Harmony One

Looks like Christmas is going to be coming early this year :yippee:

Some reviews I've found that are not blocked from posting on this forum.

Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-Advanced-Universal-Remote/dp/B00119T6NQ)
At the time of this posting, Logitech has a $30 dollar rebate good from 12-2-08 to 1-1-09, bringing Amazon's normal price of $184 down to $154...factor in the savings on sales tax and shipping and it has pushed me over the wait hump.

CNET (http://reviews.cnet.com/remote-controls/logitech-harmony-one/4505-7900_7-32825878.html)

OverclockersClub (http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/harmony_one/)

ExtremeTech (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2257371,00.asp)

I4U news (http://www.i4u.com/full-review-364.html)

Techgage (http://techgage.com/article/logitech_harmony_one_advanced_universal_remote/)

Youtube video of company meeting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih6gMOtcsWA)

Youtube video with Logitech Rep (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TRPP4RK8J4)

Crutchfield review plus video (http://www.crutchfield.com/p_596ONE/Logitech-Harmony-One.html?tp=712)

http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2008/596/h596ONE-O-1.jpeg

Wow, Amazon is coming down some more.

Now their normal price is $169.99 with the $30 rebate, brings a brand new Harmony One down to $139.99. :yippee:

I just got one of these using a cashback I got from Bestbuy because my TV had dropped 150 dollars elsewhere and they matched it.

Anywayyy It's friggen awesome. I highly reccommend it to anyone who has a TV/CableBox/Reciever combo. It makes everything a no brainer. And the programming was rediculously easy even with my Legacy Sony Progressive scan DVD player involved.

I just got one of these using a cashback I got from Bestbuy because my TV had dropped 150 dollars elsewhere and they matched it.
Best Buy (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8631411&type=product&id=1194051531629) just lowered their price from $249.99 to $224.99.

My Harmony remote broke recently. I may replace it with this one.

I boutht mine on Saturday from Amazon for $140 ($170 - $30 MIR). Now it's up to $190 ($220 - $30 MIR). I should get it by Wednesday.

Now it's up to $190 ($220 - $30 MIR).
You timed that one good. :yippee:

I just checked twice with Amazon and both times they were available from different merchants with different prices...up to $199.99 now :(

I've been waiting for this week to get one and had no idea the prices would fluctuate that much.

Just walking in Best Buy might be the way to go now.

I like the customizing you can do with this remote. You can download icons (http://www.iconharmony.com/icons/watchtv?category=harmonyOne) for your favorite channels, so instead of typing in a channel number you can just push an icon.

Big Thumbs Up to the creator Squareeyes. :thumbsup:

You timed that one good. :yippee:

I just checked twice with Amazon and both times they were available from different merchants with different prices...up to $199.99 now :(

I've been waiting for this week to get one and had no idea the prices would fluctuate that much.

Just walking in Best Buy might be the way to go now.

I like the customizing you can do with this remote. You can download icons (http://www.iconharmony.com/icons/watchtv?category=harmonyOne) for your favorite channels, so instead of typing in a channel number you can just push an icon.

Big Thumbs Up to the creator Squareeyes. :thumbsup:

Yeah, the price fluctuations are crazy on Amazon. I was also looking at the 880. That was $00 for a while, then up to $137 for two days last week, then back to $100, then down to $80 yesterday, now back up to $137 as of the time of this post. It's frustrating that Amazon doesn't do it's 30 day price match anymore. If the H1 wasn't at the price it was on Saturday when I ordered, I would've gotten the 880 and would have been frustrated that it dropped $20 a day later. If I notice any big changes in the H1, I'll post back to let you know.

Yeah, squareeyes site looks great! I may start programming my remote today. I just need to copy down my 676 settings just to be safe. Or, maybe I'll just create a new account at Logitech and program my Harmony One from scratch.

