They were duracell triple aaa

Sounds like dodgy AAA's OR your remote is faulty... sorry.

Yes. The charger will charge any brand of NiMH batteries.

The operating manual specifies to use only Ni-MH AAA batteries and warns to not use Alkaline/Manganese/Ni-Cd batteries. Panasonic web site lists replacement batteries at 19.95 for a pair.
Duracel Ni-MH AAA batteries will be fine.

Charging Normal Batteries runs the risk of explosion...

All the AAA batteries whether non-rechargeable alkaline (Duracell, Energizer, Rayovac, Varta, Maxell, Panasonic, Sony, Sanyo, etc) will do. Each of these types of batteries has a voltage of 1.5V
You can also use rechargeable NiCd (Nickel-Cadmium) or NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) 1.2V AAA. However TI Instruments say that under no circumstances should one use rechargeable batteries.

The trivial possible reasons why the the Duracell did not work are:

1. The lot was depleted.--Replace with fresh ones
   
2. The electrical terminals may be broken or dirty or corroded by a previous acid leak.---Clean the terminal even if they appear shiny. The eraser tip of a pencil should be good to rub away any dirt.
   
3. You did not place them correctly: Wrong polarity. This is a very common mistake (I know from my own experience).

triple A (AAA)

on my charger the red lights are only to tell there is power connecting especially when you have two battery's behind each other on the bottom of my charger there is a guide as to how long you should charge each battery as to size which are aaa 7hours max
aa 24hours
c 24hours
d 24hours
9v 24hours
hope this helps glenn............

Call duracell and explain your problem they will likely send you new batteries. They will tell you that yours are old.
Duracell if the the USA (800) 551-2355

Try different batteries. You might have got the cheap knock off ones without knowing it, or see if the + and- are in the right position- sometimes in digital devices (not just cameras, but cd players and radios too) the polarity of the batteries gets reversed.

you sure do