My living room entertainment center is a device nightmare. I have a Toshiba television, a Sony receiver, a digital cable set top box with DVR functionality, an original Xbox running XMBC, and an Xbox 360. That’s five remotes, and that’s after I got rid of the Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube.
For example, if I want to watch video served from my home network I have to:
- Turn on the television (Toshiba remote)
- Turn on the Xbox
- Turn on the receiver (Sony remote)
- Find the program I want to watch on the Xbox (green wireless Xbox controller)
- Adjust the volume on the receiver (Sony remote)
I’ve gotten used to it, but trying to explain how things work to new folks required literally pages of documentation. Until I can reduce the number of devices in my entertainment center, I needed a way to reduce the number of remotes necessary to do basic tasks.
Enter the Philips Prestigo SRU 8015 universal remote, which I purchased during a recent Woot-Off.
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