I have been reading reviews and forums for universal remotes for a Christmas gift and the more I read and learn the more my head hurts and the more I feel the hole in my pocket start to burn.

Here is what I know. I am buying this as a gift for a person who loves gadgets. Currently, my friend has a really really big TV in the living room (I am not sure of the brand), a Sony 40" Bravia LCD TV, a Bose 3-2-1 will replace the current DVD player, and a cable box with DVR capabilities are in the bedroom. Being that there are devices in more than one room I am looking for something that can control devices in more than one room. I believe from what I have read this will require a remote with RF capabilities?

I also know having a colored LCD would be preferred. When I read about the Philips RC9800i and the newer low price, I thought, this is awesome, then I started reading reviews and got scared. I know my friend would not have the patience to deal with the issues I have read regarding the setup of the Philips. I also reviewed the Harmony 890, but after seeing the Philips, and just tonight the expected Harmony 1000, I just do not know what to do. The 500 price tag for the 1000 is probably more than what I would want to pay, but I do know the features would be liked.

Also, I have no idea what firmware is, but seeing that I keep reading about it, I figure that is important to know. Then there are little tid bits like, macros, favorites, I just do not know what to do. Oh I'm not sure if there would be a concern of touchscreen vs. hard button. I do know the touchscreen feature looks really cool compared to the hard buttons and I know from these forums people has different tastes. I know my friend loves the DVR so is constantly fast forwarding through recorded shows and looking through the list of recorded shows, more so than surfing channels. The guide is mostly used for looking for shows to watch.

Does anyone have any suggestions based on all the stuff I rattled off?

DON'T LET A BOSE REPLACE ANYTHING! Contrary to what most uneducated consumers thing, Bose is junk. There's much better systems for the same price. A couple hundred dollar "Home Theater in a Box" will outperform the Bose. A mid-end Onkyo or Yamaha and a set of mid-end Polk or Sonance speakers will cost about the same and sound a whole lot better!

Plus, all Bose systems are a pain in the you-know-what to use with remotes. They come with RF remotes, and you cannot learn RF. Some of them have IR emitters to teach codes, but they are not remote friendly.

I'm not a fan of touchscreens, but many like them. In my opinion they're inconvienent to use. However, it seems like this may be an application where you want one.

The RC9800i is cheaper than most of the Prontos. It's probably the cheapest color touchscreen you'll get. Expect programming to be tougher for any touchscreen remote.

If you want to ditch the toucscreen, look at URC's MX-900. (Or the MX-950.) It's only black and white non-touchscreen, but overall a very powerful remote. Favorite channels, great macro capability, fairly easy to program.

The Harmony 590 is generally a lower-end remote. It does have a nice color screen, but is much less powerful in my opinion than URC. Plus they don't last as long. They're generally much less customizable than a URC.

Hope I've helped some.