Universal remotes

[DS-21]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a universal (home audio) remote? I bought one on impulse last month, because it was their deal of the day ($45) and I was ordering a bunch of wires, Firewire cables, and speaker connectors from PE anyway. However, it was frustrating to use and I never could get it to switch between aspect ratios on my LCD. So I sent it back and now have to deal with three remotes to do anything. I don't need anything terribly fancy, just something sufficient to control my cable box cum DVR, DVD player, LCD, and receiver. Also, Apple-style "it just works" is always appreciated.

[newtitan]

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/pr...CONTENTID=9933

[DS-21]

Ouch! That remote costs more than my receiver did!

The cheaper Logitech Harmony ones (688, etc.) were what my online noodlings have led me to believe will be best for me, but their model lines are so bloody confusing that I can't tell what's what.

[Kramerica]

This was the cheapest Harmony 659 I could find, there a little bit cheaper on Ebay though.

I have a 676 and its hard too imagine living without it. To program it you hook it up to you computer with a usb cable and go to harmonys website. you just pick your componets from a list, tell it what inputs are connected to what and send it to the remote. It also has a "help button" if something dosent work right.

[DS-21]

After wasting the better part of an hour in futile attempts to extract information out of a well-meaning but inadequately-trained teenager employee at a big box store today and seeing a couple of the Harmonies in their boxes - one would think that if a store wants to sell $150-$200 remote controls, they would at least have demo pieces out, as they do with digital cameras, PDAs, cells, and iPods - I'm still not clear at all on the differences between the various 600-series models, besides the button material (softer plastic on the 676). They did not have the Harmony 520 in stock.

In a nutshell, I want a remote that can do the following things with a minimum of up-front fuss: turn on the receiver and TV with a single click, switch inputs on the receiver, control the volume on the receiver no matter what component is ostensibly being controlled, control recording and playback on my DVR, switch between DVI and component inputs on my LCD, and cycle through the LCD's aspect ratio settings. Is there any Harmony remote that WON'T do what I want it to?

Also, for anyone with a Harmony, would you be so kind as to verify that the following gear is in its database:

1) Winbook or Powerspec (same thing) LC30D LCD-TV
2) Panasonic XR55 receiver
3) Motorola Moxi BMC9012 HD cable box/DVR
4) Samsung HD841 DVD/SACD/DVD-A player

[Kramerica]

The only thing I am not sure the lower models can do is control a PVR, I dont have one so I am not sure of all the buttons on the remote. If all the controls of your PVR dont trasfer correctly to the Harmony you might have to use macros. For example there isnt an input button on my Harmony, but I can go into the litttle LCD display and switch to any input. I usally dont have to do that because I have everything on the activity buttons. The harmony remotes are the only ones I know of that can turn on multiple componets and have them change to the right input setting with the press of a button.

The Harmony website found all of your equipment

[DS-21]

I appreciate you looking up my gear in your Harmony setup menu. (Looks like you've got some quite the nice setup!) I guess that does it. Harmony it is. Now to find one.