I need some quick advice about which remote control I should get. I intended to buy the Logitech Harmony One but a friend has some complaints about it not being customizable enough and about the necessity of being able to go online to change stuff.

So..I'm getting a HDTV later this week and I'll have this setup:
- a HDTV (Samsung LN46A950)
- my desktop with mediaportal on it in the same room (will buy a dedicated HTPC soon)
- Logitech Z-5500 attached to my PC

In the near future I will be getting:
- PS3
- Receiver
- a good 5.1 surround system
- maybe a blu-ray player (for NTSC stuff)

So I basically need a remote that can control all of the above. Most important thing is that it works with Mediaportal and the TV of course but I'd like to be able to easily control all of the other things too. If the harmony one will do the trick then feel free to tell me..but other (better) suggestions are welcome too.

The Harmony One would do the trick. With the One your money is going towards the touchscreen and the physical layout, but any Harmony would work as well. The main difference between Harmony remotes is the look and feel and the LCD screen (or lack of). You program them all using the same software.

Your issues would be how you plan to control the HTPC and the PS3. I'm controlling both a PS3 and HTPC running MediaPortal with my Harmony 890. For the PS3 I have one of the IR to Bluetooth converters. You will need either the limited IR to USB converter or the full featured IR to BT converter. For the HTPC you need some sort of IR receiver. I'm unfortunatly stuck with my crappy iMon VFD/IR receiver that was part of my Antec case. To control MediaPortal all you need is one of many options for receiving an IR signal and converting it to keyboard mappings or Media Center remote mappings.

The Harmony One would do the trick. With the One your money is going towards the touchscreen and the physical layout, but any Harmony would work as well. The main difference between Harmony remotes is the look and feel and the LCD screen (or lack of). You program them all using the same software.

Your issues would be how you plan to control the HTPC and the PS3. I'm controlling both a PS3 and HTPC running MediaPortal with my Harmony 890. For the PS3 I have one of the IR to Bluetooth converters. You will need either the limited IR to USB converter or the full featured IR to BT converter. For the HTPC you need some sort of IR receiver. I'm unfortunatly stuck with my crappy iMon VFD/IR receiver that was part of my Antec case. To control MediaPortal all you need is one of many options for receiving an IR signal and converting it to keyboard mappings or Media Center remote mappings.
Thanks for the advise..I'm gonna get me a Harmony One for sure :)
What IR receivers are good? Doesn't need to be expensive :P

If I had to do it over again I would buy a case without the iMon VFD/IR and buy a USB-UIRT. The USB-UIRT combined with Eventghost would cover about anything that you could throw at it.

You could also look at the remote options shown in the MediaPortal configuration utility. I know the USB-UIRT is listed, but you could also get one of the others and know you are covered. You would just learn that remote into the Harmony or it may already be in its database. For something like the USB-UIRT you would just pick any remote and map it with Eventghost since it doesn't matter what the command is as long as it is unique.