Logitech Harmony SST-659 Universal Remote Control (Grey)

Logitech Harmony SST-659 Universal Remote Control (Grey)

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Easy to Use The Harmony Remote A...

• Easy to use; the remote can automatically set-up your entertainment system in seconds
• Updatable via community-driven database together with IR learning
• Works with all standard stereo and TV devices, plus TiVo, HDVCR, HDTV, Projectors, lighting control, satellite radios, amplifiers, and more
• Select TV shows, movies or music titles from the interactive display
• USB plug and play

If you've got a stack of remote controls, each with enough buttons to control the space shuttle, the Logitech Harmony H659 remote may bring some sanity to your coffee table. The H659 offers an innovative, web-based solution to corralling all of your remote functions into one device. This remote exceeded our expectations, even when it was asked to control a wide range of old and new devices.

The "Activity Remote"
Universal remote controls have been around for years, promising to simplify things for home theater or stereo users. The problem with these solutions, however, is that they are largely "dumb" devices, meaning they can only be programmed by pointing them at the another remote and pressing buttons on the old remote until the new one "learns" all the functions of the old. The Harmony H659 makes this hassle a thing of the past by placing 2 MB of solid state memory in the remote that can be updated via a PC USB connection. The information stored on the H659 is updated via an Internet connection and Logitech's (www.logitech.com) Harmony web site. The web site contains a database of virtually every electronics product under the sun that's capable of receiving signals from a remote control. The web interface walks users through a series of steps before uploading the proper controller interfaces to the H659.

Explore all the features of the Harmony 659 remote.

While there are other web-enabled universal remote controls out there (most of which are more expensive than the H659), the Harmony H659's unique role as an "activity remote" is what really impresses. Instead of controlling each device independently, the H659 intelligently groups remote functions into activities. Each activity--which is granted a colored button at the top of the remote--corresponds to a grouping of devices. For instance, the "Watch TV" activity does more than turn on your TV, it also turns on your A/V receiver and digital cable box-- anything you have defined as integral to watching TV. And because the H659 knows everything about all of these devices, it knows how you want them to interact with each other. Want your receiver to control volume instead of your TV? Based on the settings you made in the web interface, the H659 knows this and promptly pumps up the volume on the receiver when you hit the volume button. It's this kind of intelligent control of all devices in, well, harmony that really places the Harmony H659 in a league of its own.

Design
The H659 is well-designed and the buttons are logically laid out. The remote fits comfortably in the hand and is well balanced. The all-important activity buttons arrayed at the top make it easy to trigger groups of devices that work together to perform a single function. The directional buttons at the center of the button are handy for DVD menus and digital cable interfaces. The LCD, which simplifies navigation through device functions, is clear and bright when the backlight is on.

Setup
Once we installed the included Harmony Remote software on our computer and connected the remote via the supplied USB cable, we went to the Harmony web setup interface. After filling in information about our home theater equipment (brands and model numbers) the interface prompted us to make selections about how we wanted our devices to interact. When the selections process is complete, the web interface packages the completed settings into a file that is uploaded to the PC. The update file is then used by the Harmony Remote software to load settings onto the H659. From start to finish, the entire settings and upload process took about 20 minutes-- a pretty painless experience. One note of caution for Mac OSX users: unlike Windows, the Mac OS will not automatically launch an executable that has been downloaded to the desktop. This can confuse the Harmony web interface, which depends on this functionality to upload and verify downloads to the H659. Fortunately, we found that we could trick the web interface into working properly if we manually launched the update executable on the Mac desktop. Better software integration on the Mac side would be a welcome improvement.

In the Den
We spent some quality couch time with the H659 and came away impressed. We were delighted by how much more control the unit gave us over our home theater. In many ways, we felt like we were waving a magic wand, turning on whole sets of equipment and firing up movies and CDs with a single button press. For more precise control of each device we could easily navigate to that device in the LCD menu and tinker with more specific settings. We also liked knowing that we could customize the remote for more advanced needs via the web interface. The basic settings were powerful enough, though, to offer the simplicity and control armchair commanders crave.

Pros

• Excellent integration of functions across all device types
• Easy setup and customization via web interface
• Up-to-date and accurate database of all devices

Cons

• Mac OSX compatibility could be better

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