7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Such a thing as a required novelty item? Great addition to your home theater
Date of Review: Mar 19, 2008
The Bottom Line: Well worth the the price. It is not about less remotes, this is just a better remote.
My home theater:
Denon 3808 A/R receiver
Yamaha 7.1 speakers
Sony 60" A3000 TV
PS3 (Blu-Ray)
Xbox 360 (HD-DVD) though it rarely gets used nowadays
Satellite HD DVR
This remote controls everything with exception of the PS3 which for some oddball reason Sony decided to stick exclusively with Blue-tooth.
The unit cam packaged well and within 10 minutes I had it connected to the computer and programming.
Essentially you load the software on the computer and allow it to update.
After a charge, connect the remote to the computer with the supplied cable and the online prompts will ask you about each component in your system. It is easy as that.
Once completed you simply click the update key and the remote is updated.
You can easily label every button you wish to show on the graphical color screen.
BE WARNED: Special characters such as /, & or * will cause the unit to lock up and require the software to be reloaded.
Once complete it will test each component and ask if the unit cycled on/off and if not it will try another setting. It does not get easier.
Each and every component was programmed and worked within minutes.
Also, you can create MOODS, so one label states, " Night TV" and this automatically turns off the lights (via X10 control) in the theater room and turns on the tv, receiver, etc... to set the mood with just one click. Pretty slick.
Battery life is pretty good in that it has not drained on us yet. The charger is modern looking with a blue LED light and we just place the remote on there when we are done for the evening.
My only caveat is the PS3 control but that has nothing to do with this remote as it does with Sony-hopefully they will release a PS3 with IR/RF support.
Another cool feather is the ability to place whichever jpg as a background on the remote.
For the satellite ,it controls everything including the recording and playback with ease. We now only use 2 remotes vs the 4 prior.
It starts on the main screen which I have programmed with items such as ,"Watch Blu-Ray" ,"Watch satellite", "Internet Music",etc. and the unit switches all of the components on and to the proper inputs such as HDMI switching on the receiver. Then it gives the options you programmed for that particular device. For example, if I click on Watch Satellite , it will turn everything on and switch the receiver to the satellite input.
Then the remote screen will come up with DVD Recordings, Live TV, etc.
Quality is good.
Well worth the price.
