Logitech remotes

If you haven't got round to the 21st century way of controlling your AV equipment yet. Let me help make your life a lot easier. Lets examine the situation currently. You want to watch a Sky Movie in surround sound on your kick ass system? You turn the TV on with one remote, or you use your sky remote, then your sky box. You perhaps have another remote, for your amplifier. So you turn that on too. The TV is on the freeview channel, (or it's auto switched) so you select AV and sky shows on the screen. You get your amp remote again as you were last playing a computer game, and you select the right input and you hear sound. Ok, so maybe your setup works a little better than this, but it happens in some households. It's barely an exaggeration as such; it could happen.
If this does sound familiar. Then you really ought to invest in a Logitech Remote. I have a pretty basic 525 which I picked up from Richer sounds for around £30 on clearance. Then I went and bought another for the cinema room. The logitech remotes use 'activities'. For example 'Watch Sky' could be one of them. The device is programmed using a pretty slick application available on Mac or PC. Once it's programmed, you simply click the "Watch Sky" and thats when the magic happens. Leave the remote on the arm of the chair, and watch it turn on your TV, Skybox and Amp. Then it'll switch your Amp to the right input, and switch your Tv to the right input. Then the remote customises itself for the 'activity' based on what you told it. The volume keys control your amp. The menu keys work the skybox, and programmable keys do whatever you want them to. Seriously, it's that simple, learn how to use the programming application and you can make the remote do whatever you want it to. Great piece of hardware, each and every one of them. The only criticism I have is that my cheap one feels cheap, it creaks a little, but otherwise, it's damn near perfect.