Greetings, all.

I'm finishing up a smallish basement theater room and would like to add a univeral remote as the last touch. Based on reviews and posts, the URC R50 seems to be the best option for me based on a combination of price point (under $200), macro capability, soft/hard button combination and all-around flashiness. But I did have a few questions and was hoping for some advice on whether this is in fact the remote for me.

The room is 12x16 and all components are in the same room, so I don't think I'll need RF. But we sit at the very back of the room, the projector is directly overhead, and the components are 6 feet to the right of the viewers, and facing them. I know the R50 gets a really high rating on the "heavy flannel" test, but is that just an indicator of distance, or of direction as well? Does a remote like this fill the room with its signal? If I program it with a macro that includes signals to both the projector AND the components on the shelf, will I only need to point the remote in one direction to get things to work?

The second question is more general. Given these particulars, is the R50 the ideal remote for me?

12x16 room, all components in this one room
5 components to control (projector, DVD, CD, receiver, Mac Mini)
need macro capability to turn on certain components for certain tasks
want a combination of soft and hard buttons
remote needs to be under $200

The only things I think I might not like about the R50 are that it almost has too many hard buttons for my taste, and that it's not rechargeable. But I don't think I can avoid those two things unless I move to a higher price bracket.

Thoughts?

Many thanks in advance!