What to do about an Integra remote not working

[Quazimoto]

OK so here's the deal:
Have this Integra receiver (DTR 7.4) - perfectly happy to use it for my home theatre. Please do not advise me to just get another receiver - I HAVE other receivers, but because of what I've got in the house and where (my individual circumstances), it works best if I use THIS one as my home theatre.
ONLY THING IS - the remote, well, technically it works. But it tends to use and WANT to use so much battery that there's no way you can actually sustain a relationship with it. I'll put 3 brand new, good AA batteries in, they'll work for a day or two, and then when I press a button it'll just say "BATT" on the screen - meaning the battery needs replacing. Thankfully, I don't think it has actually USED those three AA batteries, because that would cost a fortune - it just has used them enough that it thinks they're dead.
The same goes for rechargeables - I'm a photographer so I have many GOOD rechargeable AAs for my flashes - but I charge them, use them in the remote for not even a day (in which time I press about 4 buttons), and then it decides the battery is dead.

For home cinema this isn't really feasible because you want to turn movies up or down etc. - for music it'd possibly be OK but this amp won't work in my music room (long story).
So I'm wondering if I can get a universal remote that'd be best suited to the Integra receiver or what...
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

P.S. Once, when the remote had fresh batteries in it, I pressed 'on' and it turned my cheaper ONKYO receiver on - so I'm wondering if for basic functions like on/off, volume+/- - a cheap Onkyo remote would work?