Survey suggests Europeans can't control home entertainment equipment, points to universal remote control : Tech Digest

Europeans own a lot of expensive home entertainment equipment but don't know how to use it properly, according to a recent survey conducted by Logitech.

In nearly a quarter of European households, only one person fully knows how to control these gizmos, leading to the production of home-made "cheat sheets" to tell other members how to operate them.

Of those surveyed, nearly half said they had five or more remote control units, with nearly nine in ten people having three or more. Think how long it must take to find that lot down the back of the sofa.

It is estimated that, collectively, Europeans own at least €362 billion worth of TVs, hi-fis, speakers, video and DVD players, digital recorders and satellite boxes.

Naturally, Logitech would like to help solve the problem of too many remote controls by urging people to buy one of their Harmony remote control units.

However, I'm not convinced that's going to solve all the problems. The remote control won't tell you the difference between an HDMI and a SCART cable, or tell you that you can't play HD DVDs on a Blu-ray player, or stop you from listening to your collection of Spice Girls CDs.

Plus, every time I've tried to programme one of these universal remotes with the various equipment codes, it's generally gone horribly wrong. I think it's far easier just to stick to one TV channel and never change it.