as you can see, a lot of people like the hometheatre MX-500. I know that Costco had it for $99 for a while.

I opted to go w/ a Harmony Remote. Very powerful, but different take on remotes. Go to harmonyremote.com for details. It's activity based and programmable (via web). I have the 768 that I bought in ebay and if you have Tivo or a PVR, the new 659 looks even better.