Originally Posted By: hybrid8
Different remotes and different remote protocols isn't the problem with consumer electronics. The lack of an additional standardized communication protocol is what's missing. Something that would let the components communicate with each other wired or wirelessly. A number of efforts have come and gone of the years and a few are still around, though with no signs of gaining significant traction.

Yes, exactly.
Quote:
One of the main goals of a good universal remote is removing the manual targeting/selection of components and that's where one of the biggest challenges comes in this product segment.

Agreed. And what I'm saying is, the reason it's challenging is because it fundamentally shouldn't be the remote's (unaided) job. All the functionality we're talking about here -- tuners, PVR, TVs, CD, DVD, preamp, streaming -- already needs to incorporate targetting/selection UI, even if it's only a CD player targetting what track to play next. What's really needed is for the gizmos in your entertainment system to collectively swallow some humility, step up to the plate, and say, you haven't got a balkanised and emulous pile of "components" here, you've got a system that's got various inputs (CD, tuners, streaming), various processing (PVR, gaming), and non-various outputs (one big screen, which should be optional for audio-only usage, plus one pair or sextet of speakers), and which can assimilate all these various peripherals and present a coherent way of controlling all of them.

Peter