Rating: 
Summary: The best remote, with the best technical support.
Review: Most "universal" remotes are very simple minded. They cannot control your viewing and listening experience, they simply control one or the other of those widgets in that stack across the room. Now this is acceptable if you know which way the cables run, and understand the difference between composite video and component video, and why the bass management needs to be different for box A than box Q and... Oh. You just wanted to watch a movie? Tough.Until now. This remote is designed for the person holding it, not the engineer who did the rack and stack on the equipment. It is intuitive to use, and backed by the most well trained support staff it has been my pleasure to encounter. Some months ago, my wife had a stroke. Her ability to use my carefully-programmed macros on a "universal" remote evaporated, along with a lot of her speech. It's called "aphasia" and affects emotional control as well. She literally has been in tears with the frustration of trying to watch a VHS movie on her own. That is, without calling for my help in operating the system. I had decided to design a system-level box to control our equipment: to let her choose one button to "watch a movie" or "watch TV" or "watch a DVD" instead of trying to re-educate her damaged memory on the way different boxes provide the picture while others provide the sound. Should we really need to know all that to enjoy the higher quality of separate units? Doing the initial research for my own design, I bumped into this Harmony unit and the others from Intrigue Technology. I didn't really expect it to be simple enough for a stroke victim to use, but I hoped I could add programming and possibly some extra electronics to make a complete solution. No need. The company provides a web site to program the remote for your specific set of equipment. Quick and easy. The result came close, but it still tends to assume you want to revel in the intricate features of all that expensive equipment. Here a button to adjust the aspect ratio; there one to control sound processing. Cindy does not want any of that. Can't use it. She wants to watch TV or a movie. Period. So I called Harmony tech support: Can I do this? Could I simplify that? Do you have tools to let me try those things? "Certainly, sir, but I think I've fixed it for you already. Click 'update your remote' and see if it's working the way she likes it now." Well, sometimes box A misses the command, and she can't decide how to fix that. Is there an IR amplifier I could use? "Probably, but first let me try changing how we send that command. Click 'update' and test it again..." With great patience, several technicians over two days removed all the confusing aspects of using a home theater. And all the things a picky engineer found to complain about as well. Now, Cindy is very pleased with "her" remote and with her recovered ability to enjoy television or tapes without calling for help. I am a retired computer design engineer, and believe me: I was prepared to build custom circuits, code elaborate programs -- do anything needed to let her enjoy herself again. (We live in a remote area, where "simple televisions" get nothing at all. We need the boxes, the satellite receivers and video recorders and what not -- just not the complexity.) This device, and tech support's encyclopedic knowledge of remote signalling in AV equipment made all that design and expense unnecessary. And it was easy on my end. It did not require my talent. Just theirs at tech support. The actual time it took to do all this was less than an hour I suppose. Perhaps two. Spread over five or six phone calls. It only took two days because Cindy had to be allowed to use the equipment. She needed time to run into all the little aspects that she found confusing. Several times I thought the issue was beyond the control of a remote, but the simulator tools at Intrigue Technology and the imagination of their technicians surprised me with an answer for each problem. Even with her current speech problems, I think they could have done this with Cindy being the one on the phone at this end. All you need is the ability to describe what bothers you. And quite possibly, nothing at all will bother you. The stock programming required a very simple set of questions about model numbers and worked just fine to the standards of most users. A stroke victim is simply the acid test for simplicity. It is rare to be able to offer an unqualified endorsement of a company and product, but this is one of those opportunities. If you have anyone in your household who does not share your pleasure in that feature-rich stack of electronics, or if you yourself sometimes just want to "watch a movie" instead of comparing PLII processing to Dolby, then you want this remote.
Rating:
Summary: At last.
Review: Over the years I have tried countless universal remotes. The problems vary from not knowing the codes for my equipment (Usually my Marantz SR5000) and not being able to learn them (My Samsung SIR-TS360) to being difficult to remember which button does what and which buttons I have to hit to switch from watching a dvd to using tivo. This remote nailed it all. It's near perfect. It has all of the codes for all of my equipment, the activity based setup makes it easy to remember what buttons do what, and to top it of when your watching a dvd and you hit the button for using tivo it will automatically switch all of your equipment. There only seem to be 1 limitation. Other then switching modes it will not do macros, though supposidly the learning feature can handle multiple codes. Also if you wish to fully customize your remote don't expect to be done with the setup in a half hour, (or even an hour for that matter) but it's worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Best remote ever!
Review: The internet programming of the remote was a breeze. Every component in my home theater system was on file at the harmony web site. I just entered the model numbers, answered a few questions and the information was sent to my remote via the included usb cable. The only improvement I would suggest is to allow users to make changes to the settings without having to hook it up to the internet.
