I hate all of these remotes, is there a solution?

Universal remotes are probably one of the last things that people think about when designing a system, but have the biggest impact on the system's usage. If a systems looks and sounds great, but takes 7 remotes to operate, then it will not get a lot of use. Consolidating all of your remotes into one can be a great solution. Keep in mind that just because a remote says that it can control 17 devices, doesn't mean that it makes it easier. Some low-end universal remotes can replace all of the various remotes in your system, but do nothing to make the system easier to use. In fact, some can make it more complicated by having to remember which device the remote is currently talking to.

Some universal remote controls have touch-screens, some have 'hard-buttons' and some are hybrids. All three types can work well, but only if applied and programmed correctly. Hard-button remotes have permanently labeled hard buttons. The remote that came with your TV is a good example of a hard-button remote. The advantage to hard-button remotes is that they are very tactile. It is easy to operate them by feel without having to look at the remote or to find buttons. The drawback is that the button labels cannot be changed after programming and you are limited to the number of buttons on the remote.

Touch-screen remotes look a PDA and use graphics in place of buttons. These remotes are often bright, colorful, and very cosmetically appealing. The color screens allow the programmer a lot of flexibility about which buttons to put on the remote and how to label them. A button could say "Display", "Info", or "Information about Program" and still do the same function. If a button gets used a lot, it could be made bigger or placed in an easier to reach location. If a button like "Aspect Ratio” doesn't get used a lot, but is still needed, it can be located somewhere out of the way, but still there in case you needed it. Often the limitations on touch-screen programming are your imagination and the remotes memory capabilities. The draw-back to touch-screen remotes is that you have to look at them to see what button you are pressing. They lack the tactile feedback of their hard-button cousins.

Hybrid remotes are a remote with a touch-screen as well as several hard-buttons for the most used functions. These often have a customizable screen at the top for the buttons like changing sources and turning the system on/off, and then hard buttons below for controls like volume, changing channel, play/pause etc. Hybrids are a great solution when you need more control than the hard-button remote, but do not want a full touch-screen remote. You get the tactile advantage of the hard button remote for commonly used buttons and the custom touch-screen for those odd buttons that you don't use a lot but, still want to have access to.

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