I finally broke down and bought a Logitech Harmony 680 Universal Remote Control earlier this month. I finally got a chance to play with it a little yesterday. I’m impressed!
To set up the Harmony 680, you use the harmonyremote.com Web site to identify the components in your home theater system, assemble the codes that automatically map the Harmony 680’s buttons to functions on the original remote for each component, and set up “activities,” which are the equivalent of macros that fire commands to all the equipment involved. When you connect the remote using a USB cable and a simple utility, a server-side application packages your settings into a downloadable file and blacts it into the remote.
The unit is preconfigured to control a Media Center PC. In addition, the Web site has an enormous database of remote control codes for all sorts of components. The Setup program was able to identify all of my equipment (although I had to try several variations of the HR10 model number before it recognized the high-definition DirecTV/TiVo box). I used the predefined activities to define what I want each piece of equipment to do when I push the Watch TV or Listen to Music or Watch a DVD button. To listen to music from the Media Center PC, for instance, I need to: turn on the AV Receiver and set VCR1 as the input; turn on the TV and set Video 4 as its input; make sure the Media Center extender is on; and switch to Media Center’s My Music view. I can use drop-down lists and option buttons to set all these states, no coding required.
I have a few quibbles with the Harmony 680. The buttons are arranged in a very confusing layout, although this is practically inevitable with an all-in-one remote. And for the life of me I can’t see how to program the big green Media button so that it acts as the Green button (Media Center) or the TiVo button on the DirecTV box.
I paid around $105 with shipping and thought it was well worth the price. I purchased it from Comp-U-Plus, which I’ve used several times before with no complaints. Amazon.com sells it for about $10 more.
I’ve used high-end all-in-one remotes before. The Philips Pronto I used from 2001-2003 was expensive, hard to program, and used a finicky touch-screen instead of buttons with tactile feedback. In 2004 I switched to a Universal Remote MX-500. It was a lot less ambitious than the Pronto, but that made it fairly easy to work with. The only downside was the lack of macro capabilities – I had to print out a small series of instructions on mini index cards and keep them near the remote to explain the sequence of manual steps for each activity.
When we moved this past summer, I switched from cable to DirecTV and got a new TV. Somehow, the chore of reprogramming the MX-500 for the new equipment never made it to the top of the stack, and I got used to the good old-fashioned basket of remotes. Spousal Acceptance Factor? Close to zero, occasionally into minus territory.
The Harmony 680 passed a crucial test yesterday. I showed Judy the remote, briefly described how the three main activity buttons work, and placed the remote on the coffee table. When I left, a DVD was playing. When I came back an hour later, Judy was watching a program on the TiVo. With the previous collection of remotes and three separate inputs to adjust, that wouldn’t have happened.
Hey, maybe I should gift-wrap it and put it under the tree.
On second thought … naaaah!
I’ve got a 680 also, and love the ease of programming. Even the tricky timing delays for input switching a TV that’s starting up are adjustable.
There isn’t any way to reprogram the Green Button, but if the 680 knows that it’s running the Media Center, it does work like the button on the MS remote.
I programmed the Recorded TV button to act as the Tivo button when it’s running the Tivo, it’s pretty handy.
The MX-500 has macros — there are three buttons at the bottom, and each of the “soft” buttons can be programmed to do macro activities when you hold down the button.
I use the bottom ones to turn on various sets of componentry, and the soft button macros to switch all the inputs as appropriate; it works quite well.
I liked it too until they decided to reprogram the green button. now it is worthless.
Liked it too until they also decided that once they reprogrammed the Green button to do something else, you could not change it back the way it was for 3 years prior to the change. Firmware cannot be downgraded, no way to assign a single IR command to Green button.