As of this post, it's down to $170 @Amazon.....$199-rebate

As of this post, it's down to $170 @Amazon.....$199-rebate
Thanks for the heads up. Amazon still had that $199 price.

Best Buy has come down another $25, so they are offering the Harmony One for $199.99 now.

I will probably go the Best Buy route.

Still looking until my weekend off. Getting new toys is a good thing. :banana:

Thanks for the heads up. Amazon still had that $199 price.

Best Buy has come down another $25, so they are offering the Harmony One for $199.99 now.

I will probably go the Best Buy route.

Still looking until my weekend off. Getting new toys is a good thing. :banana:

Probably a better deal. The $30 MIR expired yesterday, so at the same price you are better off at Best Buy.

Ohhh time to go do another price match at Best Buy I see. I love this forum. :D

Ohhh time to go do another price match at Best Buy I see. I love this forum. :D
The good and bad of my Best Buy experience.

Well, I am now a proud owner of the H1 :yippee: :banana: :yippee:

My dad flew in for a visit and he was going up to the big city of Kansas City, so I asked him to swing by a Best Buy and pick up the Harmony one...since it is on sale for $199 and I'd pay him back.

He picked up the H1 at full price of $249, the sales guy said that it was not on sale :confused:

Maybe the sale price is an online only thing. :what:

As for the paying back, he said Happy Early Merry Christmas, so I suppose I scored an H1 for $0 including taxes and shipping :thumbsup:

My initial assessment is very favorable.

Don't you hate the plastic packaging were you have to get out the kitchen knife, scissors and the band-aids just to get the packaging open.
The H1, is very easy to open, just open the side flap and pull out the plastic box and pull the top cover off....no tools required. :)

The underside has an unexpected finish to it. I would say the top of the H1 would be considered glossy black and the underside would be called flat black with a little glossy black down near the battery compartment....very nice.

Step 1: Insert battery. The battery looks like it could go in anyway and has 3 contacts, the contacts only line up one way. A quick look inside the battery compartment set any doubts aside on how the battery goes in.

Step 2: Charge it....I'm going to let it sit over night and get to Step 3 tomorrow. The charge cord can be run, through cut channels, to either end of the base.

Tweak 1: My first tweak is for the light on the charge base, it comes with it set on bright. There are 3 settings, adjusted by a switch on the bottom, Bright, Dim, Off. In my room I like the light to be Off.

The good and bad of my Best Buy experience.

Well, I am now a proud owner of the H1 :yippee: :banana: :yippee:

My dad flew in for a visit and he was going up to the big city of Kansas City, so I asked him to swing by a Best Buy and pick up the Harmony one...since it is on sale for $199 and I'd pay him back.

He picked up the H1 at full price of $249, the sales guy said that it was not on sale :confused:

Maybe the sale price is an online only thing. :what:

As for the paying back, he said Happy Early Merry Christmas, so I suppose I scored an H1 for $0 including taxes and shipping :thumbsup:

My initial assessment is very favorable.

Don't you hate the plastic packaging were you have to get out the kitchen knife, scissors and the band-aids just to get the packaging open.
The H1, is very easy to open, just open the side flap and pull out the plastic box and pull the top cover off....no tools required. :)

The underside has an unexpected finish to it. I would say the top of the H1 would be considered glossy black and the underside would be called flat black with a little glossy black down near the battery compartment....very nice.

Step 1: Insert battery. The battery looks like it could go in anyway and has 3 contacts, the contacts only line up one way. A quick look inside the battery compartment set any doubts aside on how the battery goes in.

Step 2: Charge it....I'm going to let it sit over night and get to Step 3 tomorrow. The charge cord can be run, through cut channels, to either end of the base.

Tweak 1: My first tweak is for the light on the charge base, it comes with it set on bright. There are 3 settings, adjusted by a switch on the bottom, Bright, Dim, Off. In my room I like the light to be Off.

:yippee:

I just finished adding the icons for my favorite channels. So far so good. The touch screen is a bit sensative, but I think that's just due to me needing to get used to it. So far, I am happy.


