Building a media room with all components being placed in a closet in the same room. I will have a Onkyo receiver, a Direct TV receiver, a PS3 and a WDLive box. I do not want to have to open the closet door all the time, but I dont have a huge budget. What suggestions do you have for a universal remote that will handle these components and still allow them to be controlled from outside the closet?

Mmmmm...the closet might be the issue here....is it a nice closet? Is it one that looks better than your cool media stuff. Did you build the closet....what is it made of? What color is it? Does it match your home theater seats?

If you do consider the 'closet' issue and decide that your media room would benefit from a different kind of 'open architecture'! then go with my suggestion...... get the RE from NewKinetix. I purchase this little 'dongle' and dangled it into my iPad. My iPad more or less 'lives' in my media room. Anyway, to be honest, it was a bit of an experiment - I wasn't totally convinced by the blurb however, enough boxes were ticked for my well earned $69 to go to NewKinetix in exchange for a brand new shiney RE. So...did it work? Well, as it turns out, it was probably the best 'high tech' decision I've made in a good few years. The iPad's lovely large screen lends itself to the RE's intuitive and easy to use features.

For me, some of the best features included the RE's huge ir code database, codes for complete button, set & discrete codes, powerful, wide angle ir signal, automated code select by brand & type....shall I stop? Oh and another superb feature that my loveable buy always hungry labradoodle can attest to......the RE replaced my 'lost' remotes (aka....unapproved lunch for Max!!). Not being too 'techy/petrol/gadget' savvy, I also liked the ir code learning and the RE's device remotes and activity based remotes.

So, to recap....which universal remote should you go for?.....Well, if you can loose those closet doors my friend....I'd plump for RE!

Let me know what you do!!

Hey scotchswan, maybe you should be a little more open and honest about who you are, that is a representative of NewKinetix. You don't even come close to sounding like an end user. You also aren't answering the OP's question about working in the closet.

To newremotebuyer, welcome to RC. I'm sorry that your first experience is pretty much spam. URC has a nice little RF cmbo rmote pack that you can get for around 80 bucks. [Link: tigerdirect.com] It will control everything except the PS3, for that you will need to get an adaptor. URC makes bombproof remotes, and that one is no exception.

Thanks for your feedback Mr Whiter than White.....at least my reply is more entertaining than yours and actually offers a decent reasonably priced solution which is less expensive than your suggestion. Spam? I think not.....lighten up deary....:-)

Yes, your's was entertaining, but did not offer a solution that the OP was looking for, just a sales pitch. I didn't say it was spam, just pretty much spam.

Let's break it down for you, the OP wanted two things:
1. Control the equipment in the closet.
Your solution was to remove the closet doorso he could see all the equipment. How is that a decent solution?

2. Needs to be fairly inexpensive.
Well, $69 for your little dongle fits that catagory, but once you add an iPad/iPod touch/iPhone, the cost gets up there pretty high. Again, not fitting what the OP wants.

Yes, you are creative, but you are still misrepresenting yourself on here, and that's pretty scummy. If you search around the boards here, you will find that we have a lot of people repping mfgs and we welcome them because they are open and honest up front about who they are and they offer valuable help.

Does this 'RE' app/dongle let you set up meta-remotes? I'm thinking one that could provide specific function control across multiple devices to control an activity like WatchTV ?

Hi Newremotebuyer,

Do you already own an iPhone, iPad or iPad touch. If budget is still an issue, then adding the RE really would be worth considering.
Cheers.

What you are refering to is called a macro. Most all quality universal remotes can dop macros. I'm not sure about the 'RE'.

As long as you want to leave the closet door open and point the remote in the direction of the closet.