Digital Home Thoughts: Consumer Electronics Babble To Each Other

"The problem is the devices just aren't designed to work together, but that isn't because the industry hasn't tried. All the political reasons aside the technology to let your cable box carry on a two way conversation with your TV and other equipment does exist. So we're going to explain what's out there. If you've ever wondered how you can gain more control over your gear using everything from an IR blaster to sending TCP commands via IP, then read on."

You would think that with the wealth of technology available to us, manufacturers would find a way to make all our gadgets talk to each other over a common medium. Unfortunately, that is not the case. TVs do not talk to Blu-ray players and PlayStations ignore amplifiers. There are quite a few ways that these devices can communicate and Engadget walks through the gauntlet of options. Sadly, with all these options, it is very unlikely you can find one control system to handle it all. It is almost enough to make me go for one of those All-In-One teleivsion sets that does most of what I want. Almost.