Worst remote nomination...

Yamaha RXV-995 remote. Never could get a clue as how to set it up. Large, clunky, poorly laid out. On the plus side, volume seemed to work just fine.

1) Original Music Hall CD-25 CD Player. Remote worked fine, but talk about FUGLY.

2) My current Pioneer DV-C503 5-DVD Carousel -- once or twice reviewed as one of the best DVD changers at the price. Fine player for the price (< $300), but the remote is something else. Skipping right to the point, there's no "Disc Skip" button, and it's a freaking carousel. Second, the remote would be small even for a pixie, and the layout is unnatural. No backlight or glo either (can't shoot the moon for under $300, but if ever a remote needed one, THIS ONE DOES!) Put it this way - I have to use the backlight feature of my B&K Ref. 30 in the dark to try to illuminate the strange keypad of this beast to attempt to operate it* and even when I succeed, it's always a rocky ride. This player has given me reliable service, but the controls are still foreign.

*(ps - any other remote I've ever owned, I could operate
in the dark)

The few remote controls I own are alright, what really bugs me are the miniscule buttons and tiny lettering on my Sony ES 9000 SACD player.

I hate it when I press the wrong button causing the CD or movie to stop when I only wanted to jump to the next song or pause play.

MBL's top transport. This transport runs like $17k or so, and the remote is so horrible ergonomically that it is sad... Great transport though!

Cary 306/200 CDP. This remote tries to do way WAY too much. It also has a very narrow angle that it works at.

Most Pioneer remotes... They tend to be as ergonomic as a lefty using regular scissors. Sony remotes at least have some sort of consistancy from with replacement models (I am on my 3rd Sony DVD player, and the remotes of each generation have been almost identical).

Any remote that has more functions on it than can be done by the front panel of the component it goes to. If you cannot do it on the component, you should not be able to do it with the remote. You end up breaking or loosing the remote and you are screwed.

KF