I am rocking a Sony RM-VL600 8 device learning remote
I bought it for $12 (refurbished) four years ago and learned all the commands from Microsoft MCE remote and my TV and receiver remotes. I also found all the discrete on/off codes, generated them with my psp and learned with this remote.
It even has macro buttons that turn all my devices on and off. It interacts with the htpc through the MCE receiver and eventghost. Can't beat it for that price.
**EDIT**
My next remote will be an RF one as I'm planning on hiding all the equipment in a closet.
The cheapest decent/cool one I could find was
Acoustic Research ARRX18G The remote itself is RF ready, but you have to purchase the
RF receiver that converts the RF it receives from the remote to IR. The price of the remote occasionally goes down to $60 and the extender is usually $55.
Touchscreen and RF for that price is a lot cheaper than a comparable Harmony or URC. (If I didn't mind spending more, I'd probably go for a
URC MX-880, but together with the RF extender it costs almost $500 and I would have to beg people to give me its software because I'd refuse to pay some installer $1500 to program the remote or even make changes every time I change a component)
If I didn't want a cool touchscreen remote, but just RF, I would get
this flying saucer right here and use it with my Sony RM-VL600. $42 device turns any remote that uses AAA or AA batteries into an RF transmitter remote.
Also keep in mind that with RF extenders, there are pretty much three types:
Type 1: Has two components. First component receives IR from the remote, sends an RF signal to the second component, which blasts IR to devices. This kind doesn't work that well because you still have to point your remote to the first component.
Type 2 (Flying saucer from above): Has two components. First component replaces a battery in the remote, and sends an RF signal to the second component, which blasts IR to devices. With this setup, you don't have to point the remote to anything since the first component is inside the remote.
Type 3: Has one component specific to the remote. The remote that has RF functionality built-in, sends RF signal directly to the receiver, which blasts IR to devices. These are the expensive remotes such as Harmony 900, URC MX-880 and ARRX18G