Best universal remote for around $100? (1 Viewer)

[Brian Price]

I have a friend who is looking to buy a universal remote and wants to spend around $100. It has to operate a vcr, dvd player, receiver, projector and probably a few other miscellaneous items. What would someone recommend for this price range or should he spend a little bit more on a better one??? Thanks.

Brian Price

 

[Alf S]

This brand new "touchscreen" style remote ( you can't tell, but the remote is completely flat and wafer thin)from RS just came out and when I went to look at one and breezed through the manual, it looks very promising for an under $100 remote.
It is also upgradeable via your telephone when needed.
Here's the link:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...5Fid=15%2D2133

 

[Chuck Kent]

I'd vote on spending a little more.

The Home Theater Master MX-500 can be purchased for around $125. It's button based and can run up to 10 devices. It has an LCD display to give the correct labels to the less used keys. And, it fits in the hand pretty well too.

If you want a touchscreen, then a used/refurbished Phillips Pronto is worth looking into for a bit over the $100 threshold. They can be setup via a PC and can easily do the tasks you mentioned.

Another touchscreen is the Sony RM-AV3000. It's cool looking and works well. It is more limited than the Pronto though as far as labeling. The 3000 can apparently be found for under $150.

Hope this helps!

 

[Rick Wilson]

The mx-500 can be found at www.costco.com for $99. You can see a review at www.remotecentral.com

 

[MattMB]

I'd recommend you seriously look at the Radio Shack 15-2116 8-in-1 remote. It is much like the popular 15-1994 remote. Includes JP1 programming with macros on every button and pretty much anything you can think of for around $30 US.
I use the 15-2104 6-in-1 and it's a great remote that only set me back $19 US. The JP1 interface was about $6 US to build, and the software is available from the JP1 group at yahoo. http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/jp1/
For more information,
http://www.hifi-remote.com/ofa/
http://www.hifi-remote.com/jp1/

 

[Ted Lee]

another vote for the mx-500. mine replaced eight of my other remotes. i really like it.

make sure your friends messes around with both a touch-screen and a hard-button remote.

some people (like me) don't like touch-screens cuz you have to look at the remote to see what you're doing. with a hard-button you can just "feel" your way around.

 

[Mathew Shelby]

The Sony RV-AM3000 can be had for $99 with free shipping at ecost.com

 

[Vincent_S]

I bought my Sony Commander from Best Buy a few months ago for $129 and have been pleased with everything except the size. It is a little big.

 

[Dan Joy]

After having the "GRAND SIZED" Sony AV-2100 remote commander, and going to the MX-500, I would never go back! I totally control 6 devices without any glitch what so ever. Great remote. My wife and kids can use it without problems. I even renamed 2 lcd templates with my kids name on them so the push their name and a macro turns on tv, av receiver, sat, places them in proper inputs, and turns satellite to cartoon network That sometimes gets me 1 hour more sleep on sat morning!

 

[MikeTC]

I'm with MattMB on this for JP1 and RS remotes. Initially I was contemplating on Color Pronto but just could not justify the cost. I then heard about JP1 and RS2104, for as little as ~$27 and my time I figured its no great lost if it didn't workout. Its been two weeks and I'm totally satisfy with what it does.

MattMB, Did you upgrade yet? I could use the additional two devices add-on. Do you think it is worth it?

 

[MattMB]

MattMB, Did you upgrade yet? I could use the additional two devices add-on. Do you think it is worth it?

Actually, I picked one up last night. $29.99 US for it, and it comes with the JP1 headers built in. I also checked out the 15-2133 blue EL touchscreen one, but wasn't too impressed with it. I didn't like the way that the keys felt and it was only a 6-in-1.

The 15-2116 8-in-1 IS pretty good, however. Unlike the 15-2104, it has a P key that stands out so that you can do shifted key maps. (press p twice and you can program a different function to already used keys) Has the LCD display with clock and fuction display. The backlight is very bright, brighter than the 15-2104 and it lights the LCD display also.

I think the 15-2116 is worth the upgrade if you need the shifted key fuctions or the extra devices, clock display, or LCD panel for current device. If you don't the 15-2104 is a great deal.