I'm in the market for a new universal remote control. I'm not looking for anything fancy, but I want a remote that can do the following:
1) transmit RF so it can convert to IR so I can hide all components behind cabinets
2) easy controls for My DVR
3) fair amount of hard buttons so I do not always have to look at the remote to do things
4) would like to have a hard buttons for Guide and Info

What would you suggest?

It may be a little "fancy" but the Universal Remote MX-850 will do everything you ask and is a great remote. Makes using your whole system much easier, especially if you can find descetes for all your equipment for the macro's.

Bill

You might want to look at RTI as well the T1 or T2+ with a RP1 base station

www.rticorp.com

I suggest the OneForAll URC-9910. It is less expensive than most other remotes that transmit IR over RF.

I also suggest getting a JP1 cable to make programming it easier and more flexible. Even with that added cost it's still less expensive.


The 9910 doesn't have great key labels for DVR, but it isn't too bad. Anyway, I think one quickly learns which buttons do what and the labels stop mattering.


The 9910 has all hard buttons (no touch screen nor LCD button labels) and it has a lot of hard buttons.


The 9910 has those labels.

The older 9910's had a stupidly designed "doughnut" button for the four arrows surrounding the select key. That made all five of those functions hard to use. I think all those have flushed out of the retail chain by now and you would get one with a better designed set of arrow keys. But it might be worth checking to make sure you're getting one with the new design arrow keys.

John, UEI RF remote RF performance sucks. I know I own, 4 9800's, 2 HT-PRO's, 9910,and 3 RS 2117's. Anyone who has used one, would NEVER recommend it as a RF remote.

And if you have computer in it path, its dead, no signal.

There are a number of URC remotes that will do the job. In addition to the MX-850 mentioned, also look at the MX-350, 650, and 800. At an even lower price level (but using a less configurable RF base station), there are the MX-600, URC-100, 200 and 300. You can see them all at www.universalremote.com.

Mike
www.SurfRemoteControl.com