Review: Harmony One Universal Remote

I have the 890 and I love it. I just put an "eject" button on my screen and moved it to the top so now it's always on the main screen instead of having to search for it.

In fairness, the "Eject" button is on the top left corner of the very first page of functions for each of the players, so you can't really miss it. However, I tend sometimes to get myself into other screens up there sometimes, so it's really just me.

John

I have the 880 and honestly would be lost w/o it...

I'm on my second remote, had a 360 edition, gave it to my folks and got a 880, i couldn't live without it either, I go crazy when I go to a friends house and they don't have one. But you have to clean up the menus a lot, 90% of the stuff they put in there you will never use, so jsute look for the buttons you used before with the original remotes and keep those, scrap the rest. I always assign the info button to the display button of my DVD also, keep that screen as uncluttered as possible.

Keep up the good work, love the site, can't believe you didn't already have one of these, watching so many movies.

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You could buy an inexpensive universal remote like the little Sony RM-VL600 I've been using for the past couple of years.

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Does that make it ten times better than the Sony VL600 I've been using? No. Still, it is better. I mean, is a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano ten times better than a Nissan 350Z just because it costs ten times more? No. Nevertheless, there is no question the Ferrari is better.

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can't believe you didn't already have one of these, watching so many movies.

I'm assuming he had a similar that worked just as good as this one...only this one is shiny with buttons and a nice touch screen...

I have the Harmony 520 and I honestly love it. I would LOVE to get the Harmony One but my 520 has been perfect.

Maybe when I get a house and make a home theatre out of my basement. The One does look like a very nice remote though.

dude, thats very much for the good review. I was curious about this same remote.

I was thinking of starting a thread a few days back on.... what remotes you fellas use. i got beat again. now i see most of you are very happy with the 800 series, im going to go look at pictures of that and stuff. but i might make the jump with my new Amazon 100$ gift and all.

Question1: Can i control the 360 with this?
2: how are the controls on the Onkyo 705 receiver? I also have an 3. Ill be controlling, and my Aquos tv.

Please share. Yupeee! thanks guys

Kuco, yes you can control the 360 with it as I used it when I borrowed my bros.

The Harmony remotes work amazing. There's some initial setup required when you have to input your components and everything and then some tweaking after that. Once it's all done though you will LOVE it.

The Universal Remote URC-200 Automator is also an outstanding universal remote. Also called the URC RF20. With 2 DVD players, cable box, recevier, ad TV (of course) I did a lot of research before purchasing and this remote rocks. Takes a little while to program but not only is every button learnable, but the LCD screen has 5 coordinating buttons and 8 screens, and you can type in the name of whatever control you want in each spot. Also can get it for only $50 on amazon. Not as shiny or pretty as the Harmony One, and a little bulky, but can control up to 10 devices.

On the bad side, it doesn't work so well after spilling an entire glass of wine on it, but still under the one year warranty the company fixed it for free. Worth taking a look if in the market. Cnet also reviews it.

How does this remote, and in general universal remotes, handle satellite receivers? Thats been the issue that has discouraged me from buying universal remotes. I know they can handle all my other components. But sat receivers have pretty specific and unique functions.

My Harmony controls my satellite receiver just fine, and it's a Bell from Canada. The Harmony series are preprogrammed with thousands of devices, but in the rare case that something doesn't work, just give them a call.

For example, my satellite receiver has a button called PVR, but the Harmony has DVR. I tried to use the function of having my remote learn from the satellite remote, but it wasn't working. So I called tech support, and in no time they had it fixed for me. I don't know how, but they did something to the programming online to make it work. Can't beat that.

considering I was able to program my window air conditioner unit remote control functions right into this remote, yes I know I'm lazy, my guess is that it would work. I think anything that sends an IR signal, can be learned. Again, it takes a while to individually program a bunch of buttons via the "learning way" and then especially editing the screens and so on, but the end result is very good. The pre-programmed commands also work, but I typically like to lay out the commands in an order that is most useful to me, so that is whay I typically re-program everything.

I am also curious as to how this thing operates the Onkyo TX-SR705, does anyone have this receiver? I was also worried about my Dish remote, but that has been answered. oh and also, can you do more than one profile, for example, if I want to take this unit in my basement to my rec room/theater room, can I have another profile there so it will operate the equipment in THAT other room?

Blu,

I wrote the review, and I have an Onkyo 705 receiver. Like any other universal remote, the Harmony basically replaces the Onkyo's remote, function for function. It just does things more easily than the Onkyo remote, replacing many of the Onkyo remote's hard buttons with touch-screen buttons, which are clearly labeled.

I also like the ease of the Harmony's macros. You just press the touch screen button for, say, "Watch a Blu-ray Disc," and the Harmony turns on the TV, switches it to the proper input, turns on the Onkyo receiver and switches it the proper input, and switches on the Blu-ray player. Press "Off" and everything turns off automatically at once. One button does it all. Most other universal remotes have macros that can drive you crazy programming, but the Harmony does it all for you. You just tell it what equipment you have, and it programs the macros for you.

John

John,

Thank you very kindly for responding to my post, i am glad that i had the chance to read your response, and i am pretty much sold on getting this unit now.

I do not really care so much for the Onkyo remote, and am glad to hear that this one has better functionality with it. I just feel that the Onkyo remote is VERY clunky and awkward, although very sturdy.

Once again, thanks you for the response on this item i am looking forward to purchasing!

Blu,

Yes, the Onkyo remote is big, heavy, and clunky, as you say. However, it does have the ability to work as a very good universal and handle most of one's other remotes, plus it's very easy to program. That said, the Harmony One beats it in terms of looks, feel, and ease of use.

John

So a friend of mine came over yesterday for a visit and he saw my Harmony 520 and asked about it. I told him how it works and how easy it is to setup and that you update it via USB, etc. He LOVES it :p He wants one now and was going to search for one as soon as he got home.

The Harmony remotes offer a lot of convenience and you don't need to get a super expensive one to enjoy the benefits.

"The Harmony remotes offer a lot of convenience and you don't need to get a super expensive one to enjoy the benefits." --Falcon

That's very true, although I did find one exception. My cousin gave me a Harmony about a year ago as a present. It was Harmony's little $100 job. While it was extremely good looking, I'm afraid my wife and I found the buttons much too small to see and manipulate easily, and we reluctantly returned it. I think one of the main things Harmony did to upgrade the Harmony One was to make sure all the buttons were easy to see, read, and handle.

John

I watch my Blu-ray movies with a drive in my HTPC. Can anyone tell me if this remote would work well with Vista Media Center? I use PowerDVD Ultra to view my movies so it would be great if it could get the PC out of sleep mode and fire up the PowerDVD software.

Thanks!

[Post edited by kghoops on Apr 14, 2008]