How to Reprogram a Dish Remote to Work With a Samsung TV

Remote controls can be a bit of a mixed blessing. It's great to have them, and they're getting more powerful and capable all the time, but they do add up. By the time you get your A/V system put together the way you like it, you might feel like you need a separate coffee table just for the remotes. One way to keep down the clutter is to program one of your remotes to handle multiple devices. A lot of remotes, like the one that came with your Dish Network receiver, can do that for a major brand TV like Samsung.

These remotes are all pretty straightforward to program because you do all the work on screen. To start, you bring up your receiver's on-screen menu. If you have version 40.0 of the Dish remote, press the "Menu" button twice to bring it up. If your remote is one of the 50-series models, press the "Home" button twice. From the main menu choose "Settings," and then from the "Settings" menu, choose "Remote Control." From the Remote Control Settings menu, scroll down to the "Devices" list and select "TV." From the next screen, choose "TV Pairing Wizard." If Samsung shows on the "Brand" list, select it. Otherwise, scroll down the alphabetical list on the sidebar at the left of the screen until you reach "S-T," select it, and then choose "Samsung" from the list you see on the screen. Select "Next" to begin the process of selecting a code.

You don't need a written Dish Network TV codes list to make this work because the codes are built in, and you can cycle through them automatically. When you select "Next," your remote tests its first code. Press the "Volume Up" button on the remote a few times to see if it changes the volume on your TV. If it doesn't, click "Try Next Code." Keep doing this until you find a code that works for your specific model of Samsung TV. Once you have the right code, select "Finished" to save the code and exit the wizard.

For the older 20-series remotes, you need a list of Dish Network remote codes. If you don't still have your original manual for the remote – these remotes are older, so it's understandable if you've misplaced it – you can look up your manual on Dish Network's website and get the codes that way. There are only eight codes for Samsung in the case of the 20.0 and 20.1. Once you have the codes, press and hold the "TV" button until all four "Mode" buttons light up, enter the first code and press the pound or # button. The TV button flashes three times to let you know the code was accepted. Try the "Power" button to see if the TV turns off. If it does, you're done. If not, repeat the process with the remaining codes until you find the one that works.

If none of the Dish remote codes for a Samsung TV work with your specific model, or if the remote works but doesn't have all of the functions you need, you don't have to accept it. Instead, you can use the Dish remote's learning mode and teach it any function that's on your TV's remote. You enter programming mode the same way, either by holding down the "TV" button on a 20-series remote or bringing up the "Remote Control Settings" menu on a 40- or 50-series remote. Set your Dish remote on a flat surface with your original remote at its left, about 4 inches away and pointing to the small square infrared window on the side of your Dish remote. From here the steps vary, depending which remote you have, but you'll want to use either "hybrid mode" to add new features to a code that mostly works or "normal mode" if you can't find a working code at all. You can find detailed steps for your remote on the Dish website if you don't have the original manual.

If you have a new Samsung TV and an older Dish remote, you might find that none of those Dish network remote codes work well for you. In that case, switch things around and use your Samsung remote to control the Dish receiver instead. The remotes that come with current models are often able to run your satellite receiver and other devices capably and give you better control of your TV's advanced functions.