Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote (Silver)
by Logitech
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List Price: Our Price: $231.02 You Save: $268.97 (54%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $142.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote (Silver)
Customer Review: Here's the real opinion
Summary: 5 Stars
I know what it's like looking around for a review that actually speaks to you. You try your best to avoid the ones that babble on about the technical aspect of something you are interested in. Well here is a simple man's review for a great universal remote. I have like, 7 remotes on my coffee table. We looked around at a lot of Christmas gifts for other people, and I had no idea what I wanted for me. I personally don't care that I have a bunch of remotes, but my wife has no clue how to turn on a DVD. So I looked into all these universal remotes to clear the clutter, and I came in on the top 3 of the Logitech models: the Harmony One (the long one in black), the Harmony 880 (the long one in silver, which was my intention at the time), and this Harmony 1000, which was marked at $500 when I saw it, then $400 at Best Buy..and now it's at a great price. Anyway, after doing my research I bought this one. And there were so many people complaining that it doesn't work on a Mac, and it takes so long to configure, and all these things that I got kind of skeptical. Well, let me honestly tell you that this is the sweetest thing I have ever bought for my wife and myself. It's tiny, and fun to play with. You open the box it comes in and connect it to your PC, Mac, whatever. The only work you have to do is look at your TV, Blu-Ray player, DVD player, Cable box, whatever you have, and write down the model number and brand, which are usually all on the front. When this goes to setup on your computer you just enter in your products and model types. There's no fishing around for what you think you have and having to search through long lists of companies to maybe or maybe not find your stuff around the entertainment center. It asks you what settings your TV/receiver need to be on for your stuff to work and confirms it with you. When you try it out, it couldn't make life easier. With one touch you press "Watch a DVD" and the TV turns on the setting or input it needs to be on, turns the DVD player on, turns the receiver where it needs to be. Some people might laugh and say, "DUH", but I had no clue these things are that well-designed. I was worried there would be things it couldn't do that my Cox Cable remote could, but nope. DOES EVERYTHING! You still go to the software on your computer to add favorite channels, and do whatever else you want. The only disadvantages are: this model compared to the 880, (long and silver), is that the other one doesn't need the RF extender, which is what you use if you want to control your TV from somewhere else in the house. But why are you going to use your TV remote from the master bathroom? I don't know, some people like that. The other is that this does not control the Wii or PS3, because they both use bluetooth technology and ALL universal remotes are incompatible. But it does work with the Xbox 360. By the way, I have had zero problems...even after the girl at Best Buy put a hex on us because I didn't get the Best Buy warranty for it. So at the end of the day, who wouldn't want a touch-screen remote that is easy to use and makes everyone happy???Customer Review: Logitech 1000
Summary: 4 Stars
just received this remote via overnight on mon jan 29th. i ordered direct from logitech and received a 20% discount off the total price. i had called logitech to ask them to notify me when it was in stock about a month ago, but maybe you can still get this bonus.
regarding the remote, i have mixed feelings. i have it hooked up to a samsung lns4095d lcd, directv hr20 hd dvr, an onkyo tx 804 receiver, ps3, xbox 360 and lutron lighting system. the onkyo receiver also has an ipod dock connected. first the good: as usual, the PC programming on the remote is much easier than programming macros on other similar remotes. i had to use IR learning to make the remote work with my ipod dock and customized the buttons, and this worked flawlessly. the activity buttons (e.g. watch tv, watch dvd) function very well, usually powering on and off all components and setting them to the correct inputs (BTW, i am using this without the RF extender). by adjusting the delay between signals, you can correct any problems with the the component's reception. samsung tvs take a long time to power on, but i had no difficulty in getting mine to change to the correct input by increasing the signal delay time. in the event one of the components did not receive a signal, you can press a help button which will walk you through and correct any problems with power or input. you can save up to 24 favorite channels and add logos. plus, this is a hell of a lot cheaper than a crestron or AMX system, and you program it all yourself, if you only want to control a simple one room home theater setup. my wife was still somewhat upset about the price, but after using the remote for an hour or so, she was thrilled at not having to ask for help watching tv anymore.
