Operate DirecTV via Onkyo 709 remote question

I'll be the first to admit that I am sometimes technically challenged (it took me a while to realize that I had to click on the words "Welcome to the Onkyo forum" to get to the listings of posts, and there was no indication that those words were to be clicked on.) I'm wondering if I was the only one who didn't get any further and just left before getting to the actual forum?

Anyhow, to the question...I have gotten my Onkyo remote to control my HDTV, Blue-Ray Player and DirecTV unit. I also found tha using the orange "ALL OFF" button did not turn all devices off. However, clicking the appropriate light gray button to the right of "ALL OFF" works fine. However, I cannot easily get to the "LIST" option that is available on the DirecTV remote (using the Onkyo remote it takes about four button presses.) And I am missing the 6 sec replay and 30 sec advance buttons that are on the DirecTV remote. Is there a way I can program the Onkyo remote to duplicate these three functions? Finally, the DirecTV remote has four colored buttons and the Onkyo remote has four pale gray buttons over those same colors but I cannot get the buttons to mimic the DirecTV operations assigned to those colors. Any help greatly appreciated.

Bruce - Casa Grande AZ

Hi Bruce,

What model receiver do you have because if it has a Macro function on the remote you may be able to utilize it?

I have the 709 and have successfully used the Macro function with the MY MOVIE, MY TV and MY MUSIC buttons to turn on the required devices but did not realize that they could be used for more specific tasks. Are other buttons programmable? such as those with the "|<<" and ">>|" just above the ">" button in the center of the Onkyo remote control since these are not used when in the MY TV mode.
Thanks for your reply.

Bruce Monte - Casa Grande AZ

Hi Bruce,

The remotes can only do so much and it all depends on the chip set in them. I am glad that I was able to help. Thank you for choosing Onkyo.

Answered some of my own questions yesterday... While finding my way through the manual I came across how to teach the Onkyo remote commands from another device (on pg 72,) in this case the DirecTV remote. By following the instructions I was able to assign the DirecTV 30 second advance to the ">>|" button on the Onkyo remote. But I have been unsuccessful in assigning the 6 second repeat to the "|<<" on the Onkyo remote. Then I discovered that after I obtain the DirecTV list of recorded programs the "long way", for the remainder of a session, I can use the "PLAYLIST" button to the left of "ENTER" to bring me directly to the list of recorded shows (I would love to know why "PLAYLIST" does not work on the first try.)
However, I still cannot get the Onkyo remote to recognize that I have pushed one of the buttons above the numerals - red - green - yellow - blue. Any suggestions for this would be greatly appreciated.

Bruce - Casa Grande AZ
Onkyo TX-nr709
Sony 52" Bravia
Polk RTi8 fronts, CSi5 center, PSW505 sub
DirecTV

Hi Bruce,

The reason why you can not get those buttons to work is because they are specialized buttons only for the DirecTV remote.