Remote patrol - innovations in remote controls

Men's Fitness, Nov, 1998 by Alison Michaels

Enough with Chuck Yeager, Jonas Salk and Teddy Roosevelt. Robert Adler is the great American hero. Who the beck is Robert Adler? He's the guy who invented the remote control.

Adler was working for Zenith back in 1956 when he came up with the idea for an infrared device that would allow TV viewers to turn on the set and change channels with their butts firmly planted in a Barcalounger. Skeptics predicted that the remote would end up in the graveyard of useless gadgets. But three decades later, this home-electronics accessory has proved that man's opposable thumb was an evolutionary development with a higher purpose.

No wonder: Today's remotes let you turn on the tube and surf with abandon through more than 200 cable and satellite channels, crank the volume on your CD player, program the VCR to tape a week's worth of Cops, spin a DVD movie - basically run your entire entertainment system from your couch - with the touch of a button. Though virtually all audio/video components come standard with their own remote control (meaning the average home has about a dozen), you can now buy a "universal remote" to control a plethora of gear.

Yes, programming early universal remotes required rocket-science intelligence. But electronics manufacturers have wised up, creating models that come preprogrammed for most popular brands of componentry. You just punch in the codes for your equipment - say, Sony TV, Panasonic VCR, Hitachi DSS receiver and Pioneer DVD player - and the remote will have them up and running in a matter of minutes.

Some universal remote controls, including Marantz's RC2000 MK II (dubbed the "Remote of the Gods") and Rotel's RR990, also feature "macro" technology, allowing you to input a sequence of commands that can be carried out subsequently by pressing a single button. (In other words, your TV, VCR and cable box will all kick in simultaneously when you push the programmed button.) There are even universal remotes that use 900-MHz radio-frequency technology (commonly incorporated into cordless phones) to operate equipment through cabinet doors or walls. That way, if you're in the bedroom and want to turn off the TV in the den down the hall, all you have to do is hit the off button - and then hit the sack.

We've all enjoyed a few jokes at the expense of the Clapper, a sound-sensitive remote that turns the lights on and off with the clap of your hands. (You: Clap on! Clap off!) But nobody's laughing at RCA's Home Control, a remote that uses both infrared and radio-frequency technology to power your home-entertainment gear, dim the lights and operate the microwave oven, coffee maker or other home appliances.

That's cool. But even cooler is the fact that remote technology isn't limited solely to the gear in your abode. HomeLink, a remote-control system installed in luxury cars (Infiniti, BMW, Mercedes Benz and the like), opens the garage door and turns on the lights when you arrive home after dark. And several aftermarket car-security companies, including Chapman and Code Alarm, market systems with the mobster-inspired ability, to start your car - and warm or cool the interior depending upon the weather - before you set foot out the door. Now if they could only figure out a way to plow that snowy driveway.

For control freaks only:

RCA's Home Control RCUSAT2 is a universal remote that commands four audio/video components and more than a dozen lights and appliances ($40). Rotel's RR990 is a slick-looking "learning" universal remote with a liquid-crystal touch screen and the brains to power up an entire home theater with the touch of a single button ($200). Don't be intimidated by the 56 buttons on Marantz's RC2000 MK II. This $250 learning universal remote, one of the easiest run-the-show models to program, can handle a TV, a tuner, a DVD player, two VCRs, a satellite receiver or cable box, two tape decks, a CD player and more. Whew! Sony's RM-V30, a cute (translation: wife/girlfriend - friendly) little no-frills universal remote, controls your TV, VCR and cable box. Egg-shaped and weighted at the bottom, it's always standing upright, ready for action ($35). The creditcard-size Sliver universal remote commands up to three audio-video devices. It's powered by a lithium battery that will get three years of surf time ($30). Cheesy, but we love it: Telemania's Star Trek Phaser universal remote controls a TV, VCR and cable box and lets you zap through channels with far-out sound and light effects. Set phasers to stun ($40).

Marantz, 630-307-3100; RCA, 800-264-8854; Rotel, 800-370-3741; Sliver, 800-732-9976; Sony, 800-222-7669; Telemania, 800-354-8785.