Home technology out of control

European households are full of expensive gadgetry that most people do not know how to control, according to a recent study.

The research commissioned by Logitech claims that, in a quarter of homes, there is only one person who knows how to operate all the technology. It calculates that Europeans have at around €362bn worth of TVs, hi-fis, speakers, video and DVD players, digital recorders and satellite boxes in their homes. This leads on to 49 per cent of households having five or more remote controls and 87 per cent having three or more.

"We commissioned the study to establish the true gap between the money Europeans are investing in technology in their home and their ability to control that technology," said Gregor Bieler, vice president of consumer electronics for Logitech in Europe.

"Today's home entertainment systems are getting increasingly expensive and complex but people's needs do not change, they just want their technology to work."

One in four respondents admitted to using cheat sheets, written instructions for their family explaining how to control each system, to circumvent the confusion created by this many controllers.

Another popular method of reducing controller clutter is the purchase of a universal remote which can be programmed to control a variety of devices. According to research firm GfK, the market for learnable and pre-programmable remote controls has grown by 31 per cent year on year across France, Germany and the UK.

Logitech argues that the best answer is to create universal remote controllers based on activities, such as watching a DVD, rather than on controlling each individual device.