Not sure if there’s already an existing thread in here on this. Did a quick search and did not find anything. So thought I’d share my initial impression of the new Logitech Harmony One universal remote control and also a brief comparison to its predecessor (in case anyone is thinking of upgrading to the One).

Having owned and used its predecessor, the Harmony 880/885, setting up the Harmony One is very simple as the remote management software from Logitech automatically imports all the previous settings and configuration from my previous 880 into the One. All except the favourite channels settings though. Bummer.

However, if you’re using a Harmony for the first time, then it may initially be daunting as the web-based software takes some time to familiarise. However, once you get going, it’s really rather simple. Specify your hardware model and the software accesses the Harmony database and retrieves the remote control code for your hardware. If it’s not available or really obscure, your Harmony remote can learn by receiving the IR command from your device’s existing remote. I’ve scattered some sample screenshots of the management software throughout this review.

The form factor of the One beats the 880 hands down. Although slightly longer, the One is more ergonomic, the remote doesn’t feel as slippery as the 880, the hard buttons are better organised, bigger and feels more solid overall. It is slimmer than the 880 though slightly broader at certain parts.





A noteworthy improvement is the accompanying docking / recharging base station. I really hated the 880’s base station as recharging the unit was usually a hit or miss affair. The contact points on the remote needs to be placed with surgical precision (ok, slight exaggeration on my part!) on the charging pins (on the base station) for the unit to recharge. Many a times, a slight nudge or movement would displace the contact points and you find out the next morning that your remote failed to charge. This has happened so many times that it was no longer funny to play the “wake up and see if your remote was charged” game. The One’s docking station is much improved, the One sits firmly in its base when you plonk it down. The LED light at the top turns green when it’s fully charged. A nice addition over the previous version.



The main enhancement of the One over the 880 is the introduction of a hi-res touch-screen. The only other Harmony remote in the market right now that has touch screen is the Harmony 1000, but that sports a different form factor altogether (the 1000 is a tablet style remote). The pic below may not do the One justice, but I can attest that the new screen on the One is really beautiful, bright and clear and much better than the one found on the 880. There are also 2 context-based soft keys at the bottom and 2 arrow keys on the side of the touch-screen. If there was any complain, it would be that the new screen only affords 3 activities to a single screen whereas the old screen could accommodate 8 activities on one page (however to activate any of the 8 activities requires you to press that tiny button next to the activity, something people with fat fingers like myself may find hard to do).





You can have as many pages of activities as you need on the One. But I’ve read on forums that if you go beyond 6 pages, the remote becomes sluggish. I only use 3 pages, so can’t really comment on that. But heck, I’d take the One any day.





Press the desired Activity on the touch-screen (e.g. Watch Astro TV) will trigger a sequence of pre-defined instructions (e.g. switch on TV, switch on AV Receiver, select input mode on AV Receiver, switch on Astro decoder, switch on air-conditioner!!) all in a single press. Other universal remotes call this a “macro” function, but Logitech calls their macros “Activities”. Different name, same thing.





You can customise your favourite channels on the touch screen through the management software.







Another improvement of the One over the 880 : Favourite Channels now can accommodate 4 pages (4 pages x 6 channels = 24 favourite channels) to a single Activity whereas the 880 restricted this to only 2 pages x 8 channels = 16 favourite channels per Activity. Hence, if I wanted to include more channels beyond the 16 channels allocation on the 880, I would have had to create 2 activities e.g. “Watch Astro 1” and “Watch Astro 2”.





Besides adding your favourite channels on the touchscreen, you can also customise the touchscreen to include functions or buttons not found on the hard keys.







Besides the Activities macros, you can also control each device in your household individually like you would on a normal remote. You do this by going to the Devices function, select the Device of your choice, and carry out the remote function. This would be useful particularly for standalone devices that do not require a sequence of events (e.g. control the air-conditioner, open the electric gate, etc.). The colour scheme on the touchscreen changes to amber when you are in Device mode. In Activity mode, it’s blue. You can also change the color theme in the remote settings page. I chose to stay with the default theme.







