Get a Windows Media Center remote for $13.99 shipped
If your PC is pulling TV duty, you'll need a remote to make the most of it. Here's a nice one for cheap.
As I've mentioned before, a Windows 7-powered PC makes a great companion for your TV. Just fire up Windows Media Center and you've got an awesome 10-foot interface for watching TV, listening to music, streaming Netflix, and the like.
Just one problem: You need a way to navigate WMC from the couch, and balancing a mouse and keyboard on your lap is not my idea of ideal.
What you need is a remote. Like this one: Today only, Newegg has the Rosewill RHRC-11001 Windows Media Center Remote for $13.99 shipped. That's after applying coupon code EMCYTZT1594 at checkout.
The RHRC-11001 was designed especially for Windows Media Center. In addition to the all-important "Green button," which takes you to WMC's main menu, it has dedicated buttons for pictures, radio, videos, and music.
It also has handy TV-specific buttons, including Recorded TV, Guide, Live TV, and DVD Menu. That's along with the usual playback controls: play, pause, FF, RW, and, best of all, skip forward and skip back.
The remote comes with a USB IR receiver, which most PCs will need. It's also a learning remote, meaning it should be able to learn things like volume and mute from your TV or stereo remote.
Newegg's user reviews are mostly positive, but you should probably peruse them to see what quirks others have discovered. I think for $14 out the door, it's hard to go wrong. And once you discover the joy that is Windows Media Center, you'll be one happy couch potato.
By the way, if you own an iDevice, you can control Windows Media Center for free with the Mediamote app. It's not much to look at, but it gets the job done.