Nothing can ruin your home theater or high-end audio experience like a poorly designed remote control. Many of today's AV components, even the high-end ones, come with very basic controllers that don’t provide an intuitive user experience. That’s where a good universal remote or an advanced control system comes into play.
Today’s control platforms aren’t just limited to the gear in your home theater or audio system. Custom-oriented systems like Control4 and Crestron—which must be programmed by a trained installer—allow you to control a variety of whole-house applications, from multi-room music to lighting to HVAC to security.
Check out the review archive below to read about latest and greatest in home automation, AV distribution, and system control.
The DVDO Air wireless HDMI system is a unique product that can provide a solution to users in need of a way to deal with long runs of HDMI...
The universal remote market is a continually shifting place now that mobile devices have apps that can make them into remotes, and, if what Adrienne Maxwell says is true,...
With the amount of touch screens available to consumers these days, there seems to be less and less of a reason to by a universal remote. Adrienne Maxwell...
Apple's products have become more and more important to the home theater market. Almost every manufacture is trying to introduce the iPhone, but Peel's Universal Remote is an...
In search of a more basic universal remote, reviewer Adrienne Maxwell picked up the Logitech Harmony 300 universal remote. How did the remote perform? Read about the...
People's big beef with the Apple iPad (other than the lack of Flash) is that it can be hard to type on. Well cross that objection off the list...
Acoustic Research's Xsight universal remote control can control up to 18 different products, is IR (with RF support) and has a 2.2-inch full-color touchscreen. Adrienne Maxwell takes it for...
When it comes to universal remotes, Harmony (now part of Logitech) is one of the leaders. Remotes like the One are easy to program, easy to use, and not...
With lots of buttons and a color LCD, the 890 from Harmony can control all functions of up to 15 devices. It can even learn commands from esoteric gear...
URC, one of the most popular universal remote companies, has branched into the iPod dock category. More than just a simple audio dock, the PSX2/PSXLink turns the iPod into...
Bridging the gap between home automation and universal remote is the Harmony 1000. Its 3.5-inch touchscreen is just the start of its user friendliness. It's not quite as customizable...
Even though consumers love putting flat panel TVs on the wall, there's always the problem of wires. Gefen's new Wireless HDMI product aims to take care of that issue....
The good Doctor Ken Taraszka takes a look at Philips new Pronto TSU9300. It's got a full-color touchscreen LCD, can control devices using IR and even Wi-Fi. Programming is...
Featuring a color LCD screen, backlit buttons, and easy to use computer software, the Harmony 880 universal remote has lots to offer those looking to simplify their home theaters....
The programmable MX-450 from URC is an IR/RF universal remote that despite its low-ish price, has a lot of high-endish features. It has a 2-inch color LCD, lots of...
URC has an excellent track record for easy to use universal remotes. The R50 is a "wand-style" remote with a color LCD, easy programmability, and can control up to...
There are plenty of universal remotes on the market, but few outside the Crestron or AMX class of controllers can easily handle a large home theater system. Universal Remote...
Forget simple, normal, basic remotes. The new NevoS70 from UEI offers a big 3.5-inch touch screen, lots of on-board memory, and even has built-in Wi-Fi so you can get...
The new TSU9400 from Philips is a big, high-end remote control with a 3.5-inch LCD, IR (but RF-capable) and even has RS-232 and Wi-Fi. It's sold by custom retailers,...
Expanding from their endless lines of cables, Monster has several universal remote controls. The AVL300 has a 2.3-inch LCD, uses IR (but is RF-capable), and even has a rechargeable...