BTW...it comes with enough charge to get a little bit done. Just put it on the charger when not in use. I opened mine, put the battery in and updated the remote without doing a "full" charge.

Good luck. Don't know if you've had a harmony before. I have had one, so let me know if you run in to any questions or problems.

Good luck. Don't know if you've had a harmony before. I have had one, so let me know if you run in to any questions or problems.
Thanks.

This is my first harmony remote, actually my first "do-it-all" remote, definitely my first "Activity" based remote.

From prior reading I decided that I would set up only one activity at a time and make sure it worked the way I wanted before adding another.

Step 3: Install the software. Installation was a breeze, I did have a small hick up with my Zone Alarm popping up a warning but that was it.

After installing the software you have to connect the USB cable to the remote...the little usb connection is in the front under a small plastic flap.

Once set up it asked about setting up 'Activities' and it suggested "Watch TV" and "Watch DVD"

My game plan was to setup one 'Activity' so I chose "Watch TV". This is going to be the girlfriend friendly version...simple...she just wants to watch TV, nothing fancy.

I am using a Sony KDS-60A2000 and the Dish Network Vip-622 connected by component cables and L/R audio on input 4.

Setup was very easy and impressive for me...I can be easily amused...my original Sony remote does not have the feature to let me select the individual inputs (1-7) from the remote...I have to bring up all the inputs and scroll to the one I want. :banghead:

Not so with this H1, it goes directly to the input....:bowdown:

Let me say that everything worked ok from the start...but because it works ok doesn't mean it makes sense. :(

One of the most important things for a Vip-622 remote is the DVR button. There was not a hard or soft button mapped for the DVR button. I had to go into my device screen to get it.

This problem for me was solved by just mapping the DVR button to the MUTE button.
You can tell by the picture in my first post that the MUTE button is in a good DVR button thumb area....I never use MUTE anyway, so a good match for me.

Also, while I was playing with the buttons I added 'DVR' as a soft key and added the 'PIP', 'PIP Position', 'Swap' and the 'Dish Home' buttons as soft keys.

Assigning or mapping hard/soft keys is as simple as a couple mouse clicks.

Tweak 2: Make a hard button "MUTE" into the "DVR" button and add a "DVR" soft button. (girlfriend backup)

It appears to be working great for my viewing habits now...now I just have to test it....I have alot of NCIS recorded that needs watched. :)

sounds good. It is a bit daunting to tweak it to how you like. I have Cablevision and I just have all of the DVR commands as soft buttons when I first start the activity (A,B,C,LiveTV,List,something else)

It is a bit daunting to tweak it to how you like.
Have you ever messed around with your delay settings?

I have given the H1 a good workout, with the Dish Network ViP-622 in the (Watch TV) 'activity' and it has performed without a single problem.

The only thing that I noticed is a slight delay between pressing a button and the onscreen action.

This delay is not very noticeable unless you are typing something into the search box...it's easy to overshoot your letter.

I compared the original remote and H1 side by side, the original dish remote is...as close as I can see...instantaneous.

I did find the default delay settings for the ViP-622 device:
Power on Delay = 1500ms (1.5 seconds)
Inter-Key Delay = 100ms
Inter-Device Delay = 500ms

I changed both the Inter-Key and Inter-Device delays to 0ms.

This did speed up the response time, not sure which one did it or if it is a combination of the both, but the remote is quicker.

I suppose the original remote is sending out a RF signal so that would probably explain how it is so fast between button press and onscreen action.

The combination of setting the delays to 0ms and just slowing down my thumb a r.c.h is all that is needed to stop overshooting onscreen keys. :thumbsup:

Next, would be to add another Activity using my Yamaha receiver. :yippee:

Sweet remote.

I set up another 'Activity' called "Watch TV with AVR" were my Yamaha receiver will kick on and the inputs on the TV and Yamaha switch using the HDMI output of my ViP622.

