The home theater PC is an increasingly popular and viable option as an entertainment source, but there’s still a struggle in finding a great remote.  Solutions range from touch pads to full keyboards with trackballs to motion sensing mice, and none of them seem to satisfy every user.

So you’ve got a nice Yamaha receiver with some solid networking capabilities.  It sounds great, it can do everything you need it to do, and you’re ready to show it off.  You invite some people over, have some dinner and then sit down in front of your impressive home theater only to find that you’ve lost the remote to your receiver.

Computer programs, multi room music and video systems, and even a few Blu-ray discs have all integrated iPhone control.  It's the logical step; using an already existing and popular touch screen device as a touch screen device.  Without full integration though, all this does is make the iPhone into yet another remote that just doesn't do enough.

RTI unleashed a slew of details on their ST-7 Universal Controller.  The ST-7, which is slated to hit in early 2010, has been named the honoree of CES’ Design and Engineering Award for Integrated Home Systems. The highly anticipated ST-7 is more than just a standard controller.  The new offering from RTI features a seven inch LCD display, with an integrated multitouch capacitive touchscreen.

Small enough to fit comfortably in one hand, the Glide TV Navigator is reminiscent of a handheld laptop touch pad, but with a bit more functionality.  The touch pad itself functions familiarly, with the main pad being used to move the mouse, and the right and bottom edges for scrolling though pages.  A touch pad isn’t always the best option for navigation when it comes to things like DVD menus so GlideTV added directional buttons to the edges of the touchpad.