I need some help with finding a remote for my audio, TV, PC, ets.. .and I'm dumb

[Lanes]

I want to find a remote controls set up and I'm not too up on what's out there... hope you folks can help.

I want to control my TV and home theater, that's simple enough, but I'd also like to control music playback on my stereo which is in another room. I have music stored on a couple of PCs, so either need to control them also or house the music on a device that can be controlled. I have Ipods but find Itunes very cumbersome.... I also have an Ipad and android phone that would be nice to control things with, if possible...I"m thinking over my wireless network?

I dunno... just trying to figure out a way to have limited number of remotes and be able to control the world... oh, and simple enough that even I can run it.
Thanks

 

[BMXTRIX]

Generally speaking, this is better done by spending the money on letting someone who knows how to do this type of thing make a recommendation for you and spend the time to put it together.

There are tons of different apps in the iTunes store that can't actually do everything, or do what they can do with a pretty cumbersome interface.

You can go to a Harmony or URC remote control, and that may not be a lot better.

I'm not really sure what exactly you want to do, other than have one remote to truly control everything you are throwing at it, which is a lot more difficult than it sounds when you have such a variety of equipment.

Generally, this is where top shelf control systems really shine. They are more expensive, by a good bit. Getting them programmed is also a good deal more expensive, but at the end of the day, they also work and can do what you want. iPod docks to get music and control it from any docked iPhone/Pad/Touch. A music server to play back music/videos. A single button to run the theater.

On the other hand, it really depends on how much gear is in your hteater, and if your 'stereo' is part of your 'home theater' and what your version of a 'home theater' is. If you are basically looking for one remote to control one room, then I would add a media server to your one room and get a URC remote control programmed up to run things.

 

[Lanes]

Thanks for the detailed reply.. I appreciate it.

Here's the deal: My system is not sophisticated - a big screen and basic surround sound system upstairs with DVD, etc. Downstairs is a decent Harmon Kardon stereo system connected to whole house speakers.

Controlling the TV, etc. upstairs is pretty simple. But I'd also like to have my music playing throughout the house on the downstairs system, heard house-wide, and be able to control it from anywhere in the house, I assume via my wi-fi, but hell, I don't know.

Music storage? A media server controlled remotely makes sense... but may be overkill for what I'm trying to do?

 

[BMXTRIX]

How do you hear things house wide? That's not a normal feature of any system. If you have distributed audio throughout your home, then you need to provide details on that.

Simply crossing over from wi-fi to actual control of all the gear in your home is not a simple task.

Likewise, a media server starts with the AppleTV for about $100 and goes up to units costing several thousand dollars. So, there is a difference between the right product to do what you want, and one which is overkill.

One of the biggest headaches is you are asking for a all-in-one remote that controls and does everything you can imagine for it, but you have a basic system in one location and a different system elsewhere, and you want it to be easy.

The more you talk about what you want, the more expensive things tend to be. This could easily cost a couple thousand dollars to do properly.

At a basic level, a RF remote in each room may be a few hundred dollars.

If that's to much, then you aren't going to be close to what you want without it being somewhat complicated to use and requiring several applications/products to get things accomplished.

 

[Lanes]

Appreciate your help here... the way I hear audio house-wide is just with ceiling speakers throughout and a speaker switch.

After some reflection on what you have said, I realize that I don't necessarily need a single device controlling all - My remotes for TV upstairs and down work fine, so maybe Im mostly looking for a way to control my audio from anywhere in the house. I currently have my ipad set up to control itunes on a pc, which works OK, but I'd like to have my music on a stand alone hard drive or something that doesnt require that the computer be running and that I can control whether by stand alone remote, ipad, phone, wi-fi or whatever is out there.