Harmony 688 Remote By Logitech
One Rockin' Remote Control
I got my Harmony 688 free from Dvrs4Free.com, by completing one extra offer myself, and getting two extra people to sign up under me. Considering the $150 price tag, this was quite a bargain if you ask me. This single remote replaced all of my remotes in the house, including my ReplayTV 5040 remote. At first, I was only somewhat impressed with it but as of the writing of this review I have grown to love it after using it for about a week. First I'll show you the pics. I only posted two here, because you can see plenty of pics online if you search for them. These two are simply to illustrate some of my points.
| Top Device Buttons + Interactive LCD |  |
First, take a look at the top picture, and you'll notice the typical power button in the top left, and the device buttons in a row underneath. The other visible button 'Help' is pretty cool. It's designed to prompt you with a series of questions intended to sync up all of your devices when they're not functioning properly. It asks if each device is on, and if it is tuned to the right channel/input. It worked fairly well, but being a technophile I'd rather just manually turn them all on and sync them up when I have to. And I can, using the 'Device' button just below the LCD. So either way, the remote works well whether for the novice or the pro. The 'More' button allows you to view additional devices on the LCD, giving you up to 15 total devices being controlled by this single remote. Think of being able to turn on the DVD player, the TV, the surround sound, and turn off everything else with one button. You can do it with this remote!
But how does it know what devices need to be used, and how to tune them correctly? Glad you ask. The first thing you do after taking the remote out of the box (aside from putting the included AA batteries in) is to connect it to your PC via USB port. It then connects to the software (installed from CD) and loads up the Harmony Remote website. This website guides you through the process of setting up what kinds of devices you will be using with the remote, and how you want them to act together. So when I push the 'Watch TV' button, it turns on the ReplayTV, the television itself, tunes the TV to SVid input and then changes my Replay to whatever default channel I want. I chose the Replay Guide, where I have my recorded shows at my finger tips. So, one button on one remote gets me ready to watch TV. NOTHING else to do. Unless somehow the devices are out of sync, which happens occasionally but not often. If it happens, let the Help button help you, or change the devices manaully. Easy enough. The web setup (shown below) is pretty easy to use. It took me about 30 minutes of playing around to get things working properly with the ReplayTV, but the DVD player and TV worked perfectly first time.
| Sample Screen For Online Programming |  |
| The Entire Remote (very comfortable to hold, very much like a Tivo remote) |  |
Next, take a look at the second picture. The remote is sleek and comfortable to hold. If you've ever held a Tivo remote, you'll recognize the shape right away. It's a little awkward to reach some of the buttons with a single hand, but after a bit of practice you learn how to hold it to get to all of the buttons you need at a single time. Notice the LCD screen near the top. This screen is a wonderful piece of technology. It has six buttons along the sides which change functionality depending on the device being controlled. In the picture, it is controlling my ReplayTV. I am only using two of the buttons for the ReplayTV, because the built-in functionality of the remote is so wonderful but I could easily program the other 4 to do various tasks like skip commercials, fast forward, or pause. It's my choice, and I pick the labels for the buttons using the web interface.
But that's not all the LCD does. When I am watching TV I can use the LCD to browse the channel lineup. Listen up, this is important...I can change channels, and view a channel guide on my remote! This is not part of the functionality of my Replay TV. I can do this on any TV, with any cable company, at any time. When it is connected to the internet, the remote downloads local channel listings which allows me to choose a show on any channel with one push of a button. The remote then automatically changes the channel to the corresponding TV show, and I am good to go. So even if you don't have a ReplayTV, now you can at least have an onscreen (LCD) channel guide, even if your cable company doesn't have one. Very cool, although I will stick to the ReplayTV guide, because there is more real estate on my TV screen than on the LCD.
There are a ton of buttons on this remote, and all can be programmed to do whatever you want. There is an IR port on the bottom of the remote that lets you learn commands from your old remotes. I had to use this feature in order to get a few of my ReplayTV functions to work correctly. But in the end, it works flawlessly and this remote is the first I have ever seen to perfectly control the ReplayTV aside from the factory remote. It also controls my Kenwood reciever, which is also a first. The learning feature is not unique, but in combination with the great button layout and functionality of the remote it is awesome to say the least.
Ok, and now to the bad stuff. Don't let me get you down, but there are a few small improvements that could be made. Here they are:
- The buttons are squishy feeling. I would much rather have solid buttons, but sadly most remotes these days have gone squishy. It just makes it feel less responsive to me, but they work so it's good enough.
- The buttons are too close together. Some of the buttons are so close that I end up pushing two at a time. Not so much anymore now that I am used to the remote, but they could have spaced out the buttons a bit, like on similay Harmony remotes.
- PVR button locations. Great dedicated PVR buttons, but they should be at the top, right under the LCD. They also control the DVD playback, and in my mind should be placed at the top, where it is more ergonomical.
- Menu rocker sucks. The four-way menu rocker in the middle is awkward. Most remotes go with four separate buttons for a reason, it works better. This way is ok, but I recommend a change for future models.
- Remote to PC connection was confusing at first. It took me 5 minutes just to get it recognized by the website. I had to unplug it several times before it finally found it. After that, it worked first time every time. Dunno what's up there.
Aside from these problems (mostly button related complaints) I love the remote. It is the best damn universal remote I have ever owned, and by far the smartest. It does 99% of the work for me after initial setup. If you have a wife or kids who don't like having 5 remotes in the living room, this is your saving grace right here. But at $150, it isn't cheap. You might be able to get it for less than that if you find a sale, but at the time of review, the Ebay price for a brand new remote was about $140, which is a pretty good pricing point most of the time. If you're already doing the Dvrs4Free.com deal from Offercentric, definitely get this remote. It's worth the extra trouble. If you're simply looking for a way to spend some Christmas money and are in the market for a great replacement for that mess on your coffee table, look no further. I give this remote an A+ even with the minor button problems. I will definitely be keeping this one around
Questions or comments? Email me, or post in the forums. I'd be happy to help.