Well, I decided to call the 800 number on my user's manual, and asked about
this. The tech support said that this is simply the way the TV was designed
and it may behave strangely if you press certain buttons on a 3rd party
remote. I asked if there is any way to lock it out of going into service
mode, they said there is not, and said that their only recommendation was
just to use the remote that came with the TV.

I told them that I think their engineers made a bad decision in designing it
this way, but since I only paid $99 I guess I can't really complain.

J.

Just so you don't think it is a fluke, I found basically the same thing
with the
Durabrand 27" DCT2704R that I just bought last month at Walmart. I thought
it
was very strange. I didn't tell the wife though since she is one of these
folks
who thinks anything beyond an ON/OFF button and a way to change
channels/volume
is a waste of time so the service settings would surely throw her for a
loop.
Anyway, I wonder how many other brands of newer TV's suffer this same thing?

Lawrence