Programmable and Touchscreen Remote Controls Overview

Programmable Remote Control (PRC) is a device, which can accept and store signals from a standard remote control, and play them back when desired. PRC is designed to work with any regular remote-controlled device, which uses infrared signals to transmit information. PRC reads signals through an IR-sensor and transmits them by the means of an infrared LED. At the heart of the device is the micro controller, which stores, processes and transmits the infrared signals in digital form and handles all the control routines.

You will need to install the programmable remote control software on a PC with an Internet connection, and then you hook up your remote. Once plug-and-play recognizes it, the remote fires off a setup wizard to let you set up the devices you use.

Once you have everything plugged in, you get to set up some “activities.” These are common tasks that involve making changes on multiple devices, such as “Watch DVD” or “Listen to Music.” Very easy-to-use wizard steps walk you through setting up these activities by allowing you to specify which device controls the input, which one controls the sound, etc.

Once you’ve made all of your choices, the data is downloaded to your remote. The LCD screen on the remote prompts you to try it out and verify everything works. A little lost? Not to worry, there’s a built-in help function that will walk you through the remote’s operation.

You can also program your remote to “know” what channels your cable or satellite company provides and set it to skip any you don’t watch when you’re using the channel up/channel down. You can actually specify channels that are your favorites and the remote will download program listings for those channels and display them on the LCD screen.

It’s not without some minor quirks, of course. The remote only “knows” what state your devices are in by remembering what it has sent to them.

There's nothing more annoying than having a separate remote for every piece of gear in an A/V system. Some come with universal features to help consolidate, but few live up to the expectations of serious users. Not only can the keys be programmed for specific functions that can be the same or different than the original, the whole display can be fully customized with any combination of buttons in multi-menu hierarchy.