I have one of those, and i end up operating the devices directly a lot of the time because it gets hopelessly confused by the matrix of power and input states (

I have one of those, and i end up operating the devices directly a lot of the time because it gets hopelessly confused by the matrix of power and input states (admittedly, i have a terrible combination of devices with auto-input switching and power toggling). And the whole line of sight thing is really annoying when you've got a 2 year old running in front of the tv during a complex 20 second multidevice sequence. My dad went one better, with infrared transmitters taped on the devices operated by wire from a base station with a wifi-based remote. Even that gets confused from time to time, despite literally days of trying to get the timing right. Until the device makers start cooperating reliable universal remotes are impossible.