretty straightforward for a universal remote; simply hold down the button for the device you want to control and then enter in the code from the extensive code list provided in the box. The remote also has some handy features like auto-code searching if you can't find your device's code in the code list, volume lock (controls TV volume even if the remote is set to operate a disc player or cable box), channel lock ("punch through" of something like a cable or satellite box's channel changer if you don't use your TV to change the channel), and a code retrieval function that allows you to recall and display a programmed code for a particular device in case you forgot to write it down during initial setup or you can't find the original code list. The Terk comes preprogrammed to control a host of Samsung TVs and disc players (there's even a dedicated "cube" button that supposedly works for Samsung Hub functionality on their smart TVs), JBL audio products, Comcast cable boxes, and Roku streamers. Other than our Roku Premier box, we have no such products in our living room stack, but it took me less than 3 minutes to program the remote for nearly complete coverage of our Panasonic flat-screen TV, LG Bluray player, and ZVOX soundbase. I say "nearly complete" because you are limited to the functions on the Terk's remote buttons only; there is no way to add a different/learned command to an unused button. For instance, the cube-shaped Samsung Hub button did work as another home key for our Roku, but it did not activate any smart functions on our Panasonic TV, and there was no other button on the remote that would do so either. Similarly, while I could adjust volume and input selection for our ZVOX soundbase, there were no accommodations on the remote to adjust the ZVOX's bass, tone, surround settings, dialog enhancement, etc., nor was there a button to remotely eject the disc from our LG Bluray player. These are some unfortunate drawbacks because the likelihood that you'll be able to completely replace all your original remotes is probably a bit low, especially for more complex devices that have a multitude of direct-access features from their original remote controls. Whether you regularly use those features or not will dictate just how inconvenient you may find this situation. But those of you who are more in the "plug and play" camp once everything is dialed in to your liking may not notice such omissions at all--key functions like power up, change the channel or volume, select an input, navigate main menus and select onscreen functions, etc...all of these features worked flawlessly for us, and some of those missing features and incomplete function sets were somewhat understandable given the otherwise wallet-friendly price tag of this remote. Those of you who regularly use a Roku or other streaming device to access Netflix, Disney, Hulu and YouTube will appreciate the shortcut buttons at the bottom of the remote; they worked as expected to bring up the corresponding streaming channels on our Roku Premier. Note that your original device remote probably needs to have those same shortcut keys to work as expected...if your smart TV remote didn't have a dedicated Netflix button (for example), it probably won't work here to immediately bring it up. However, pressing the shortcut buttons for 2+ seconds activates a secondary feature that allows you to execute a stored macro of up to 14 steps--so you might be able to set up a macro to bring up that channel anyway. Unfortunately, the macros only work for a single device, so you cannot, for example, power up your TV, switch inputs, and then bring your streaming device to the home screen or power-up your disc player and bring it to the title menu...bummer. The shortcut buttons are also color-coded to match the red, blue, green, and yellow keys on a similarly featured Bluray player or cable box. The Terk is backlit with a nice, bright blue LED you can activate with the dedicated backlight button at the bottom of the remote. Every button except the four shortcuts has backlight illumination, and nearly every button features a lighted icon rather than tiny lettering which makes it pretty easy to see and decipher the controls in the dark. Most of the important AV controls are here...playback/recording, home and menu navigation, volume, channel, star/options, OK/enter, previous/back, exit, input, etc...but where things break down once again is in the size and placement of the directional pad and OK button. These controls are smallish, conjoined, and flush in the middle of a square control set that has volume and channel adjustments at the four corners. This nested button layout was clearly designed to save space and keep the remote small, but in practice, the directional controls and OK button are a little difficult to activate by feel alone simply because all the controls are flush against each other in such a small physical space. The OK button in particular may be difficult to activate if you have a larger thumb because it is so tiny relative to the directional controls immediately encircling it. Separate navigational arrow buttons, raising the directional pad above the level of the corner-mounted volume and channel controls, or at least adding a small, raised nub to the OK button would have made operation by touch in a darkened room much easier. The design of the remote is a bit of a mixed bag. The purported 6-month rechargeable battery is nice and it has a USB-C connection for charging...there is even a stubby USB-C charging cable in the box. The remote feels impossibly light, far lighter than you would expect for something of its size, which seems like it's just BEGGING to be lost in between some couch cushions because it's SO light it's easy to forget to it's there. Fortunately, there is a battery-saving feature where the remote will turn itself off if one of the buttons is depressed for too long--a handy function for those times when the remote inevitably gets lodged in the couch with something pressing against one of the buttons. The shell features a super-shiny black finish that looks great out of the box, but sadly becomes a fingerprint magnet almost immediately...a matte finish would have kept it looking less greasy or aged for the long haul. Bottom line--there's a nice array of universal remote control features here, and the backlit keypad, rechargeable battery, and modern streaming box-friendly control keys make it likely that this remote will be suitable for the vast majority of users with relatively simple or straightforward remote control needs. However, there are some usability challenges associated with the design and button/control layout as well as some understandable, yet still unfortunate, shortcomings in features and functionality that make the Terk more suitable for simple "no-brainer" device navigation and usage scenarios rather than wholesale consolidation of a more complex set of AV and home theater component controls. Still recommended, just know what you're getting ahead of time.