Basically all components are behind the seating arrangements.

Hooked up are the following,

Samsung 5265
Onkyo 605
Digital Cable Box

I would really like something basic to set up but works very well. I would like to stay under $500.

Thoughts/suggestions/Tips??? Thanks everyone.

How about the kameleon-8-rf

Harmony brand remote...'nuff said.

:)

Harmony 890. Will do that and then some.

I figured the Harmony. Thanks for the info guys. How do these work and are they tough to set up (not program but attaching things to components)? Any tips or heads up?

Easy to program..tech support is also first rate.

I would not characterize programming as easy. "Set up (not program but attaching things to components)" is a piece of cake. Programming it has a fairly steep learning curve as a consequence of the idiotic Logitech software UI, BUT once you get it figured out, it all makes sense and it's relatively easy, albeit time consuming. You can program it to do just about anything you can imagine and in just about any way you can imagine -- the trade off for that degree of flexibility is a cumbersome and not particularly intuitive UI. It's tough to explain, but you'll see what I mean.

Once setup/programming is finished, though, it is awesome. Hands down the best and more important "component" in my system.

--Mav

I would not characterize programming as easy. "Set up (not program but attaching things to components)" is a piece of cake. Programming it has a fairly steep learning curve as a consequence of the idiotic Logitech software UI, BUT once you get it figured out, it all makes sense and it's relatively easy, albeit time consuming. You can program it to do just about anything you can imagine and in just about any you can imagine -- the trade off for that degree of flexibility is a cumbersome and not particularly intuitive UI. It's tough to explain, but you'll see what I mean.

Once setup/programming is finished, though, it is awesome. Hands down the best and more important "component" in my system.

--Mav

You guys are all great. I really appreciate the information. Would you like to expand in the attaching things to components? What does this consist of and is there anything I would need to grab in advance?

You guys are all great. I really appreciate the information. Would you like to expand in the attaching things to components? What does this consist of and is there anything I would need to grab in advance?

Well, the 890 comes with an RF Extender (I forget exactly what it's called), but it's a separate little device that has an RF Antenna in it that communicates with the remote; then it also has 4 3.5mm ports on the back of it into which you plug either (a) the provided IR blasters (2 blasters per 3.5mm cord) or (b) if your component has a IR port on the back, you can hardwire it with a m/m 3.5mm cord. Then, in the software, you tell it which port on the RF Extender each component is connected to (so it knows where to send the signal when you press a button on the remote). And, that's all there is to it.

That's the simple part. Figuring out how the software works and how the system is structured is somewhat more difficult, but again, once you get it figured out, it's really easy and incredibly flexible. If you can think it, it can do it; and if it "can't", it can almost always be "tricked" into doing what you want it to do. It's a great little device for guys like "us" and our loved ones, because despite all of that flexibility and somewhat complexity in the programming, actually *using* it, is simple.

--Mav

Well, the 890 comes with an RF Extender (I forget exactly what it's called), but it's a separate little device that has an RF Antenna in it that communicates with the remote; then it also has 4 3.5mm ports on the back of it into which you plug either (a) the provided IR blasters (2 blasters per 3.5mm cord) or (b) if your component has a IR port on the back, you can hardwire it with a m/m 3.5mm cord. Then, in the software, you tell it which port on the RF Extender each component is connected to (so it knows where to send the signal when you press a button on the remote). And, that's all there is to it.

Also, the RF extender is an IR flasher as well. I have mine right under my TV's remote sensor and it receives its commands from the flasher and my other components from the IR blasters and one direct 3.5mm connection. The IR blasters have clear double-sided adhesive on it. I've heard that using a hot glue gun works well, but I haven't tested it.

As you said you can tell the remote which port to send the signal, and this is what I did, but you can also just have it send the signal to all ports. That would be the easy way, but I couldn't live with myself for not taking advantage of every feature...

Also, the RF extender is an IR flasher as well. I have mine right under my TV's remote sensor and it receives its commands from the flasher and my other components from the IR blasters and one direct 3.5mm connection. The IR blasters have clear double-sided adhesive on it. I've heard that using a hot glue gun works well, but I haven't tested it.

Interesting, I did not know that. Not that it would do me any good in my particular setup (because of the way the components are setup in the cabinet, the RF Extender has to be pretty much tucked away in the back), but that is good to know

As you said you can tell the remote which port to send the signal, and this is what I did, but you can also just have it send the signal to all ports. That would be the easy way, but I couldn't live with myself for not taking advantage of every feature....

That's true, but if you have inter-brand components or if you have to set up dummy devices (I had to set up my H/K AVR 347 as two separate devices; one to run the main system and another to run the mulit-room system), that could be a bit of a problem. That said, if none of those are issues for you, that would work too; not to mention, then you wouldn't have to keep track of which cord goes to which device every time you have to take the RF Extender out to update! That would be nice.... It would be even nicer if the software didn't require you to update the RF Extender every time you updated the remote, but that's a gripe for a different day, I suppose.

--Mav