My son walked in and saw me sitting in front of the TV. I was embarrassed. He had caught me watching the Lifetime channel.

“Not really,” I said, eating another chip. “The old remote won’t work. I really need to get a new one. Can you change it?”

Latest in clicking

Scott McClurg, a co-worker, was telling me about the Harmony remotes: “I got one for my parents, and they just loved it.”

What Scott liked about the Harmony models is they use the Internet to help you set up everything. And they’re easy to use. They retail between $120 and $250.

“My mom was calling me every time she wanted to play a DVD,” Scott said. “I told her five times how to do it. So I decided to buy her a remote.”

To set up the remote, you plug it into your computer via a USB cable. The remote will automatically take you to the www.HarmonyRemote.com Web site, where you can begin setting up your remote to handle all your entertainment components, such as a big screen, audio speakers, a VCR, a DVD or other devices.

You set up a member account and specify what devices you own, using the lists on a database organized by make and model number.

The Harmony remote has an infrared sensor that can learn the codes from your current remote.

Also, it ends the problem of trying to figure out which devices to turn on. You just click an “activity” on the controller and the remote turns on the devices you need.

“Now when she wants to watch a DVD, she just pushes a button that says ‘Watch a DVD,'” Scott said.

Lighting it up

I checked out a few other universal remotes.

Universal Electronics Inc. makes a remote that’s sold in Radio Shack for about $60. The 6-in-1 Kameleon Touch-Screen remote has up to six different light-up displays, controlling TV, VCR, satellite, DVD, CD or audio devices.

The back-lit touch screen (good for a dark room) shows only the icons of what it’s controlling.

It also has a learning function that lets it sense the controlling codes of other remotes.

UEI also recently came out with an upgrade, the One For All Kameleon 8 URC-9960, which can control up to eight devices, including TiVo.

The Kameleon 8 is more ergonomically designed than the older one. I found a review on ZDNet.com that complained that the light-up touchscreen depleted batteries at a faster rate. Prices for it ranged between $70 and $90.

Taking command

A new universal remote by Sony looks more like a video game or a hand-held computer.

Unlike other remotes, which are long and thin, the Sony RM-AV2500 Integrated Remote Commander is wider and thicker.

It has two rows of buttons on the bottom that control 12 devices, a central row of controls that has channel, volume and menu controls, and a back-lit touchscreen at the top with 29 LCD keys. Prices range from $91 to $150.

Off the couch

My son reached down and started switching channels. I stopped him on the Discovery Channel.

I explained to him that one of his sisters must have changed channels on me when I dozed off after dinner.

But when I woke up to the Lifetime channel, it had seemed to be too much trouble to get up off the recliner, walk across the room and change it manually. Now on the Discovery Channel, we started watching Paul Tuetul and his son, Paul Jr., argue with each other on “American Chopper.”

I guess I could get a new remote.

Or maybe I’ll just call my son and have him drive over next time I need to change the channel.