It's simple really. It is in the best interest of manufacturers and retailers to make products, specifically remotes, incompatible with each other. It saves time, development costs, encourages brand loyalty, and created a new installation need.
How does this drive brand loyalty? Buy a Samsung TV and want to only have one remote for that and your blu-ray? Gotta buy a Samsung. Want a sound system and a remote that will control all three? Gotta buy a Samsung.
Now, take a simple home theater set-up consisting of a TV, basic sound system, blu-ray player, and HD cable box and all are different brands. Each device's remote has a different button arrangement and has a different set of buttons. If you tried to put all the buttons on one remote it would be massive and unwieldy. Basic universal remotes attempt to remedy this problem by allowing the user to select which device they would like to control by pushing a button. However, these remotes will never have all the buttons you need. It is unlikely you will find an "On Demand" button for your cable box, an "Internet" button for your TV, or "Disc Eject" button for your blu-ray player. Soon you will be looking through seat cushions looking for the original remote that you spent $20 to replace.
So what about more advanced remotes? Remotes like the Logitech Harmony series get more buttons, LCD displays, and computer guided set-up. Small displays on the remote surrounded by programmable buttons allow them to offer device specific buttons by changing their function. Though this may give you all the buttons you will need, you must still select which device you would like to control and then you are left scrolling through a long list of commands. To combat this issue, they are designed with "Activity Control." Activity Control allows the user to set a chain of commands. For example, if you push the "Watch TV" button, the remote will send the signal to turn on the TV, turn on the sound, turn on the hd box, and select the correct inputs. Then, if you push the "Watch a DVD" button, it will change the inputs, turn on the blu-ray players, and turn off the cable box. Perfect, yes? Ever push a button and not have the TV receive the signal? Now your remote is confused and doesn't know what is or is not on the right setting.
So how is this good for retailers? Retailers know how much people hate having more than one remote so they sell advanced remotes. $100. With this advanced remote, it often times requires the expertise of an installer to properly program it for you. $130. Got a new blu-ray player and now it's not working? $80. Your remote died and you just want to have the new one set-up exactly like the old one? $80.
All in all, there is no way to have a seamless, one remote setup. The truth of the matter is that it's best this way for everyone involved, except the consumer of course.
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