10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Consolidate All Your Remotes In One - EASILY!
Date of Review: Jan 1, 2007
The Bottom Line: Great way to consolidate your remotes. Easy to set up. I didn't have to even read the manual. It's the way a universal remote should work.
I purchased the Logitech Harmony 550 Universal Remote yesterday, and I'm very happy with it. I've used other universal remotes before, but this one is really different. What's different? It uses PC or Mac software to help you set up your remote, and after you've done an inventory of all your remote controlled equipment, it takes you through a series of dialogs to determine what settings have to be selected to do each task. Once you've gone through these dialogs, you connect to Harmony's database via the internet and download the needed settings. The programming is sent to the remote via a USB connection.
For example, I have a Daewoo TV with five different inputs, a Sony A/V receiver, a Dish Network satellite receiver and video recorder, and a Lite-On DVD player and recorder. It had every one of the devices model numbers available from it's software, and listed hundreds of manufacturers, and thousands of model numbers. I was impressed! It doesn't only support A/V equipment, but also things like air conditioners, light controls, etc.
After I identified my equipment, the dialogs asked me how to do various tasks, and what devices and inputs I used to do it. As an example, to watch television, I turn on the television, select the S-Video input on the set, turn on the A/V receiver, set its input to TV/SAT, and turn on the Dish receiver. The dialog also asks which device is used to tune stations, the TV or the Dish receiver, and which device is used to the adjust the volume, the TV or the A/V receiver? Repeat these dialogs until you have everything working just the way you want them.
The software suggested tasks such as "Listen to a CD", "Watch a DVD", "Watch the PVR", "Play the Radio", etc. Each task has an associated dialog so it's simple to configure things. If you want to add a new task, it's no problem, just create a new task, give it a name, and it will walk you through a dialog.
After you've programmed a task, give the activity button a try. Sometimes one device or other will fail to turn on or will have selected the wrong input. Harmony prepared for this. If a device or two has failed to turn on, just hit the "Help" button. It goes through a short checklist dialog, asking whether the TV is turned on, the A/V receiver, etc., and then checks whether the correct inputs are selected. It's simple and straight forward.
If you have a button that you use quite a bit on your original remote, but the function isn't assigned automatically to one of the Harmony's buttons, don't worry, you can easily assign it to one of four buttons on the lighted LCD display, and you can assign a custom label to the buttons. For example, my Dish PVR receiver has a dedicated button for starting the PVR menu. That button wasn't assigned automatically on the Harmony remote because it is available through a different all-purpose menu button, but I wanted to add the dedicated PVR button. It's a snap to identify the button on the Dish remote that you want to duplicate, and assign it with a label to one of the programmable keys.
The remote is also a learning remote, so you can teach it certain key combinations from you original remote, but I think it's unlikely you'll ever have to do that. If my remotes are any indication, all the button functions are selectable from the software. Even the most obscure function buttons on my AV receiver are represented on the remote.
There's one little quirk that bugged me, but it's not that big a deal. I have a Sony PS2 game console and it has the ability to be controlled with an optional remote control. "Terrific," I thought, "I can control the PS2 without having to buy a remote", but I was disappointed. After adding the PS2 to the list of equipment, it asked for a me to point my Sony remote at Harmony remote so it could learn the codes. Maybe this the way they enforce the need to buy the optional Sony remote. I'm going to experiment with that one some more.
One other minor complaint I have is that remote didn't automatically have a "Watch TV" task, but on closer inspection, the "Watch PVR" task was the same thing. I just renamed Play PVR to Play TV and the problem was solved.
