nearly good

really good

Really Good Works with every TV, DVD Player, Sky & Freview Box I tried it with

Not So Good The key codes output in PC mode are fixed - you will need to ensure the software you are using allows you to reconfigure the keys. The colour buttons don't output any key codes at all in PC mode Supplied software is a waste of time

Over the last few years I've tried a variety of universal remote controls and have found most of them wanting. Many didn't work with my TV, and those that did didn't seem to have enough buttons to be able to control my Sky box adequately. Recently I needed to invest in a remote control to manage the volume of my PC from a distance. During my search I came across the One For All USB/PC & Universal remote control. With an Amazon Christmas voucher needing using up, and for less then ten pounds delivered, I thought it had to be worth a go - though my previous experiences led to very low expectations to begin with.

I unwrapped my remote control and inserted 2 AAA batteries then immediately plugged the receiver into my computer. I was surprised that the quick start guide advised installing the software from the supplied CD after inserting the receiver and it seems that my scepticism was valid. Windows did not find the appropriate driver software even after connecting to Windows Update. I duly ran the software setup from the supplied CD and loaded the 'SimpleCenter' software. The remote did not appear to be registering. I unplugged the receiver from the USB port and then plugged it into a different one. This time the remote was recognised and functioning as expected.

SimpleCenter is a JAVA based software package for managing and playing your media files. It has a normal software library style interface and a 'theatre mode' for operating with the remote control. I'm not going to detail the features of the software because any features worth noting didn't actually work.

That in mind, you will therefore be wanting to be able to configure your own software for using the remote control. The control sends keyboard commands to your PC. Here's the bad news: These commands cannot be configured. The 'volume up' and 'volume down' keys, for example, send key codes F6 and F7, and there is no way to change this. It follows then that you need to ensure the software you are planning to use the device with has a way of reconfiguring its default keyboard short cuts. I'm mostly using VLC Media Player which has a very easy system of configuring the keys - I could just choose the short cut I wished to configure, pressed the button on the remote, and VLC mapped the key to the appropriate command.

XBMC users can configure their controls by editing a configuration file. I believe Media Portal has the ability to change the keyboard short cuts, but that software has always crashed on my machines. As far as I know, keyboard short cuts in Windows Media Centre are fixed, so this might not be the ideal companion if that is your chosen software.

Using the remote with other domestic appliances
With the computer side of things set up in a semi-satisfactory manner, I turned my attention to my Sky box and TV. In order to obtain the codes for the remote you are obliged to load up the SimpleCenter software on your computer, enter theatre mode and press the 'menu' button on the remote. From there you find the manufacturer of the device you want to assign. You are then given a list of possible codes and instructions on how to enter them into the remote. Luckily for the Sky box there were only two possibilities, and the first one worked straight away. The TV, however, had a list of about 15 codes to try. Most of the codes did nothing, but I finally found one which enabled me to power the TV on and off, enter numbers from the keypad, and bring up all the required menus. It unfortunately didn't have the arrow keys (which doubled up as volume and channel) included. I checked in the online manual and found that the remote has a 'learning' mode, which enables you to beam the button configurations across from the original controller. I didn't hold out much hope, though, as the learning modes of other all-in-one remotes I've tried never proved much use. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the learning function did in fact work perfectly and before long I had a the remote control working perfectly with my TV. In fact, as I had a hole host of buttons unused on the remote when in sky mode, I added most of the features needed from the TV to the SKY setup.

Adding the DVD player was equally painless. For completeness, I also tried the remote with a couple of other TVs and a freeview box and all worked straight from entering the code; there was no need to use the learning mode to reconfigure any buttons.