OK, Here’s another… “What’s the best option for me” sort of question. I have used a number of the remotes highlighted on this site and in this forum including all the early Prontos (1000, 2000) up to the 6000, the Phillips 9800i, a Marantz RC9200 and several of the Harmony remotes. I use to be a custom installer and enjoyed taking the time to design custom interfaces for my clients and myself, however after I got married last year and my wife and I moved into our new house and I put together our home theater my remote situation has been, well rather stagnant. I originally bought a Philips 9800i when they first came out to use, but to be honest found it lacking and at the time missed the ability to create my own custom buttons, etc. I may now regret parting with it since, if I remember it was fairly simplistic in its setup. I then bought a Marantz RC9200 from one of my distributors who had a clearance and spent a few weeks starting to design our own custom interface. Well a year later, I never finished that interface, I have left the industry to do consulting in other fields and the RC9200, about 85% done has just been sitting collecting dust. My wife can use the system to watch DirecTV using the OEM remotes but that’s about it. I would love to get her to a point were she is comfortable watching a DVD, or better yet being able to watch recorded shows on the MCE we have. I am leaning towards a Harmony (880, or 890) at this point, but haven’t ruled out other models such as the little Sony (model number eludes me), or another Philips. Would like to stay under $500 though if possible.

My system is comprised of a Harman AVR-7300, Samsung DV-850 DVD player, a Polk Audio XM receiver, a pair of Directv HD receivers, a Media Center PC and a Mitsubishi Diamond 52-inch DLP. I also have a secondary amplifier connected to the multi room outputs of the Harman which gives us whole house audio. Honestly my number one is easy setup, which obvious would favor the Harmony, but with the Media Center PC and multiply DirecTV receivers, not to mention the multi-room capabilities I am wondering. I hate to abandon the Marantz after spending so much time thus far on our custom setup, but with a family and business to run, my time for such endeavors are limited.

The hardest thing for me to wrap my mind around having used the Harmony’s, is it’s ability to flip back and forth between the MCE and it’s dedicated DirecTV receiver and the other receiver, or use picture in picture, etc. I know Harmony make a specific MCE remote, but can you get away with using an 8xx series with one…. In the end, I am willing to have more than one remote if it makes things easier, I mainly want to be able to cut everything on with a single button.