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Logitech Harmony: Where Have You Been?

I realize I am a little late to the party here, but I have to give credit where credit is due.  I recently purchased a Logitech Harmony remote.  The reason was two fold: first, I thought the Touch device seemed kind of cool and second, I was tired of always having to get the TV setup for my family.  We have only four devices, but without fail something was always messed up, and a remote was always missing.

I did not really expect the device to do much.  After all, I admittedly spend all day working with very high end technology that we program for automation.  The idea that a remote control that cost a couple of hundred dollars would actually work was almost laughable.  At the very least, I figured it would mean I only needed to hunt for one lost remote, instead of four.

harmony

Wow, was I wrong.  The device is completely simple to setup.  I truly believe that anyone can do it.  No difficult programming or fancy design work. It is all web based.  You log onto the Logitech Harmony site and put in information about your devices, such as model number and make.  In my case all of my models were immediately found in their database.  This is not to taken for granted.  After all, my motto for my home equipment is often, pay the least you can and you won’t feel bad replacing it in a few years.  That is proven by my 42″ Insignia three year old television.    Despite my random, and not top of the line brands, all my models were listed.

Then, as you go to setup activities, such as “watch TV” or “Play Video Games” you have an extremely simple to use web interface.  You can add and remove steps as you need.  I played with it a little bit, but quite honestly, I did not need to change anything, because Logitech figured out when I press watch TV, it needs to power on my TV, receiver and cable box.  Speaking of my cable box, it even provided me a list of channels that my provider supplies in our area.  I could then choose the network icon to go on the touch screen portion of the remote.  It looks very clean, and very nice.

The only real fault I found with the device is not something that Logitech could have controlled, that all the devices are IR.  Living in the “pro” world, we all avoid IR like the plague.  But, this device is designed for the home market, so Logitech had to use IR.  In the time that I have had the device I have seen a few hiccups where the remote gets confused if something did not do what it is supposed to.  For example, if I press the all off button while my DVR is recording, it will not shut off, but the TV and receiver will.  The Harmony thinks the DVR is off (again, IR is only one way communication), and when you select watch TV next time, it sends the On/Off Toggle, which in turns shuts the television off.

So, why am I writing this article about a device that has been out for years and only costs a few hundred dollars?  Because if others are like me and not tried this device they are missing out.  In fact, I think that this remote would even work well in installations where cost is major consideration.  I think K-12 schools and small businesses could use these remotes with great success.

The second reason I am writing about this product, is the built in help system.  When I just wrote about the problems with IR, one of the reasons I don’t think it is a big deal, is that this little device has an AWESOME help system.  On the touch screen you hit the help button, and you can choose to go through some questions, or you can choose to fix it yourself.    So, when I know the DVR is in a reverse state, I can manually turn it on without toggling all the other devices.  If I am a regular person with no idea what is going on, I can go through the very clear set of questions that Logitech puts forward and let it fix the problem for me.  If you are a Technology Manager, you want to model this type of help system on whatever type of equipment you use.  If you are an integrator or programmer, you definitely want to build your help systems on the same model as Logitech.  Offering this service to your customers with touch panels and other control devices could bring you some good money in services.

So, yeah, I know I am late on this one.  Some things though are better late than never!

Let me know what you think, I look forward to hearing from you!

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