RF not needed.

Here are my components:

Panasonic TV (older widescreen)
Panasonic 5 disk DVD player
Pioneer stereo
Directv R15 PVR

Discreet codes and macros are the biggest factors for me. Along with some programmable buttons because I seem to use 3 of the 4 colored buttons alot on the directv remote. The most emphasis would be on the remote being set up well with the directv as most everything else is turn-on and forget (other than changing to the proper source for the activity i am doing)