Home > Consumer Reviews > PS3 Blu-Link Universal Remote Control

Before I get into my thoughts on the Blu-Link remote, I'll start by saying that I've purchased and returned two Logitech Harmony universal remotes. The Harmony Xbox 360 remote and the almighty Harmony One to be precise. These are the only products I've ever returned on Amazon.com. They were nice enough remotes to look at, and the computerized setup was convenient. I just couldn't get past the delay in button presses. No matter how you set the inter-device or inter-key delay for the remote, there is a noticeable delay between pressing a button and seeing the result. (For example: Holding down the volume button for an A/V receiver for a few seconds would result in about 3-4 extra commands after you let go of the button. Annoying) I am far from the only user to be bothered by this, as a quick Google search can yield innumerable results on the topic.

The Blu-Link remote doesn't have a computerized setup, a display, or a charging station. I give it 5 stars nonetheless. It does what it's supposed to do, and does it at a reasonable price. Using the supplied codes, I had my PS3, Samsung TV, Onkyo A/V receiver, and DirecTV HD-DVR up and running MOST of the way within a couple of minutes. I then spent 5, count 'em, 5 minutes using the remote's "learning" feature to fill in the remaining functionality. Notably, I ran into the same problem that another reviewer had with my A/V receiver, in that it would power it on, but not off. Teaching the Blu-Link the Onkyo remote's power code directly alleviated this problem. Various other commands were learned from my old Onkyo remote, but the DVR and TV were good to go using only the supplied codes. The volume master feature works as it should, sending all volume commands to the AUX input, the Onkyo receiver. The manual also explains how to set up a master volume device, but to also be able to control the TV's volume when you're on the TV input. (I mention this after seeing another reviewer's frustration with trying to do that)

Now, for the reason I was so excited about this remote in the first place: The ability to control the PS3. I can tell you that it works flawlessly. Power on, power off, video/music playback, menu navigation, just about everything you can do with the PS3 controller can be done with the Blu-Link remote. To power on, you simply hit the PS3 input selector. To power off, you hold the "Home" button, just like you would on a PS3 controller, and select "Power off device". Simple! The only ommission I've seen is the lack of "L" and "R" buttons. The only use I would have for them is webpage back/forward keys, (which is still easily done by hitting "triangle" and selecting it from the menu) but since I don't do much web browsing on the PS3 it's not a big deal.

The finish of the remote is very attractive, and I find the button layout to be very comfortable. Be aware that the buttons are quite small, namely the number keys and transport buttons. (FF, RW, etc.) Those with large hands may have problems.

I spent less than 10 minutes setting up this remote to control all of my components, and have been loving it in the time since. Yes, I have to manually adjust inputs when watching a movie instead of hitting a singular "Activity" key, but I also don't have to deal with the delays present in Logitech remotes. The PS3 control is fantastic, and you can get the Blu-Link remote for $10 less than the price of the Logitech PS3 adapter alone!

If you're unhappy with Harmony remotes, and you're a PS3 owner, this is a no-brainer. Buy it now!

The version that Amazon is selling as of 11/9/09 is not the latest version and does not work with the PS3 Slim. After contacting Blu-link tech support, you can get your remote firmware upgraded however you will have to pick up the tab on the shipping back to them.

Other then that it's a cool remote, easy to program and learns other commands from other remotes. The price is right when compared to something like the Logitech Harmony series (which I ultimately ended up buying).

Once Amazon gets the new version I would recommend this remote.

The functionality and learning for the other remotes is great. But when you're controlling the PS3 there's a blue light that won't stop flashing and it's pretty irritating. After putting the remote down to watch a movie, it stopped controlling the PS3 and the Dualshock controller wasn't recognized. I have to restart the PS3 to get working again.

I should have bought Sony's remote and dealt with all my remotes.

This remote does everything that it says it does, just not very well some of the time. Although there are codes for many different devices, I found that at least with my surround sound system, none of the few codes for Samsung surround sound devices worked. This is a learning remote, so you can program it to do things, which is nice, but some of the time it doesn't command much response. I've taught it to turn my xbox on and off, as well as my surround sound..on and off, but sometimes I'll be sitting there hitting the power button a bunch of times before the component responds. Sometimes you have to hit a bunch of random buttons and then come back to the power button to get it to work. I don't know what the problem is, but I would have appreciated a little bit more responsiveness out of it.

All that to say, the only other problem that I have with it is when I'm using it with my xbox, when I use the up, down, left, right directional buttons to navigate, sometimes I'll click the up button, and it will jump up 2 times instead of 1. This can be very frustrating when you're trying to use the xbox's keyboard to type something and the remote makes you jump to all kinds of letters all over the keyboard that you don't want to hit!

All in all, this is a pretty cool remote. It does what it says, and controls all of my components, even if that means me having to teach it a bunch of stuff, and for $[...] it kicks those logitech universal remotes' ass, especially since it will control a playstation (which it does very well).

SMK should be commended for making this remote. It really is a novel concept, a universal multi-device blu-ray PS3 remote, an idea that Sony missed the boat on altogether! The remote works quite well for most basic setups, but it's not without fault. First, if you are using one of the new PS3 Slim consoles, the device tends to lose its sync when 2 or more controllers are hooked up to the system, and in some instances can not be re-synced until one of the controls is removed from the system. I've heard this complaint from other PS3 Slim users on several forums, so I'm guessing this is a recurring problem that will need to be sorted either on SMK's or Sony's side. The PS3 can support up to 7 devices wirelessly, so it should be a relativly easy fix, but the real question is if Sony refuses to issue a fix on their side, will it require a recall by SMK, since I'm not aware of any ability for firmware upgrades for the remote?

The setup is relatively straight forward, but entering codes can be a great big PITA, especially when none of the codes contained full functionality for a single one of my devices other than the PS3 (Denon AVR-1910 receiver, Motorola DCH-3416 HD Cable PVR, and Viewsonic Pro8100 HD projector). Couldn't SMK at least develop a cross-reference guide that identifies which codes work for which devices? Needless to say, I spent a lot of time learning IR commands from my existing remotes, which for the most part the Blu-Link handles relatively well. It couldn't learn all of the functions for my projector (may be macro related?), and my cable box was sensitive to how long you held down the buttons during the learning function. I believe this was the cause for my third problem. I am using the Blu-Link with a Next Generation RF IR extender, because my cable box is located on the first floor, and my HT setup is in the basement. The two units behave nicely for my other components with this remote, but for some reason, the IR extender doesn't like my cable box when used with the Blu-Link. It will register commands, but sometimes it takes up to 3 button pushes, whereas the default cable remote registers everything first click.

Between the sync issues and the inability to register individual channels over the IR extender, I'm going to have to return the remote, as it doesn't function as I had intended. Overall, it's not a bad product though. In fact, the controls are for the most part very intuitive. My only gripes/suggestions about layout/design would be that the PS3 home button should be larger, add either backlighting or glow in the dark keys for critical functions, cluster the PS3 proprietary buttons around the PS3 button in the same format as the PS3 dual-shock controls, and fix the sync issues. If SMK can do that, and keep the price in line, this remote will be an absolute winner. With the existing sync issues, I'd be hard pressed to rate it more than a 3 though.