Apple has released version 2.3 of the Apple TV (ATV) firmware and one of the new features is the ability of the ATV to work with practically any universal remote. This is a welcome change since Apple's tiny remote keeps getting lost in the couch cushions at nearly every Mac|Life staffer's house. The only positive that came out of looking for it was finding some loose change for a soda.

We tried a variety of remotes, the first being the remote from Comcast's digital cable and sadly,  it did not work with the ATV. The reason was that the menu button under the TV mode caused the ATV to overlay it's menu under our Hitachi TV's making the ATV menu nearly impossible to read. So care must be taken when selecting the remote you wish to use, the mode it is set for and the buttons you select.

We went through our remote collection and we found that using a Sony DVD/VCR player's remote model #RMT-V501E switched to TV mode worked great. A picture of the remote is below with the buttons we used circled in red.

Difficulty level: Easy

What you need:
>Apple TV upgraded to firmware version 2.3
>Sony Remote model #RMT-V501E or equivalent

Perform the following tasks on your ATV:

1. Choose Settings > General > Remotes.

2. Choose Learn Remote.

3. Place your remote into a device mode setting that is not currently used to control other devices in the area around your ATV - you can try the VCR, DVD or AUX options for example. Using buttons that do not already control the other devices.

4. Select Start using your Apple remote

5. ATV displays icons representing the six buttons on the Apple Remote

6. Now pick up your remote and press and hold the button you want to use to control the "up" function until the blue progress bar is full.

7. ATV will now prompt you to program the next button function. Repeat Step 6 for each remaining button as shown in the picture above.

Optional:

8. At the Setup Complete Screen choose Set Up Playback Button to setup specific playback buttons for Pause, Play, Stop, Fast-forward, Rewind, Previous and Next chapter, etc.

Now you are ready to use your ATV with a remote that is hopefully easier to find when lost, and reduce the number of remotes you need for your AV setup by one.