Had a problem when I switched from "Watch TV" to "Watch TV with AVR"

Initially the TV and Dish ViP622 come on and the volume is controlled from the TV.
When switching to the activity with my Yamaha receiver the volume on the TV stays the same and the volume control on the H1 just controls the Yamaha receiver.

In order to turn down the TV volume to 0, I have to go into my TV device screen to get to the 'volume down' button.

The fix for this, for me, is to map the TV's volume down button to one of the hard keys. I decided on using the (+) key down at the bottom...not used for anything else. I also made a soft key for 'TV volume down' on the lcd screen for anyone using the remote who wouldn't know my secrete button.

Tweak 3: Make the hard button (+) into the 'TV Volume Down' button, add soft key for the same.

H1 working great.

Onward to Blu-ray.

My wife bought me one :yippee:. I must say this thing is awsome, at least in my initial impressions. I did just the basic set up with 3 Actions: Watch TV, Watch DVD, and Listen to CD. Those seam to work fairly well although I do have gripe; (which I might be able to fix in the advanced set up but haven't had time to look). We were watching a DVD via the Action and it worked great but then we wanted to watch TV after the movie was over so I hit the Watch TV Action. The DVD stopped and turned off, the reciever turned off, the DirecTV reciever turned on (so far so good), and then the TV turned off:eek:. I did a quick work around by changing the settings from device not being used turn off to device not being used leave on. But I would really like it if I could set it so I didn't have to do it this way. I would like it if I could have go from Watch DVD to Watch TV or vise versa and have leave the TV on but shut everything else off/on as needed. I did try going into each Device on the remote and switching them off that way but then when it was time to shut every thing down for the night the items I that I shut down via the Device menu turned on. I've got some time tonight and was going to try to go through the advanced menu and possiably call Logitech this weekend for some help.

SS-

The DVD stopped and turned off, the reciever turned off, the DirecTV reciever turned on (so far so good), and then the TV turned off:eek:.
Congrats on your new toy.

Mine has been proven very reliable on all my activities.

On your Logitech software screen click on DEVICES.

Under your TV click on SETTINGS - [NEXT]

Choose:
"I want to turn off this device when not in use" [NEXT]

This next screen will ask you two questions:
"One button on the remote for turning both on and off"
"A button on the remote for ON, and a different button for OFF"

Even though your remote may not have a separate button for both the ON command and the OFF command (mine doesn't) the TV might have the code available (mine does)

Choose the second choice "A button on the remote for ON, and a different button for OFF" [NEXT]

The next screen should have the choice "I don't have the original remote, but I know what command is used:"
There will be a drop down box, if POWER TOGGLE is in the box see if there is a choice for POWER ON in the drop down box for your TV.

It sounds like your TV either doesn't have a separate ON and OFF command and just uses a TOGGLE command or your TV does have the commands but the remote doesn't know it.

When in doubt, just redo the setup for "Watch a TV"

Check back in and let us know how your remote is working for ya :hithere:

Congrats on your new toy.

Mine has been proven very reliable on all my activities.

On your Logitech software screen click on DEVICES.

Under your TV click on SETTINGS - [NEXT]

Choose:
"I want to turn off this device when not in use" [NEXT]

This next screen will ask you two questions:
"One button on the remote for turning both on and off"
"A button on the remote for ON, and a different button for OFF"

Even though your remote may not have a separate button for both the ON command and the OFF command (mine doesn't) the TV might have the code available (mine does)

Choose the second choice "A button on the remote for ON, and a different button for OFF" [NEXT]

The next screen should have the choice "I don't have the original remote, but I know what command is used:"
There will be a drop down box, if POWER TOGGLE is in the box see if there is a choice for POWER ON in the drop down box for your TV.

It sounds like your TV either doesn't have a separate ON and OFF command and just uses a TOGGLE command or your TV does have the commands but the remote doesn't know it.

