Hi, I am looking for remote recommendations given my setup. This is a new house with mostly new hardware we are moving into. Any help is appreciated.

There will be distributed audio and video through a Russound C-Series system.

Main Floor TV
Samsung UN55B000
Apple TV
Motorola HD Cable box
Blue Ray Player (have not bought yet but will be common brand Pioneer or similar)
Yamaha Receiver HTR-5890

Second TV on main floor (will access HD Cable box and Blue Ray above)
Pioneer Plasma PDP-4360HD (media receiver will sit with all components above - in different room)

Media Room
Panasonic AE4000U projector
Receiver Pioneer Elite VSX-23TXH
Xbox 360
Blue Ray Player - will be same as above
PACE HD PVR DCT758D
Lutron Grafik Eye 3106

Basement TV
Samsung UN46B8000
PACE HD PVR DCT758D

All components including the Apple TV will be hidden so RF is key and I believe Wifi will be needed to control the hidden Apple TV.

It is possible that I would add an Apple TV or other components at a later date to each location.

I would like some suggestions for remotes but would also appreciate advice on the other components I would need to run this (ie. RF extenders etc). At this point I was thinking one remote per TV. The main floor TV and the media room would be the priorities (willing to spend more).

I have been looking at the Pronto TSU 9400 but not particularly set on any brand. However, I would like to stick with a brand that could be consistent throughout the house. Thanks in advance!

So, if I am following correctly you have four rooms that need control. One room will need to control devices in another room. Additionally, some, maybe all of the devices in certain rooms will be hidden.

So here is what I think you need.
You need an RF base station for the equipment in near room main room TV. You will need an additional RF station for each other room with hidden equipment. You will then need four remotes.

The Pronto solution will work well. You can mix and match remotes from their current line excluding the TSU9200 which is a totally different remote. One thing to consider though is that they don't really have anything that is relatively inexpensive and if you want them all to be from the same line you will end up putting a TSU9300 in your basement to control a TV/PVR combination which seems like overkill.

Another one to consider would be URC. The URC complete control line could also be mixed and matched as above but they have a greater variety in the model line-up. You could mix and match the mx-450, mx-880, mx-900, mx-980, mx-5000 and/or the mx-6000 with their RF basestations.

As for the Apple TV, I am not an Apple TV expert but I think that these can be controlled via IR. Is wi-fi based control a requirement? If it is, that would limit your control options.

Thanks for the reply. I believe the Apple TV is IR but also obviously has some Wifi ablitily since the itouch or iphone can control it. My preference is to put the Apple TV in cabinet so Wifi would be needed from the remote.

For URC, is the programming software available and fairly straightforward to use?

I like the LCD and touch screens but prefer more of a hand held. Would you suggest the mx-980? Also would I need an RF basestation in each room or just the rooms with the most components? Could you tell me what RF basestation model?
Sorry for the basic questions.

An RF base station will pass the signal into the cabinet via RF and then use IR inside the cabinet.


You need to get the software from a dealer, you cannot download it from URC directly. As for ease of use, it depends in part on the remote. For example, it is a lot easier to program an mx-880 then the mx-6000. That being said, it can be hard to learn. You need to have a fair bit of technical aptitude and a lot of patience to learn to program the more advanced remotes.

Pronto Edit Professional is also a challenging learn.


The mx-980 is an excellent remote, my personal favorite. The mx-5000 has a touch screen and supports two-way communication. The mx-880 and mx-900 are great simple remotes and much easier to program. The mx-450 is a inexpensive non-pc programmable remote that will talk to the URC RF base stations.


You need the base stations in the rooms where you have hidden equipment.

For URC there are two base stations. The MRF-260 is a basic base which support 4 IR emitters. Step up to the MRF-350 and you get 6 emitters and an RF receiver that can be separated from the base to help with RF interference. Either one should work for your needs.