Fun With The Harmony Remote

March 17th, 2008

I picked up a Harmony Remote, the cheapest Harmony 550. It’s a universal remote, meant to replace the increasing number of remotes in our home theater setup. The Harmony remote also organizes your devices by function, so you can press one button for “watch a DVD” or “play a video game” — and the proper equipment turns on, set to the correct settings. The remote’s settings are managed on a computer, and you push settings to the remote using a USB cable.

The Good

• The activity based concept is a great idea, but I ran into some problems getting it working (see below).
• Once in an activity, you can set specfic buttons to control any device, especially useful to control audio volume, eject a DVD, or change inputs. The management software has one screen that is very clear and powerful, allowing you to assign functions to any button using drop down menus.
• The remote can switch from activity mode to control a specific device.
• The remote has some sort of motion detection so it turns on when someone walks in the room (!)
• A blue LED screen.
• The software can grab data from the Internet for a huge number of devices, and learn from existing remotes.

The Bad

• The buttons are a little mushy and close together, meaning some are better pressed with a fingernail. Perhaps the more expensive models have a better feel.
• Occaisionally, the software’s form fields would stop working. Quitting and restarting the program clears this up.
• The Logitech software can be convoluted and frustrating when it comes to troubleshooting. I kept going down dead ends, not sure how to answer the questions to get to the specific settings I wanted to adjust.
• Apple TV: Tips: make sure you unpair the Apple TV from the Apple remote and pair it with the Harmony. Also follow these directions at the Macrumors forum for specific settings, including what to initially name your Apple TV to download proper settings.
• Our Samsung television would turn on but fail to go to the correct input. To fix this, find “discrete” codes for the inputs. This means using a single command for a specific function, rather than sending a command that scrolls through several options in order. Meaning, the command “HDMI 1″ is better than pressing “Input” repeatedly until HDMI 1 is turned on. The Samsung remote doesn’t have a discrete button for the inputs, but the Samsung television does recognize discrete commands. I found the discrete codes on the Logitech forums, and added a delay for the input change.
• Same issue with the Sony surround sound. I had to teach the Harmony the remote’s command for turning on, and then add a delay before the input change command. There are no discrete codes for the Sony, so I had to train the remote to remember what input it’s on.

Conclusion

If you have multiple devices and multiple remotes, I think a Harmony remote is a good purchase. However, be prepared for some frustration in the initial stages as you get it set up. For me, three out of four devices weren’t responding correctly, and I spent several hours going through a hamster-like process of programming the remote, pushing the settings to the remote, testing it, failing, and returning to the computer. But since there’s an infinite number of device combinations possible, I think the Harmony does a very good job. I hear their customer service is pretty good, so perhaps that would have saved me some time.

Anyhow, the remote is now working really well, so with nirvana achieved, my extreme laziness can begin with one button.