the not so good: the onscreen and hard buttons work well, but you often have to change through more than one screen to find the button you need, particularly with a component with many settings (e.g. receiver). as another reviewer noted, the blue lights on the vol and channel buttons are indistinguishable in the dark. when i tried to customize the buttons on my dvr component, the lcd screen stopped displaying any of the buttons (play, pause, rew, ff, pause, menu, guide, info, exit) necessary to contorl the dvr functions. the hard buttons still functioned normally, but i had to remove and add the component via PC setup to fix this problem, and it persisted even after several tries. so now i have the basic contorols for my dvr on screen, but could not program the skip forward or skip backward commands, one of my favorite features of the dvr, to the arrow hard buttons. I contacted logitech support via e mail and an awaiting a response.
overall, i am pleased with this product, and although it seems expensive, it straddles the line between a total home automation product and more simple universal remotes. however, it takes some knowledge of how components function to program the remote correctly. i took me at least two hours of tweaking to work out most of the kinks.
Customer Review: 5 Star - Despite Challenging Setup and "Quirks"
Summary: 5 Stars
Fantastic but not perfect unit. Living with this remote for over three weeks, I love it and, with qualifications, recommend it. It is a delight to use and has completely simplified my HDTV setup. Amazon's great price means that it costs under $400 to get the H1000 and the crucial Logitech® Harmony® RF Wireless Extender. Please don't buy this unit without the extender. Because the H1000 sends 4 or more different commands to all of your components every time you use it, without the Extender its very likely that one or more of your components will "miss" a command from the H1000 because of the way you pointed it when you used it. This will force you to manually repeat the missed command.
In practice, you find a point in your room (or even inside your stereo cabinet with the included optical cables) where the extender always has clear Line Of Sight to your components. When you use the H1000 to switch from cable to apple tv , for example, it doesn't matter where you point the H1000. Suppose initially everything was off. With a single button press, the H1000 turns on your tv, cable box, and stereo amplifier. Then it switches your tv to the cable input source and the stereo to the cable input source. To switch to AppleTV, a single button press on the H1000 turns off the cable box, switches your TV to the Apple TV input source and the stereo to the Apple TV source. You can see why it would be confusing if one these commands got missed.
Quirks: (a) it's not an "appliance" - one person in the house needs to like computers to be successful with the computer based setup program. This takes several hours. The device downloads take 60 seconds before the progress bar shows any movement which is initially confusing (b) the 2007 H1000 infrequently hangs (firmware memory leak?) and needs to be rebooted by removing the battery pack. This happens so rarely that if you know about it, you won't be bothered by it .
If you use an Apple TV consider purchasing the CE Labs Sw104Hd Hdtv/Component A/V Remote Switcher and 3' Component Video cables which worked well for me. Also remember to "unpair" the AppleTV with its remote when you use the Apple Digital Music Server settings or alternately use the iPod settings and "Learn" command to add in the necessary keys ("menu", "direction up,down,right,left).
I think the unit is great if you like computers and it solves the problem of multiple video and audio sources. The nearest competitor is the Pronto which is significantly more expensive and probably even less easy to program.
Customer Review: Harmony 1000 review
Summary: 4 Stars
PROs: The Harmony 1000 appeared to be the right tool for the job in that it has both infra-red (IR) and Radio Frequency (RF) transmission. The range is excellent in that it covers enough of the house that it connects just fine. Using the Harmony 1000 is very straight forward.
Logitech's Harmony phone support staff are absolutely EXCELLENT (they are located in the USA and they speak english - a real plus). The tech support people are a real product saver, (keep that speaker phone next to the computer, Harmony 1000, and RF Extender). Know ahead of time that the setup WILL take time; do NOT jump ahead of what the technician is telling you; do what he is telling you in the exact order he is telling you (it makes a difference).
