Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote

The Harmony One is the successor to the Harmony 880, the consensus is that it is a big step forward in terms of features and quality.

The Harmony One package comes with the remote unit, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, a charging station, power adaptor, USB cable and a CD containing the software you use to configure the remote.

Setting up the Harmony One can be accomplished in a couple of different ways. The simplest is to connect the remote to your PC via the provided USB cable and use the provided software to select the devices you wish to control. You can enter the model number of the device, such as your television, VCR, DVD player or TiVo.

The provided software contains a database of over 200,000 devices according to Logitech.

If you don't have the model number of your device you can make the Harmony One learn from your existing remote in the standard way. You point your old remote at the Harmony One and instruct it to assign the Infrared signals it is receiving. It is a pretty simple procedure but configuring via the provided software should be the first thing you try.

Finally if neither the software configuration or remote learning is possible with your device (say you lost your old remote and don't know the model number), you can select your device's manufacturer and type (eg. JVC TV) from the software menu and configure the Harmony One in that way.

The remote fits nicely into it's charging dock, an improvement over previous models. This means that the remote won't fall out of the charging dock if it's knocked accidently by a passing hand.

This remote is suited to complex setups. If you've got TVs, TiVo, A/V receivers, DVD players and more all interconnected you may appreciate the "Activity Based" functions that Logitech has included in the Harmony One. Basically you can configure the remote to automatically turn on or off the devices required for a specific activity. For example if you press the button that indicates you want to listen to a CD the Harmony One can turn off your DVD player and Television and turn on your CD player and sound system.

If you do indeed have a complex system you can expect it to take a couple of week of tweaking before you have the remote configured to your liking.

The remote utilizes a variety of button shapes, this makes it easier to identify the right button based on touch alone. The backlit buttons are elegant and easy to see in the dark.

The most striking feature on the remote is of course the touchscreen. It's a beautiful 220 by 176 pixels display, but people have reported problems using the touch screen, accidently selecting the wrong function for example. The Harmony One touch screen comes with a slideshow screen saver mode. You can even upload your own images to be displayed when the remote is inactive.