The landscape has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. A typical system had a stack of components, including VCR, DVD, CD player, cable box, along with the usual A/V receiver, and a television. An RF remote was a must to work a system behind closed doors or down the hall somewhere.

A key component changed for the worse when cable boxes became networked, and suddenly did not respond quickly, like they always had, to button pushes. Then, over the course of the past several years, people have ditched their disc players, and except for an occasional Roku or Apple TV, the cable box seems to be the only component that needs control.

Now the voice remote out in Comcast land is generally a favorite with most customers. I use URC, but not their total control stuff, so I am thinking the days of RF remotes may be passing.

Most people with an RF remote also keep their Comcast voice remote alongside it.

I’m thinking, just a dumb IR target stuck to the bottom of the TV, when the cable box is the only input to the AVR, may be appropriate.