Official Xbox One Media Remote (Xbox One)

Product Information

PDP's last remote was great for function – and they filled a big hole left by Microsoft – but the battery door thing was irritating. Instead, we still get to enjoy the benefits of an IR receiver, as well as a cleaner and more attractive look for the Xbox Series X and S. They require line of sight to the Xbox console, which wasn’t a problem with the One X in my living room but did cause issues with my Series X, since it’s placed out of sight. This makes the Xbox Series X and S amazing for gaming, but less capable as all-around entertainment centers.

The Xbox design team very cleverly hid the IR receiver behind the Bind button present on all Xbox consoles for pairing with wireless accessories, leading to many people believing at first that the feature was flat out missing.

All the standard buttons you'd find on any remote are here — play, pause, stop, rewind, fast-forward, and more — but it's larger and has more dedicated buttons. The remote is covered in circular flat buttons that all have a similar feel, but a prominent plus-shaped navigation pad with a convex button in the center and a concave Guide button near the top offer good positioning references for your thumb. It does have a few extra buttons for features like closed captioning, but that won’t do anything for you if you’re mainly planning on using it for streaming apps like Netflix. It turns out everyone with an early version of the Series X and Series S completely missed that both consoles have a secret IR blaster, so you can carry on using your old media remotes. doesn’t provide any battery life estimates, but since it’s a purely IR remote that only sends a command when you press a button and doesn’t maintain a wireless connection with your Xbox, you can reasonably expect weeks of use, if not months.

The design doesn’t match the stark right angles of the Xbox Series X/S or Xbox One, but it’s much more comfortable to hold than if it had sharp corners. The Xbox is a fantastic box to have in your living room for all your home media needs, and a great remote can enhance your experience. com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. But I’d favor this size in black, both to match the Xbox aesthetic and to stand out less in a dimmed living room.

The newer PDP Media Remote is more like the 8BitDo's short remote, while 8BitDo's longer offering resembles the original PDP Talon. In a nice touch, both models have backlit buttons that activate when you pick up the remote and turn off after a few seconds, so they’re equally usable in darker situations. You have dedicated keys for volume, mute, play, pause, fast forward/rewind, back, menu, change view, navigation, channels up/down, Xbox home, and buttons for XYAB.

By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. This means all Xbox One Media Remotes will be backwards compatible with the console, allowing for easy media control. Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. The PDP Talon Media Remote for Xbox gives you a much more couch-friendly option for controlling media apps like Netflix, YouTube, for Xbox One X|S consoles, and your Blu-ray player on an Xbox Series X console.I can turn my TV and consoles on with the Xbox button on the remote, as well as adjust the TV’s volume. He confirmed over Twitter that both new Xbox consoles have an IR blaster hiding inside the bind button that syncs your console to its controllers. Both are impressive machines, but it was believed the several features, including the IR receiver, from earlier consoles was axed. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is. Hopefully, someday, Microsoft will make a premium offering, but so far, no indication that will happen, making this one from PDP your best bet.