I'm not entirely sure this would be the end-all-be-all of remotes, but it sure comes close. I suspect if I spent $1,000 or more on a Pronto, I'd be a little more decisive, but the Harmony is still an excellent middle-range remote.
Set up was quick and painless. The Harmony knew about all my devices, so I didn't need to go thru the painful process of head-to-head training.
Once my devices were defined, setup walked me thru a wizard which assigned the most logical "activities" to the remote. "Activities" are basically macros - power on the selected components, select the proper inputs/outputs, and assign the buttons.
An example is "Watch a DVD". This powers on the TV and selects VIDEO5, powers on the receiver and selects the DVD/LD input, and then powers on the DVD player.
The wizard asked how I control the volume or channels for each activity. When I watch cable, I use the TV volume; when I watch a DVD, I use the receiver volume; and so on.
This may sound a little confusing, but going thru the wizard takes only about 10 minutes. If you compare this to other remotes, you would have to press about six or seven buttons, and even then, you'd not have full functionality.
If you're not happy with the Activities, you can redefine things. I changed the behaviour of the VCR, which defaults to pressing play when you select "Watch a video".
When you're using Activities, the Device button will still let you fully control any device. I like to watch TV with Closed Caption, and that was actually easier to do with the Harmony than the factory Sony remote!
My only gripe is the physical buttons. They're a little small and placed right next to each other, so it can be easy to fumble. I find that I need two-handed operation when I want to fast-forward my VCR, because the FF/REW buttons are in an awkward location which makes it hard for my fingers to find.
Set up was quick and painless. The Harmony knew about all my devices, so I didn't need to go thru the painful process of head-to-head training.
Once my devices were defined, setup walked me thru a wizard which assigned the most logical "activities" to the remote. "Activities" are basically macros - power on the selected components, select the proper inputs/outputs, and assign the buttons.
An example is "Watch a DVD". This powers on the TV and selects VIDEO5, powers on the receiver and selects the DVD/LD input, and then powers on the DVD player.
The wizard asked how I control the volume or channels for each activity. When I watch cable, I use the TV volume; when I watch a DVD, I use the receiver volume; and so on.
This may sound a little confusing, but going thru the wizard takes only about 10 minutes. If you compare this to other remotes, you would have to press about six or seven buttons, and even then, you'd not have full functionality.
If you're not happy with the Activities, you can redefine things. I changed the behaviour of the VCR, which defaults to pressing play when you select "Watch a video".
When you're using Activities, the Device button will still let you fully control any device. I like to watch TV with Closed Caption, and that was actually easier to do with the Harmony than the factory Sony remote!
My only gripe is the physical buttons. They're a little small and placed right next to each other, so it can be easy to fumble. I find that I need two-handed operation when I want to fast-forward my VCR, because the FF/REW buttons are in an awkward location which makes it hard for my fingers to find.
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