Unless you really planned your home-theater setup, your collection of gear - your television, VCR, DVD player, amplifier and TV tuner - will usually come from a number of manufacturers. Herein lies the problem at the heart of this week's episode of Gearhead. ...

In the secret underground Gearhead testing bunker and day spa we have a hodgepodge of audio and video equipment. To turn on and adjust the TV display (a 5-year-old Fujitsu Plasmavision), we have one controller, a second for the JVC amplifier and video switch, a third for the Sony DVD player, a fourth for the Philips VCR and a fifth for the DirecTV tuner/digital video recorder.

None of these remotes can control all the devices, and while some are smart enough to control devices other than the one they came with, no single combination of two or three remotes seems capable of controlling everything.

This plethora of plastic was not a hit with Mrs. Gearhead. Besides the fact that one or more of them was always lost between the cushions or stolen by one of the dogs, she realized there was only a one-in-five chance of picking up the remote she wanted. So this normally tolerant and understanding woman was driven to issue an ultimatum: "I want no more than two remotes, or else . . . ."

We have no idea what "or else" might be and not the slightest interest in finding out, so we began a mission: The Quest for the Holy Remote.

In the past we tried a couple of the "universal" remotes and the one that worked best was the now obsolete URC7800 Universal Remote Control manufactured by One For All (OFA). OFA now produces some much slicker universal remotes, such as the Kameleon range.

OFA's universal remotes and many similar products require you to look up and enter numeric codes to define the devices to be controlled. Getting a code sequence wrong (particularly after you've set up a macro to control a sequence of devices) can mean starting all over again.

Remembering the 7800 seemed to have a bad memory and that it seemed to only partially handle the Fujitsu display, we went looking for a better solution.

Lo and behold, into our sweaty hands landed the Logitech Harmony 550 Advanced Universal Remote.

Unlike many other universal remotes, the Harmony 550 doesn't have an overwhelming, kaleidoscope of colored buttons. It has a satisfactory sleek design and weighs just enough to feel substantial.