Remote controls: Features explained
Universal or all-in-one remotes come in a variety of forms and can offer varied solutions to a number of different situations.
Setting up your remote
Universal remotes tend to synchronise with your various electronic devices via inputting four or five digit brand and model codes to install the relevant frequencies for their infra-red signals.
Simple programming and ease of use is key with remote controls
When you purchase a universal remote, the instruction manual usually lists with hundreds of brand and model codes for TVs, DVD players, VCRs and hi-fi’s. After locating the relevant code, the instruction manual will direct you on how to input it into the remote.
Updates
In order to make their universal remotes future-proof, many manufacturers now make updates available, allowing the remote to download new codes from the internet to ensure compatibility with new and future electronic devices. This tends to be a straightforward process, provided you have internet access in the first place. If the remote you are considering purchasing does not have this capacity for receiving updates, be aware that it runs the risk of being redundant with future technology purchases.
Learning devices
Another solution to ensuring compatibility with your various electronic devices is picking a universal remote with a learning function. This allows your universal remote to effectively “learn” functions from an existing remote which you wish to replace.
The process can be rather tedious and may not appeal to all, and of course is not appropriate if you have lost your older remote and are buying a universal as a replacement.
In order to learn functionality the two remotes must first be aimed directly at one another. You then press each button in turn on the older remote, followed by the correlating button on the universal remote in order to input the function.
Learning remotes can copy the functions of other remote controls
While this may seem a patience-testing exercise, particularly if there are several remotes you need to go through the process with, it's an effective means for ensuring compatibility with electronic devices both old and new.
It may be worth considering getting a universal remote with a learning capacity to ensure that it can operate a digital Freeview set-top box, as a number of the universal remotes we have tested have proved otherwise incompatible with STBs.
Keep in mind that universal remotes with a learning ability are still able to be programmed through code entry provided you have the relevant model codes for your own electronic equipment, so inputting functions button-by-button is not the only means of programming them.
Special features
Touch-screen devices
Touch-screen technology has improved dramatically since early attempts at touch screen remotes, which suffered from poor visibility in bright light conditions. Nonetheless, don’t go expecting anything along the lines of the iPhone’s highly advanced touch-screen interface in a remote control, unless you're willing to pay several hundred pounds for the privilege.
More affordable models, such as the Kameleon range from One-For-All or Philips’ Prestigo range offer very good touch-screen technology at affordable prices.
Touch screen remotes are modern alternatives for controlling your home entertainment systems
Unlike conventional universal remotes, which change the functions of their buttons depending on the device you have selected to control, touch screen remotes only display the exact buttons necessary depending on which mode you are in.
For example, if your remote is set to control your TV, the play, pause and rewind buttons you would only need for controlling a DVD will not be displayed. These will appear when the remote is set to control your DVD player, while the 1-9 channel buttons will not be displayed.
The most obvious advantage to this system is you avoid having a remote control with a daunting number of standard buttons designed to cover several functions.
Touch-screen remotes are back-lit to ensure a bright display in dark conditions, though this lighting usually fades after a few seconds of inactivity to save on battery use. The disadvantage is you must always glance down at your remote to check you are pressing the correct part of the touch screen.
Macros
Many universal remote controls, including all of our Best Buy recommendations, are capable of being programmed with macros. These are essentially stored sets of commands of your own choosing which can be programmed into one button.
For example, at the touch of one button you could switch your DVD player on and open its drawer all at once. Alternatively, if there is one channel you frequently watch more than any other, you could programme a single button to turn your TV on and switch it to that channel immediately.
Macros can programme a chain of commands into just one button
Some remotes are more flexible than others with both the overall number of individual macro buttons they can store and the number of commands each macro can prompt. Some controls can only store a handful of macro buttons, with a limited number of total commands per macro. Other, more advanced remotes can store many more macros, which can individually prompt over 20 simultaneous commands.
The idea of programming macros may not appeal to everyone, as it can be a complex procedure depending on the number of commands you wish to programme, but for more advanced users it can be an appealing function.