One of the pitfalls of putting together a halfway decent home theater system is a coffee table cluttered with remote controls. Put together a television, cable box, audio receiver and a DVD or Blu-ray player and you are already starting to overload on remotes. Throw in a remote for a CD player, game system, separate DVR and more and you’re buried up to your neck in little black and grey rectangles.

While many devices come with universal remotes, they often can only control two or three devices at a time and if you add a device to your set up that is newer than your older remote, you may be out of luck when trying to get them to talk to one another. Purchasing a universal remote can be a good way to simplify your life, but choosing the right one for you can be just as much of a problem. There are a ridiculous number of remote controls out there, each with their own separate set of features. So how do you know which one is right for you?