How many remote controls do you have? I have six--and I find it hard to keep track of them all. I suspect your coffee table is similarly cluttered.

One solution, of course, is to invest in a third-party universal remote control. However, many of today's home theater components can talk to one another. And teaching one remote to control more devices than the product it came with won't let you dump another one.

The more specific the device (for example, a DVD recorder or DVR), the more likely it will have features that you can access only with its own bundled remote. But if you can instruct the remote that accompanied your DVR or Blu-ray player to control the basics of your TV--turning it on and off, changing the inputs and channels, and adjusting the volume--most of the time you'll be able to watch TV with only one remote in hand, and you won't have to spend money on yet another remote.

You may get some of this control through HDMI CEC, a standard for allowing devices to control other devices through the HDMI cables that connect them. But you might not. As we note in "," the technology works best when it's operating between devices by the same manufacturer.