When in doubt, just redo the setup for "Watch a TV"

Check back in and let us know how your remote is working for ya :hithere:


Thanks for the suggestion, that is what I ended up doing. I did get it working propperly once I had some time to play with the software this last weekend. It was just a matter of playing with the TV's power settings.

I have since done some more tweaking with great success. I don't get radio reception where I live, (the wrong side of a big hill & a distance of 30 miles from the towers) so I use my DirecTV reciever with XM for music other than CD's. But what I did was to set up a new Activity: Listen to XM with favorites. I then made Icons for those fav's and loaded them on the remote. Now I can listen to XM with out having to turn the TV on, I could do it before but wouldn't know what station I was on or changing to.

The more and more I dig into the software the more and more I like it. I liked the remote before but I think I like even more now.:bowdown:

SS-

My finance just got me an H1 for xmas as well and it's totally badass! I didn't have one hiccup at all, everything was very seamless. For programing I'm using Dish Network and as 'Nevada_MO_Guy' stated there is no soft or hard button for the DVR button which gets used alot each day. I also use the search button quite often as well. I tried to map the DVR button to the "+" button on the bottom left and the search feature to the "e" button but for some reason it isn't taking?

Other than that I couldn't be happier with the H1.

No more juggling for the right remote anymore!!!

I love my H1, however I loved it a lot more when I was using a Scientific Atlanta DVR. The new FIOS one isn't nearly as responsive and I find that I keep that remote handy as a backup when the Harmony doesn't understand what I want from it.

It does EVERYTHING else right though so I'm happy, just wish it was better with the FIOS box.

Hi....I am looking at buying one of the harmony one remotes. Here is my question. Sometimes I like to have the tv on playing a dvd and the cd player playing music. It looks like(from all the video's I have seen) that if you push watch dvd or play cd it turns everything off except what you want it to do. Can you program it so that you can do something like watch dvd and then a little later push play cd and not have it turn off the tv and dvd player to play a cd? Thanks for any help!

You can control each device seperately just by hitting "devices" and picking one. Then you can power on each individually. As far as making a macro to play a DVD AND Listen to a CD (That is odd by the way, please elaborate) I'm not sure how to do that.

Can you program it so that you can do something like watch dvd and then a little later push play cd and not have it turn off the tv and dvd player to play a cd?
Absolutely. :yippee:

You just need to think of using the remote for 'Activities'.

Watch TV
Watch Blu-ray
Watch DVD
Play CD
Play CD + TV
etc....

Don't try to have one activity, say play CD, and try to find a work around to also have the TV on. Just make another activity for the way you want your entertainment universe to work at that particular time....in the space/time continuum, of course. :)

Hey Marcalo. I was laughing at your post.:) I know it sounds odd. It's just that sometimes I have parties and have a bd playing on the tv(like a nature scene playing in loop) and have a cd playing on a serperate dvd player so I can have sound inside and outside of the house at the same time. So...just wanted to make sure I can do that kiind of thing

Hey WakeAustin, I do that exact thing myself!
I have activities set for "Watch TV", "Watch Movie", "PS3" and "Party". I have a dedicated laptop hooked up to the Onkyo for itunes listening throughout the house. Basically my "Watch Movie" and "Party" activity are the same except my receiver is switched to take audio from the laptop and not the DVD player. It sounds confusing but once you buy the remote and play with the software you'll be totally happy with it.

Good luck!

Hey Marcalo. I was laughing at your post.:) I know it sounds odd. It's just that sometimes I have parties and have a bd playing on the tv(like a nature scene playing in loop) and have a cd playing on a serperate dvd player so I can have sound inside and outside of the house at the same time. So...just wanted to make sure I can do that kiind of thing


Don't worry your parties will be safe in the hands of Harmony One... Also, what kind of weed do they serve at parties that have nature scenes on in loops with music playing all over the place? Or is that more of an extacy thing. :D