Although the 880 has served me well over the years, it’s time to move on. The One is a major improvement over the 880 in many ways, and then some. If there is one complain, it would be that the One’s black glossy mirror finish really shows up finger-print residue. Impressively, included in the package that came with the One is a micro-fiber cloth that does an admirable cleaning job. Kudos to Logitech.


Footnote:
(1) Sorry if the photos are not very good. I’m lousy at handling a camera. *shy*
(2) If this thread doesn’t belong in the Audiophile section, would appreciate if the mods would move this to another section deemed appropriate. Cheers.

This post has been edited by terranova: Jun 30 2008, 11:13 PM

THanks guys for the kind words. I bought mine for US$199. The price has come down since the launch price of US$250. I remember I bought the 880 a few years back for US$250 also.

@ aiman - Best bet is to get it online. Perhaps you can try getting it online here:
http://www.expansys.com.sg/p.aspx?i=162748

Not sure if they deliver to Malaysia, guess you'll have to check with them.

@ mpyw - suggest you get the One over the 880. The price difference (new unit) is marginal only, but worth it. Once you see and use the One, you won't want the 880.

Oh, and forgot to add that the 880/885 is the same model, 880 is the US model and 885 is its EU cousin. 890 is different altogether as it adds an RF (radio frequency) emitter to the unit besides transmitting in IR (infra-red).

This post has been edited by terranova: Jul 1 2008, 11:44 AM

@ aiman - u ordered? how much do they charge for shipping?

@ rx - you should get one. I know you have at least 6 or 7 remotes lying around the house. All replaced by a single One.

Sorry no idea. My usual pitstop for anything to do with remote control is here:
http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/forums.cgi

However, even they don't discuss much about the Prestigo, mostly only on the Pronto models.

Googling found this:
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/other...9732820p,00.htm

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Added on July 12, 2008, 4:56 pmYou can use the expansys website i linked earlier. they ship to MY. But yea if only it had bluetooth .....

This post has been edited by terranova: Jul 12 2008, 04:56 PM

Yeah, I think they should be working on the IR+RF model. I'm just surprised they didn't just add that into the One off the bat, which somewhat disappointed me. Can't be much more expensive to add a RF transmitter, no?

Not really. If you look carefully at the side profile of one of the photos I posted, only 2 small footprints touches the surface when you place it face up. Also, the back of the One is not made of the glossy black plastic surface, but rather some dark gray matte finishing plastic, which doesn't easily scratch. I'll try to snap a photo of the back to show u.

You can configure/customise the 880/885's screen buttons to behave any way you like, including as grey arrow keys of your Astro Max.

The only difference is that the One's screen is a touchscreen, which means you press the screen to activate the button (ala iPhone) whereas the 880/885 has a tiny (very tiny for ppl with fat fingers like me) hard button beside each quadrant of the screen to activate the respective function key that appears on the screen. Look at the photos on the first page to see the tiny buttons I'm talking about.

Yes, almost all (if not all) universal remotes in the market today have this "learning" ability, not just Harmony. So long as you have the original remote, you can make the universal remote learn the functions. What's good about the Harmony is that these codes are stored online on the logitech server, so no worries even if you lose the original remote.

This post has been edited by terranova: Dec 31 2008, 04:59 PM

You'd probably not use the remote management software that often after you've set it up, unless u add new devices or activities. However, in the initial stages, you'd be using the software very often (and spend hours) to set it up properly and make everything work the way u want it to, set up your favourite channels, customise the soft keys, etc. etc.

Also, sometimes you'd access the software to update the remote's firmware. These are updated periodically, mostly for bug fixes etc.

Yes, that is what i meant in my reply above. you can make your Harmony learn the old remote via pairing. however, like aiman pointed out, you'd still need to log in and start up the management software on your pc/notebook to do this.

you log in first, then pair. whatever u want to do to the remote, the only way to access it is via the software and hooking up the remote to the notebook/pc via usb cable (supplied).

And after you get your Harmony One, go to http://www.iconharmony.com/ to get the brilliant icons of your favourite tv stations, created specifically for the One. I donated to Randy's efforts and he in turn did some customised icons for me.

PS3 runs on bluetooth, not infra-red. so u can't use the 885 on the ps3 unless u get the IRBT convertor dongle thingy.

