One thing that I and I’m sure a lot of you are pretty ticked off about (other than the fact that the price has been slashed only a few weeks after we early adopters shelled out a lot of money for it) is that the Playstation 3D Display didn’t come with a remote to be able to control the volume. Instead, we have to awkwardly reach back and try to fiddle with five identical-feeling buttons. Worse, those of us who bought the original Playstation Blu-Ray Remote were probably surprised to find that–the old remote doesn’t even have a volume control.

Sony has since released a new new PS3 remote control which indeed has a volume control (pictured to the right). It’s a great way to get an updated remote that works with the PS3 3D Display. But at $20, it’s a bit steep to pay for another remote control, especially since I already shelled out more than at for the last remote (it would have been nice for us early suckers to get a “trade in”).

Here’s a cheap solution I stumbled upon. Do you have an old Universal Remote lying around the house? I actually have a whole box of old Phillips remote controls which I got from Woot in one of their Bag of Crap sales. I pulled one out and just for kicks entered the first Sony TV code I found.

I was delighted to find that the remote worked. These keys worked exactly as they should:

– Volume and Mute – I could turn the sound up and down as I pleased
– Menu – I could pull up the on-screen display to adjust settings
– Directional Buttons – I could use this to navigate the menu
– Quit – I could close out of the menu

The one oddity was the TV/VCR button, which I could use to toggle between the modes (HDMI1, HDMI2, COMP). And of course, the irrelevant buttons (channel selection, number buttons, VCR controls) had no purpose.

Just for kicks, I tried a very old remote I had from an old Sony VCR (remember those things?) To be surprise, the volume control worked fine on that as well, as did the TV/VTR button (which again toggled between the modes). The menu button didn’t work, though.

Anyway, I was quite pleased with myself that instead of shelling out another $20, I could use old remote lying around the house for the same purpose. If you’re annoyed at having to reach to the back just to change volume, you should try it too.