It's time to dump my old Sony Commander. I'm looking for something with general customization and a color touch screen. I like the Q50 and the 9400 because they appear to have the best of both worlds (a one hand remote with hard button controls and a customized touch screen)

HERE IS ME THEATER:

PLASMA- SONY MBD-XBR950
RECEIVER- ONKYO TX-SR705
IPOD DOCK- DS-A2X
RECEIVER/AMP- TX-8511
CABLE BOX / DVR- SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA 8300HD
BLU-RAY / DVD- SONY PS3
GAME- MICROSOFT XBOX 360
LIGHTING- IRLINK IR RECEIVER FOR X10

FEATURES I WANT:

1. I want something that looks clean and is easy to use with easy to read customized soft keys (including station icons)
2. Wii-Fi, Z-wave, and RF are not needed at this point since everything is in one room.
3. Although I do not mind paying a CI for initial programming, I will not purchase a remote that needs a CI every time a basic function or component is added.

MY QUESTION IS:

I have downloaded the software for all three remotes. I am unable to do much with all three without the remotes in hand, but the Nevo software looks much more user friendly than the Pronto's

I have no programming experience, but have a good understanding of computers and am willing to learn programs basics. Which remote is best and can still feed my primal DIY needs? If the programming thing is a big issue, I will just stick with the Harmony that appears very basic but lacks much of the customization.

As a CI and dealer for all of the remotes that you are looking at I would suggest the Nevo Q50. It is the most user friendly of the three.

The nevo will offer you the most flexibility in programming, and as a DIYer I imagine you upgrade equipment from time to time. The nevo has what is called "Super fast device swap" which will allow you to simply input your new piece of equipment and simply swap it out wioth the old one and still maintain all of the functions and macro you had set up previously wioth the old piece of equipment. No need for complex reprogramming to simply make an equipment change.

The pronto would be second choice. The programming is a bit more complex, and you may not be comfortable doing this yourself. It will still do all you need it to but may pose to be a bit less user friendly.

Lastly the harmony ONE. This is IMO a piece of $#!T. It just isn't a CI friendly remote. Customizations are boring and the harmony software doesn't allow a lot of programming options. It is not even a reccomendation IMOPO.

If you happen to need any of the 3 and need a reliable source I am at your service.

Good luck,

I can't speak about the other 2 remotes that you mentioned, but with your computer skills I'd say you should be able to program a Q50 in a matter of hours. Everything is copy/paste, right-click, drag and drop, etc. You just need to add a device for each of your components (either from the Nevo DB or from learning from your existing remotes...I'd say 95% of my codes were already in the DB, and I had to learn the other 5%). Most of the buttons populate intuitivly, but you can just move them around, add commands, etc to your liking. Macros couldn't be easier, for example a power on macro would be done by clicking on your Sony under devices, dragging the power on command down to the macro box, and repeating this for all of your other components. Then if you need to you can just hit the little "insert delay" icon, change the order of the commands by dragging and dropping, etc.

Either in the Nevo thread on this site or Remote Control Central (I forget which), there are some pretty good instructions on where to find some nice channel graphics.

In all, I love my Q50. The only bad thing is that the screen is pretty lousy, but I find myself using the hard buttons whenever possible anyways. They are perfectly laid out, to the point where I never need to look at the remote except when I have to use a touchscreen button.