Digital Trends

Logitech Harmony 880 September 13th, 2005 | by Rebecca Day

Performance

My first command was Watch TV. In theory, the TV would go on and switch to input 2. Instead, the TV went on, the cable box went off and the input didn't change from its last setting on input 3. I used the help button on the remote, which prompted me to turn on the cable box and switch inputs on the TV with the Hitachi remote. The 880 help wizard asked if that solved the problem. It did, but three remotes were required which defeated the purpose of a universal remote.

When I switched to Watch TiVo, TiVo turned off from its on state and there was no TiVo button to bring up the menu of programs I had stored.

Next I hit Listen to Radio 2—for satellite radio—and the XM receiver remained off instead of powering on. But when I tried the original Polk XM remote, I found that it couldn't power up the receiver either, except from about 3 feet away. That wasn't the Harmony's fault. If the Polk remote can't operate its own XM receiver, the Harmony can't be expected to either.

I didn't know what to do about the lack of a TiVo button so I made my first tech support call—to Toronto, thankfully, so there was no accent barrier. The customer service rep was patient and friendly and walked me through the process for adding a custom button for the TiVo Now Playing list. In cases where labeled hard buttons don't fit your needs, you can create a custom button in software that shows up on the color LCD screen. That's a great add since so many remotes include special functions that don't appear as an engraved button on universal remotes.

The rep also told me I could add my favorite TV channels on the LCD menu page—16 in all for each activity. With a channel list that numbers into the 700s, this is a terrific feature. Even better, I can store those stations using their logos so I no longer have to remember channel numbers. I hunted down logos on the Web for the major networks, The Weather Channel, HBO, Bravo, Discovery Channel, MSNBC, The Food Network and the Yankees and then added them to the programming page in Harmony software. When I want to watch a favorite channel, I hit the Media button. Up pop the logos and I tap the adjacent button to go to the channel.

I downloaded those custom changes to the remote via USB and headed to my A/V system for more testing. Several of the video sequences were out of whack. The TV still wouldn't switch to the correct input and the cable and TiVo boxes would turn off when I didn't want them to. I called tech support again and the rep programmed the boxes to always remain on from his end (I thought I had done that in setup but something didn't take). We hit a snag when I tried to download the programming changes via USB. After 58 minutes of trial and error, during which I deleted and reloaded the Harmony software, disabled various Symantec protectors, and downloaded a program to remove spyware, we hung up.

When I returned later Windows wouldn't recognize the device at all, saying it had malfunctioned. The remote itself locked up and couldn't send commands. I checked Logitech online support and found a FAQ that directed me to remove the battery and try again. Using the USB for power I was able to successfully download the updates, which had remained with all my other stored information at the Harmony website. That's a comfort. If the battery dies or something else goes wrong, I still have all my remote's details stored on the site, and the tech folks have access too which speeds up customer support.

I returned to the A/V system to test a few more activities. The Listen to CDs button turned the correct components on and to the correct input but I couldn't get the CD recorder's play button to work. I tried the original 10-year-old remote, and it didn't work either, even with fresh batteries. Again, it's not Harmony's fault, but it's the kind of real-world scenario that puts the kibosh on a “universal remote.”

I put a DVD in the drawer and then chose Watch DVD. Of course, I had to power on the DVD player to open the drawer. But when I hit Watch DVD, the DVD player turned off, responding to the power command in the macro. This is why the custom installation industry has been pushing for separate on/off power buttons for remotes. Fortunately, you can fix this with the Help button on the Harmony without having to pick up the DVD remote.

With the TV still failing on input selection, I made my third call to tech support. The rep said he had an update for the Hitachi codes and had me connect the controller for a remote fix, which did the trick. That may be Harmony's biggest strength—the ability to continually upgrade codes and communication.