Home Theater Remotes

The average Canadian home theater has at least five different gadgets, all with their own sets of controls. When it’s all set up, you’ll find yourself with five different remote controls—not a very glamorous picture, and not exactly convenient either. If you’re having trouble controlling your home theater components, you may want to invest in a universal remote control.

Home theater universal remotes can control most, if not all, of the gadgets in a typical Canadian home theater. Technically, any universal remote can be programmed to work in a home theater, but those designed specifically for HT use can be used for specialized equipment such as home theater receivers, media servers, and set-top boxes. They are considerably more expensive than traditional remotes, but you’ll find them really handy in the long run.

Some universal remotes come with an LCD screen where you can enter specific codes or commands, or see which device the remote is currently controlling. This may come in handy if you have a lot of small components that can mistakenly pick up your remote control signal.

One of the more useful features of a home theater remote is the use of macros. Home theater remote macros allow you to program the sequence at which your components are turned on or off, so you’ll only need to press one button to turn on your lights, TV, DVD player, speakers, and theater lights in a specific order. There are macro instructions on most user manuals, but you can also get your Canadian home theater dealer to program it for you.