Easy Remote for Parents

[KarylFStein]

My parent's 19" CRT finally died, (a Christmas present from me several years ago), along with their VCR , so I'm upgrading their setup this Christmas. (They also have a Blu-Ray player that I got them a few years ago.) Their main complaint is they can't figure out all the different remotes. I was thinking of giving them one of my Harmony 890s, but I think it would have too many small buttons. Is there something similar where they could have simple options like "Watch DVD" that turn everything on, set the right inputs, etc. and with largish buttons?

They don't watch much, so they wouldn't "get comfortable" with a remote. They mostly rent DVDs from the library or get from friends, (e.g. they're going through Downton Abby right now and it has been almost a year). It might be nice to get them something like the Mi Box and hook it up to my SageTV setup remotely as every once in a while they'll hear about something from a friend and I'll record it and burn to DVD for them. But that may be too much .

Anyway, any thoughts on a remote that could handle this as simply as possible? I'd do the initial setup/install, so that part can be more involved.

[dgeezer]

We use the logitech hub and the simple remote. Best Buy Link
My wife is almost anti tech but she tolerates my messing around with sagetv etc. The remote is simple enough but it does have 3 activity buttons. The big advantage is the hub. It's a very powerful ir sender that seems to work every time. Assuming they haven't changed the packaging it also comes with a remote blaster which can be located in the cabinet. The remote is bluetooth so it's not directional.

We used to have one of the logitech ir remotes, a 300 I think. My wife was able to break it rather often by getting the devices out of sync. So far she hasn't been able to break the hub based remote. I think that she would hit an activity button and then point the remote in another direction before the sequence completed.

[Skirge01]

I completely agree with dgeezer. I was tasked with a similar issue for the in-laws about 2 years ago. They're in their 70s and nearly all tech is completely foreign to them. After showing them how to use the remote and the app (on the mother-in-law's ipad, which she can just barely use for email), they've been happily using this setup ever since.

I wouldn't recommend any other solution for the non-techy types.

[MattHelm]

+1 for the hub. I really like it, and my dad 82, likes his too.

BTW, if no amp/receiver is involved, CEC works pretty good these days, if all are complaint. If dad didn't have SageTV, he could just use his TV remote for both cable and Blu-Ray.