Are you using the arrow keys on a keyboard? Or a mouse? A remote is probably the best. The four arrow keys and the OK should do everything you need.
I mostly end up using a mouse, though it's less than ideal because there's no way to remap the controls in Media Center.
Using the keyboard for navigation is just frustrating. I
really dislike the overlay menus that are brought up during video when using a keyboard. (or presumably a remote)
Without Media Center support for something like libCEC (which would let me use my TV remote) I doubt I will be able to find anything that works well as a remote for me, because most MCE Remotes or universal remotes are cheap junk that have poorly thought out controls.
I still bought one of those USB-CEC adapters to try with other software and it killed the HDMI signal to my TV (must have been drawing too much power for the long cable run I use) so even if libCEC were implemented, it's still a pain to get working.
So far, the best thing that seems like it would work in my setup would be an Xbox 360 controller via XInput. It uses RF wireless rather than IR, so there's no need for ugly IR blasters or line of sight; it's a device I already own, so I don't have yet another remote complicating things; and it's already wired up with the receiver out of sight.