Gourmet Remotes for Couch Potatoes

The puny remote controls that come standard with TVs are utterly inadequate to handle all the components in a modern home theater system. Get up to switch from the radio to the CD player? What, are you nuts?

A slew of next-generation remotes now on the market can control all your components and so much more.

These gizmos come with timers, fancy five-way hat switches and customizable displays. Essentially hand-held computers, the new remotes can automate tasks, taking couch potatoes into the 21st century.

Want to research all your choices? Head to www.remotecentral.com, which offers a complete list of what to look for, how it all works and how much to spend; cool remotes start at about $100.

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Dave Wilson