Harmony Remote 688
I recently bought myself the Harmony 688 universal remote by Logitech. I was looking for something that would control all the gear in my entertainment center, that’s acceptable to my wife. I already have the an older Philips Pronto Pro, but that takes a lot of work to program the way you want it, and my wife isn’t crazy about it.
What a great remote! There are three things about this remote (and the whole Harmony line) that set it apart from others that I have used. First, it has what they call “Smart State Technology”, that just means it remembers what is already on, what needs to be turned on, and what needs to be turned off. Second, it is programmed through the Harmony website, rather than using an obscure sequence of key codes to represent devices in your rack and desired behavior. This means they have an enormous database of devices and codes, continually being updated as new devices are released. And, third, there are “activity” buttons that do everything you need them to do. For instance, there is a button labeled “watch tv” that will turn on your TV, receiver, satellite/cable box, etc, and set them all to the correct inputs. Another button labeled “watch DVD” will turn on all the appropriate devices for that activity. If you switch from one activity to another, the remote knows what devices are on, and what inputs they are set to, so it only sends the IR codes for the difference in state.
If, for any reason, the remote loses track of state, there is a “help” button that will ask a series of questions designed to isolate and correct the problem. For instance, if you used the remote to turn the TV on, but you turned it off manually, the remote will not send the “on” code to the TV for any TV-related activity. Pressing “help” prompts you with questions including “Is the TV on?” Answer this with “no” and the TV will be turned on, returning you to the proper state. Great stuff.
I bought one for my mother-in-law for Christmas, and she loves it already. If there’s someone in your family that struggles with all those remotes on your coffee table, it’s well worth the $200.