I'm seeking opinions which universal remote control would be the best fit for our teenagers man cave... The A/V system consists of the following components:

SONY Z series LCD
Scientific Atlantic Cable Box (TW)
Denon DHTFS3 Soundbar w/ Sub
Denon ASD 11R Ipod Dock
Xbox 360
Wii

I'm most concerned about the Denon soundbar & Ipod dock codes, we currently use the Scientific Atlantic control for the cable box & TV, but no Denon codes work with the cable box controller, so the volume control is adjusted with the Denon remote provided with the system. Any recommendations would be helpful....

You a re going to need a remote with "learning" capabilities. You also did not list a price range, so recomending a remote will be kind of hard. Also, are you going to let him do the programming, or let a pro handle it?

Price range that I have in mind would be $150 - $200. I would prefer to program the remote together with my son, our main system uses the MX-900 which I had the pros handle...

Try Universal Remote's R50 then. It goes for about $150 everywhere.

Lately there's been a bit of a void in the middle-high-end consumer remote offerings, at least as regards the more configurable models.

There's the Harmony, which is good if you like the way it sets things up and don't really want to have to "program" it per sae... then there's URC's R50 which is quite versatile but does lack computer-based setup... and then the price generally jumps way up.

UEI's latest entry is the Xsight series sold under Acoustic Research - a simplified version of the NevoC2 and C3. I just received one for review. It's mostly configured on-remote like the R50, but does have some web-based setup (not sure exactly what for yet, it says "advanced features"). Right now it's priced at $150, but I can't make a recommendation either way.

I ordered the URC R50 last night on amazon.com great price @ $73.00, Thanks for the information...

Is it really a simplified version? I have never had my hands on a C2/C3 but I have read several posts where folks have said that they are exactly the same remote and software.


Once you get into it I think you will find it is actually mostly web-based. You can set the devices up inside the remote but it is easier to set them up in the software. Learning is all done through the remote though.

BTW...I took a ton of screen caps in preparation for the little review I wrote. I can send them to you if you want to save yourself some time.