The Magic Wand

The remote is a bit of a departure for Onkyo.  Slightly smaller than previous offerings, it seems to give up something in terms of direct manipulation of functions.  For example, no more dedicated button for DRC or Re-Eq.  Buttons to select playback mode have been cut from 8 down to 4 (which means many more presses to get the mode you want).

The cursor pad area is decent with what is a fairy common layout.  Transport keys are varied in size, a little at least, which helps find the one you are looking for...a little.  "TV" gets its own dedicated power, volume, and channel buttons.  Muting is logically placed close to the main volume rocker which is nice.

On the whole a somewhat less than intuitive model which will requires some time and effort on the part of the user to train themselves before becoming at all adept with it.