There are two major directions you may want to go:
1. pure IR remote (need to point at equipment) or
2. RF/IR remote where a repeater is used (and usually hidden) and the remote is communicating using RF so you can control from anywhere and without pointing to the devices (it becomes important if you have a lot of equipment to coordinate), but they are more expensive
Once you decide which road you want to follow, it will become much easier to select the final models.
I use a Harmony 890 with two IR repeaters and so far it has not let me down.