Rating:
Summary: Harmony is Harmonious
Review: This has got to be the most awesome remote control there is. I was very skeptical and thought it wouldn't work on my equipment (some of which was older). I had bought and returned other remotes that promised the same thing. Universal Learning remotes that came with my equipment all failed and were extremely difficult to program as well as use. This remote is simplicity itself. Plug the connector into the computer and access the website, list your equipment name & model number and select what you want done. Programming is extremely simple, the downloadable tv guide that programs 2 weeks of listings into the remote is nice. The best is how simple it is to use. I now press 1 button and all of the appropriate equipment turns on and is correctly set. When I want to watch a DVD movie, I press "Watch a Movie" and with that 1 press my TV turns on to the correct channel setting, my surround system turns on to its appropriate setting for the DVD, and my combination DVD/VCR turns on, sets itself to DVD and opens the tray for me to insert the movie. My wife jokes that too bad it doesn't put the movie in for us. She is able to use the remote, my 84 year old mother is able to operate the remote. It also handles my Tuner, HDTV, DishNetwork, CD player, VCR in similar fashion. The price tag was a little scary, but after using this remote it was well worth the price. Now if they could only make connecting all the entertainment system components as simple.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!
Review: This is nothing short of fabulous. It's extremely easy to set up via a on-line interface. The whole idea is that you set up "activities" on the website. Activities are things like "Watch TV", "Watch a DVD", "Listen to Radio", "Watch VCR", "Watch TiVo". They put you through an on-line wizard and ask you things like what does your TV have to be set to, what does your A/V receiver have to be set to, etc. Once it's set up, there's a USB cable that hooks up to the remote and it downloads all the set-up stuff. When you press the "Watch TV" button, all the right equipment gets turned on and set to the right settings. If you then decide to watch a DVD, you press the "Watch DVD" button and the right stuff turns on, the right stuff turns off, everything is set to the right settings and you're ready to go. Of course you can also have all of the controls of the individual device at your fingertips. The normal buttons like, play, fast forward, rewind, etc. are all on the remote, but it also has a multi-function display that has the unique controls for the brand and model that you selected on the web. My wife was ready to chuck our other 7 remotes and the notes I wrote up for her through the window. Now she's happy, so I'm happy. One remote. Really!
Rating:
Summary: Great remote.
Review: This is the best remote I have ever used. It takes a little time to program it, but the time spent is worth it. It controls everything I have and evrybody in my house can use it with no trouble. I would recomend this remote to anyone who wants to get ride of a collection of remotes. The price is high, but it does what is says it will.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: This is the only universal remote I've ever used that actually controls EVERYTHING. I've had some that only control certain components, or that only control minimal functions of each component, but this one does it ALL. I've had no problems with it, and the setup is super easy. I have a Turtle Beach AudioTron in my setup, and it even controls that! I've NEVER found a universal remote that would control the AudioTron before. The list of components it can control seems almost endless. The only bad thing is that I didn't buy it sooner! It's WELL worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: Great remote!
Review: This is truely a "One Remote Solution". It does everthing like it says it will. The setup is a little time consuming, but well worth the effort. The original setup will ask detailed question about your equipment and how you want the remote to respond when accessing different modes. The best part of owning this remote, is the excellent and polite customer service. I called the toll free customer support line (on hold for 2 minutes during Christmas week) and the Techie solved my problem in less than a minute. Get this remote, be patient when setting it up and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: How much do I love this remote?
Review: TONS! This thing works as advertised. Setup was a snap and it functions EXACTLY as I want it, controlling my tv, HD receiver, DVD player, and VCR...PERFECTLY! It's exactly what I wanted in a universal remote.
Rating:
Summary: Simply outstanding - the simplest and easiest remote ever
Review: Universal remotes are seldom universal. This one really is 'universal'!
I bought my first one in 1991, by Pioneer. It was a great remote, still works today. But the single biggest frustration was that my wife, kids, etc. had to be trained how to use it. Partly my own lack of imagination on how best to combine functions, but still, it has an intimidating appearance.
And, the battery compartment cover is missing. So, I saw an ad for this remote and after investigating it I bought one.
All I can say is that my girlfriend picked it up the day after I set it up and used it without any instruction. Very successful and she's happy as can be with it! That's worth the cost all by itself! :-)
One of the neatest features about this remote, that has not been discussed here, is the help feature. If you press a button to perform an activity - like watch TV - but a piece of equipment isn't working right, you can use a help function to fix it, without getting up to use another remote or do something manually.
For example, I have an older 30" TV. If I'm watching a DVD or video tape, then switch to the Satellite, sometimes the TV will get confused and start scanning for channels (I run it on Line 1 all the time, so there are no channels setup). I can hit the help button and within a few seconds get it back to Line 1 input, right from my sofa. This is one of the many great features of the remote. Buy one or more, you will NOT regret it!
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