It seems that much of the cool remotes, from about 4 to 7 years ago, have been discontinued. Replacing them are more expensive units, which seem to have less buttons or functionality.

I think good DVR buttons, a complete set is a must, located at proper thumb placement. Besides the aging Harmony 650, what else out there can we look forward to? As it is, I am stuck getting used remotes, and that's a bit off putting.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Dude, seriously, I use my XR5 V4 (amber back-lit) remote from Comcast all the time and love it. The buttons are in a perfect location, the amber back-lit is digital so it actually works unlike my MX-880 and it has audio punch-through. It is not the remote that came with my Xfinity X1 setup. This is like their 2nd generation remote they have. I find my MX880 that I paid $325 for collecting dust now.

Control the power and volume of a TV.
In addition, XR5 v4 can control TV input.
Control the power and volume of an audio device, such as a soundbar or sound system.
Simultaneously control power and input of a TV and power and volume of an audio device.

Yeah that won't fill in a home theater. I think if you have a TV, sound and xfinity DVR it's okay.

If you have Apple TV, Blu Ray,Region Free DVD, independent subwoofer, use your 7.2 surround dual zone 2014 stereo for all your inputs, and Windows PC with XBMC, Wii, and or XBOX, then I think it will run up against a brick wall of code exhaustion and device management.

Certainly the MX-880 could not only do that, but track all device states, etc. All the hate comes in, when you want to buy a new TV or stereo, (especially stereo) and you have to call Magnolia to send someone out to come set it up, because you "HAVE TO". $1800 for TV $300 installation. So I can understand why your MX-880 is in the drawer.

I know Harmony has a lot of remotes that can do this, but as I said, most of what they have is EOL and what's left are well up to $200+. It used to be, for around $129 or less, you could get a decent remote that can handle more than 8 devices. The closest devices, are the 650/700, and they are right at the limit, just shy of what I need. You go down to the 300/350, not going to do it. The One Touch or Whole House, etc are not worth the cost, IMHO.

A mid range remote of 2012-15 design, seems to be non-existent. Anything that can do what I described are premium, integration devices that officially can run you up $750+. Help me here, I not an expert so I am willing to be educated.

I am venting a little bit, because there isn't a "wife" friendly remote, that handles what I am speaking of, without getting something used.

For example, I did just that, but was disgusted enough, that I had to buy another one, hoping it was clean w/low milage. Used - bleh. Do you go around buying used mice?

To me, this is representative of the difference between the 1% and the 99%. Either you get a cheap remote, or a high end one, leaving out the middle class.

I may go further and just say, integrator remotes are way over priced. The true value of the tech is $50 - $99. Programming, for the amount of education required, is worth $30/hour. So a two hour job (parts and labor) should be $110 for an MX-780, and $220 for the MX-1200, as an example. No college experience necessary, just a weekend of training. This is all my opinion. Again I need education.

So my question is, What happened?

For the mid market the price expectation fell to the point that pros are no longer interested. Consider your own occupation. Would you travel an hour one way, spend two hours and be satisfied walking out with $100 -- parts and labor? If you don't work for yourself would your company be satisfied with sending you out for three to four hours and have you bring back $100?

Also, the consumer wants to use a phone or a pad for the controller because they already have the pad or phone. This drives up the unit cost for custom remotes because the economy of scale cannot happen for the custom remote. A small production run for phones would be a few tens of millions of units. Less than that has bad economics. A wildly popular custom remote might sell a few tens of thousands. This scale of production is not enough to drive the price as low as the consumer wants.

So if I understand what you just said, smart phones and tablets killed the middle market for decent remotes. Because so many people have them, they would rather spend $5 on remote software (Wi-Fi) and $$ on an extender controller, (Logitech's new stuff has this in mind).

Maybe I am old fashioned then. I think using a tablet for a remote, is a terrible idea. But I guess, don't knock it if I haven't tried it.

Sigh, a stick in the hand is the best way command your entertainment. ;D

dcmorrow,

I agree, phones and pads are not great remotes, but the consumer views them as empowering. Why should the consumer pay $1000 or so for a piece of hardware when they already have a phone or pad? The hardware remote does only one thing, the phone or pad does many things. In this context the controller is "free". It's hard to convince a consumer that there is a better deal than "free".

JP1 remotes run circles around most remotes. Many are free, others are $3-$20, $40 tops, available at most brick and mortars and everywhere online. Software is free. This option has been around for 15 years and keeps getting better.

I'll use a smartphone or tablet in a pinch or when I want to impress my friends. But for everyday use, no thanks.

I have enough JP1 remotes to last the rest of my life. As long as IR and RF exist, they will continue to work fine since they can always load the latest and greatest codes.

I agree state tracking can be an issue, but Harmony is pretty much the only one that does this out of the box. So if you must have that, then you have to roll your own with JP1 or URC or stick with whatever touch screen abomination Logitech has at the moment. Consumers have spoken, and hard button universal remotes are pretty much dead. That's why I'm stocking up now, before they're all gone forever.