Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have been using programmable/learning remote controls for over 15 years. I started with the Universal MX-500 (many happy years with that one!), then URC-R40, URC-R6, URC-200, and finally a Harmony 650 just to see what all the fuss was about. Other than the MX-500, whose button complement is really not ideal for newer devices such as DVR/Blu-Ray, I really have not been satisfied with any of them. This Inteset remote, which is cheaper by far than all but the URC-R6, is a vast improvement over all these others, for my use. Sure, like every remote I've ever used, it has a few quirks, and features I'd implement differently. But overall, it gets all the important features RIGHT. So let's start off with that: 1. ERGONOMICS. The body of the remote is nearly the perfect size and shape. It's not too chunky nor too thin, nor too long, nor weighted oddly. It's quite similar to the shape of a TiVo 'peanut' remote, a design for which I have never found an equal. The back side is covered in a material that's smooth but also grippy (very similar to the MX-500). You can adjust your hand position easily, but it's easy to grip and doesn't feel that it's going to slip out of your hand at any second like a wet fish. I'm looking at you, URC-R6 and Harmony 650! 2. BUTTON LAYOUT. The button layout is excellent, especially so if you're used to the aforementioned TiVo remotes (and very similar to most DVD/Blu-Ray/TV remotes). The buttons are plenty large enough for my big fingers, differentiated nicely by shape and size, spaced far enough apart that you never have to worry about hitting two at a time, and all raised enough to easily discern by feel alone. I'm looking at you, URC-R40! 3. BUTTON COMPLEMENT. The button complement is among the best I've ever seen on a programmable/learning remote. Not only are all the basic functions covered, but in addition to those, we have the four colored buttons, the six 'PIP' buttons (ON/OFF, FRS, +, SWAP, MOVE, -), plus the LIVE and ZOOM buttons. Also present are DISPLAY, INPUT, and back (circular arrow pointing counterclockwise). Of all these, only my TiVo DVR uses them, and that only about half, which leaves a LOT of room to program those buttons with extra functions from your original remotes. Though really, only my receiver has enough functions to even need all the buttons on this remote. In particular, having an INPUT button is invaluable. It means that in each remote mode (A, B, C, D), I can program the input button to change the receiver to the input for that device. Certainly, the more expensive remotes can change the input, but usually only in a macro or on the 'soft' buttons next to their LCD screen. 4. BACKLIGHTING. The backlighting on this remote is great. It's a nice orange color, which is far easier to see and read labels on than blue, yet a bit brighter than red. It's not super dim like some more expensive remotes - looking at you, Harmony 650! However, even without the backlight, the buttons are so well labeled with a fairly large font, that they are easily readable even if you just have a little bit of light in the room. But really, with the layout and size/shape differentiation, you could pretty easily operate this by touch alone given time. 5. PROGRAMMING. Programming of the remote could hardly be easier. The instructions are well written and easy to follow, and in just an hour or so I had it programmed and working my four devices (Receiver, Blu-ray, TiVo, TV), including learning functions not present in the pre-programmed code. The only quirks I found are in the learning mode. On step 5, where you press the button on the Inteset onto which you're going to learn a new function, it says the LED will stay lit for three seconds. It's actually flashing (at a very rapid rate), so I thought it was defective at first and wasn't going to learn anything. I discovered that is what they mean by 'lit', and you have to press your source remote while it's flashing rapidly. Also, it says if you don't press any button within 10 seconds it exits programming mode, which is fine - but it seemed more like 6-7 seconds to me. It seemed to time-out a lot faster than I would hope. But, the great part is that you don't have to repeat the entire process for each button. Once one button/function is learned and accepted (two LED blinks), just press your next button and go! That really speeds up the learning process and is excellent. I didn't run into any situations where it failed to learn a command from my original remotes - not something I can say for any of my URC products! I found programming macros to be equally straightforward and simple. As for the learning capacity, I haven't reached it yet. The manual says it's between 42 to 75 buttons depending on the original IR code. Along with the preprogrammed buttons, that seems to be enough for four devices, even learning almost all the buttons which normally aren't used by my devices. 6. GENERAL SETUP THOUGHTS. As I mentioned before, having an INPUT button allows me to program that button to switch the receiver's input to the current device. My TiVo is the only component for which I used the colored buttons, so I instead programmed the Red and Green buttons to be a discrete OFF and discrete ON, respectively, for my receiver and TV, and a power toggle for my Blu-Ray. This allows me to then use the power button at the top right to be used as a global (device independent) macro to turn everything on. I then created another global macro on the ON/OFF button near the bottom left, to turn everything off. I used the SWAP, FRS, and MOVE buttons to create three more global macros which will switch to either my computer, TiVo, or Blu-Ray, the only devices we really use - switching the receiver and TV inputs as needed. In that sense, they're like the 'Activity' buttons on a Harmony. I programmed the INFO button to operate the 'Display' button of my devices, for consistency with the TiVo, as essentially their Display function does the same thing as the TiVo INFO button. Then I programmed the DISPLAY button to operate my TV's 'Wide' function so that it's available in all modes. In any case, I really love how many buttons this remote has, which gives you ultimate flexibility to set it up in a way that's logical to YOU and your system. A final note about MACROS: I was pleased to learn that the macro will leave the remote in the device mode of the last command sent in the macro. So for example, if you have a macro which turns on every component, switches inputs, etc, and the last command sent was the power command for your Blu-Ray player, the remote will stay in the device for your Blu-Ray. Sweet. I have read that some remotes with macro capability do not do this, but it's such a common sense idea that it should be the standard for all remotes with macros. 7. DRAWBACKS. The downsides to this remote are few and relatively minor, but I'd be remiss to omit them. a. Let's start with the backlight. There is no dedicated button to activate it, nor is there a motion sensor like on some more expensive units. I can't recall another backlit remote which didn't have at least one of these ways to activate the backlight. For this unit, you have to push one of the function buttons to activate the light. That's fine, really - you just need to try to remember to use a button which isn't going to adversely affect your viewing. I also find the backlight doesn't stay lit as long as I would like, nor is there a way to change the time. Also, I find it curious that it blinks out when you press a button, after it's been activated. b. There are only four devices. For a large system with lots of components, that may make this remote control a non-starter. However, depending on what those components are, you may be able to get by. Realistically our viewing consists either of TiVo (which does OTA TV as well as Netflix/Amazon/YouTube streaming) or Blu-Ray/DVD. So that's four devices. Sure, I have a separate CD player and a VCR, but they get used so seldom that it's not a huge deal. I can just get out their original remotes, or get off my butt. Though really, since I have two devices (Receiver and TV) that don't use the transport functions, I could actually program the CD/VCR transport functions into those devices, if I were so inclined. Still, for the price, this does way more than I was expecting. I would rather purchase two or three of these units and program them all, vs most all of the 6-12 device units. c. The button feel isn't great, it's a little mushy rather than solid. It doesn't compare to the TiVo remotes in that regard, but I haven't found a programmable remote which does, so can't say this issue is exclusive to the Inteset. d. Honestly can't think of any other faults right now, but will update this review if I find any!