Universal remote control

If you are reading this review, that probably means you have more than one remote that you use to control your home entertainment equipment. I have four physical remotes that I use when I want to watch shows on my TV. There’s the DirecTV remote, my Onkyo AV receiver remote, the Roku remote and a… Read More

How many remotes do you use for your TV and other home theater devices? I am currently using three. I have a remote for my DirecTV, one for my A/V receiver and one for my Roku. In the early days of PDAs and smartphones, most devices included a built-in IR transmitter so the device could… Read More

I’m generally a cool, calm, and collected guy, but one of the few things that causes me to geek out is Doctor Who. I discovered the current incarnation of the show about a year ago and have been hooked every since. While I can’t afford high-end Doctor Who merchandise, I do think I have enough… Read More

With a home theater, you can find yourself swimming in what seems like dozens of remotes.  They are a pain to keep up with, especially when you know you can control everything with a single remote, but those universal remotes can cost a small fortune.  The Pronto Smart Remote can control all your equipment without… Read More

The TV in my bedroom has what has to be the worst remote ever created.  It seems to be underpowered, and there’s an opaque cover over the wimpy IR sender that means it sometimes takes what seems like a dozen tries to get the TV to simply turn on or off.  I need to get… Read More

If you’re tired of dealing with a stack of remotes to control your home theater system, and you don’t want to break the bank buying a universal remote, turn your smart phone or tablet into your one-remote-to-rule-them-all device.  The @7PM Intelligent Universal Remote plugs into the audio jack on your mobile device.  The app has an… Read More

I’ve seen one of those funny, captioned pictures you so often see on the internet with one of those big, multi-buttoned TV remotes that some one had fixed for their grandmother to use.  They had taped over every button except for the power, channel up/down, and volume up/down so their less than tech-savvy family member… Read More

This is the universal remote control for the dedicated Star Trek fan.  This Star Trek Original Phaser Universal Remote Control is an exacting replica of a Star Trek phaser.  It was 3D scanned from the last remaining prop phaser in existence, and it has a detachable MK I phaser unit (seen on the top).  The… Read More

Here’s another Father’s Day gift idea – this time for the A/V-loving guys.  The new Harmony Ultimate remote from Logitech is the ultimate remote control.  The Harmony Ultimate can control up to 15 devices, including the TV, cable boxes, media boxes, game consoles like PS3, Wii, or Xbox (with the remote’s Bluetooth functionality), and even… Read More

How many audio/video home entertainment components do you own? Do you use a separate remote control for each one? Are you the designated controller in your family because no one else can figure out how to start the TV, satellite and DVR? Have you ever been at work when you get a call something like… Read More

Plug this little paperclip-sized dongle into the 30-pin connector on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and your Apple device can serve as a powerful universal remote control.  The Zapper from VooMote uses the free VooMote Zapper app from iTunes to let you control virtually all the A/V devices in your house.  You can define… Read More

Once you have a home theater setup your mind starts to wander to the myriad of remote controls that you are now the proud owner-operator of.  You start to wonder how you are going to help your partner in life, your children, and your parents operate your shiny new entertainment system.  With remotes for your… Read More

The Clicker has been mentioned in passing in a gift-ideas post last year, but I thought it might deserve its own post this gift-giving season.  The Clicker universal remote control was designed by a Civil Engineer/building contractor.  He worked for years perfecting his idea of incorporating a bottle opener into a remote control – to… Read More

I recently reviewed my shopping experience at outfitYOURS.com, and I received a Beacon Universal Remote Control System for iOS Devices by Griffin from them.  I have spent some time getting the Beacon set up, and let’s just say that experience wasn’t as easy as my shopping experience was.  I finally have the Beacon set up… Read More