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Added on January 11, 2009, 12:12 pmfuyooo .... bro cory in da' houze.

if it is still behaving erraticly (not erotically, ya), try adjusting the delay time to make it longer.

This post has been edited by terranova: Jan 11 2009, 12:12 PM

When I was setting up my 880/885 some years back, I used the icons from the following sites:

http://squareworld.com/harmony/
(this was actually Randy's old site before he created http://www.iconharmony.com/ which now offers icons for the 880/885 as well since the new year)

http://www.lyngsat-logo.com/tvcountry/my.html
(these are specific to those in Malaysia e.g. Astro, TV3, NTV7, etc.; for those not listed here, you can also check out the icons available in other countries that are sharing similar channels e.g. Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. by clicking on the country link or alphabetical link)

http://www.satlogo.com/hi-res/a_1.html

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/files...logitechharmony

Hope the newcomers to the Harmony world will find it useful and relevant. If you want to create your own for the 880/885, the fav channel icons are 64x32 pixels.

On another note, have you guys seen the new 1100 remote introduced at the ongoing CES?




http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/...s/4708&cl=us,en

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Added on January 12, 2009, 11:12 pmYes u can. There are various workarounds to do this. What do u have in mind, Cory? Radio stations?

Create a custom activity or choose an activity that has a tv-like device type (e.g. watch tv activity), set up a non-existent tv and power on your fictitious tv, then specify the radio receiver or tuner to change channels, and set up fav channels according to your radio station.

Note that only devices such as tv, cable/satellite stb, vcr, dvd recorder, etc. offers the Favorite Channel feature.

This post has been edited by terranova: Jan 12 2009, 11:12 PM

Waa .... SANSUI ..... haven't heard that in a while. Around the same era as AKAI.

@ musashiX - u use the downloaded channel icons when u set up your favourite channels. go into the Favourite Channel settings.

re. your last para, do take note that the Harmony One can only control a limited number of devices (can't remember exactly how many off hand). therefore it is not unlimited. i think u can control up to 20-30 devices iinm.

Logitech Harmony Adapter for PS3 coming soon. Better late than never. No word on pricing.



Source

@ aiman - curious to hear your comments comparing the One vs 885. Care to share your views?

the ps3 adapter from amazon only ships to usa unfortunately. have to use vpost etc. to get around this.

@ aiman - glad u're enjoying the One.

they're pretty solidly built. and the screen is durable. had mine for close to a year now, and it has survived numerous drops from the sofa to a hard floor.

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Added on June 17, 2009, 11:11 ami would say that the harmony 1000/1100 caters to a different market segment, ie those looking for a tablet remote.

This post has been edited by terranova: Jun 17 2009, 11:11 AM

The new Harmony 900 is out. RF version of the Harmony One, with an extra row of color-coded hard buttons (esp useful for dvr and stb) & higher resolution lcd.

Logitech website

Gizmodo review

Engadget

Looks like you have to tweak the "timing" settings on the remote.

Need to be a little more precise as to the exact nature of your problem, bro. Don't quite understand, sorry.

Yep, and also tweak the "timing" settings. you'll find this setting in the logitech software. cannot remember right now (been a while). sorry.

There is a device-delay timing setting and other timing delay settings as well. you may need to prolong the IR blast so that your device has enough time to react to the instructions.

Also, what I did was to add some of the problematic functions (e.g. on/off and input selection) onto the first screen on the lcd. so if my avr does in fact choose the wrong input mode, or cannot on/off, i can just correct it from the first screen off the bat. shouldn't have to need this workaround, i agree, if everything works as it should. but i have it there just in case when it doesnt.

This is a common problem faced by harmony users. no worries. post here if you need further help.

Just curious, are you using one of those new AVRs with the HDMI-CEC feature? Assuming your settings are in fact correct, then I can't explain or figure out why your avr automatically switches from dvd to stl/cable (activity 1) and switches off by itself (activity 5), unless there's some interference from the HDMI-CEC controls.

This post has been edited by terranova: Aug 17 2009, 03:24 PM

And one last thing to add - point the remote in the right direction!

Sometimes the angle lari also will cause the device to not receive the instruction.