CONs: There is almost zero documentation with Harmony 1000, and the Harmony 1000 is NOT a simple set-up, nor is the setup straight forward. The software that comes with the device is Out-Of-Date, Do NOT install it, instead go to the website and download the current software (this will save you some time and frustration). That said, the firmware on mine was Out-Of-Date also and it too needed to be refreshed - this required me booting the Harmony 1000 into SAFE MODE and refreshing it. After the firmware refresh all software had to be reinstalled, (luckily the software settings are stored on Logitech's Harmony website so I did not need to do retype all that). The Harmony 1000 and the RF Extender software need to be set up TOGETHER (and no, you cannot put one on one USB port and one on another USB port - they have to use the same USB port and should use the same USB cable) - it is hook up the Harmony 1000 for a few minuts, then hook up the RF Extender for a few minutes, and repeat this about 5 times - when told to do so (therefore keep the RF Extender handy when you are setting up the Harmony 1000). Ensure the power adapter (of the RF Extender) is NOT plugged in while setting up the RF Extender - or the software installation will hang.
Now that you have the Harmony 1000 setup, you need to setup the RF Extender (in addition to the setup you already did). The good part of this, is that this part of the setup is relatively simple (just telling the RF Extender which devices are plugged in off which port - A, B, C, or D). Do NOT plug the RF Extender into a power outlet until you need to test it (this causes the software to hang).
That all said, I am glad I purchased this system, and it has been working well for me (it is getting better every day).
RECOMMENDATION: Logitech needs to load the Harmony 1000 Manual into a PDF and post it on their website for download. The setup on this device is too complex to attempt without documentation. With a good manual I might still need to call tech support, but it would not be as long a call or as many calls.
Customer Review: If the touchscreen was better, maybe you'd like this remote
Summary: 1 Stars
Wife and I have used the Harmony 1000 touchscreen remote every day for about 1 year now. We both hate it. The main reason we hate it is the really crappy touchscreen. Even with large, finger-tip size icons, it is way too easy to "press" the wrong button. In order to "press" a button, you have to really push down on the screen. I'm an iPhone user so I know how a touch screen is supposed to work. The touchscreen is so difficult to use and so slow to respond that we find it very difficult to enter a 3 digit channel number in the time our cable box allows. I mean we find it really difficult as in we quit trying as there is maybe a 10% chance you'll accomplish your goal.
I should include the fact we use it over RF using Logitech's RF Extender. I originally thought that our sluggish response to button presses was caused by RF, but I've since learned that is no excuse...more on that below.
I think "we've owned it 1 year and both hate it" is perhaps all the review you really need, but...I configured the remote to control several devices: 42" Samsung LCD TV, Pioneer A/V amplifier/receiver, Scientific Atlanta cable DVR, XBOX (original). I also configured it to control my living room SONOS zone player, but that was such a limited interface, we never used it. While I found the software adequate--it did the job--it was not as intuitive as I'd been led to believe. The main thing I'll note about the software is that everytime you make a change, you have to use the USB cable to upload the configuration to the remote and the RF Extender. This makes sense of course, but what I found strange was that it took a crazy-long time (as in several minutes) to do the upload. So when you first configure this thing, no doubt you'll make a few mistakes and want to tweak things. Each iteration requires a huge delay as you wait for your changes to upload to the remote.
Finally, from a pure ergonomics front, we've decided we don't like a remote that requires both hands to hold. Perhaps it comes from years of training with one-handed remotes, but we've given this D1000 an entire year of daily use, and we have not come to love the large, two-handed, touchscreen remote format. Touchscreen is cool tech, but don't underestimate how much you rely on and enjoy tactile buttons on a "normal" remote.
Oh, and I promised more color around RF remotes. So we recently acquired a couple of HD TiVo DVR boxes. The living room TiVo is in that same cabinet that does not have line-of-sight to my viewing area. The TiVo remote does not natively do RF. So I purchased the "Next Generation Remote Control Extender" here on Amazon, and wow does it work perfectly. (I'll add a review for it soon.) My TiVo remote controls the TiVo over RF and seems just as responsive as the IR. It also controls my amp volume over RF.