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Perfect Harmony: Remote Control Simplified
Harmony remote control is a treasure
by Dariush Derakhshani
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 Ever wonder why you have to grab a dozen remotes to control all the A/V components you have? I personally have a stroke every time I have to figure out where I left one of the remotes, or worse yet, which is which in the dark. There is quite an industry in selling multi-function remotes -- from the absurdly cheap that control the basic functions of a TV, VCR, and cable box, to almost laptop size devices like Sony's Remote Commander that is a fully programmable LCD touch screen device that is straight out of a some sci-fi show.
But most of the cheaper Universal remotes will not control all the functions you might need for your component. If you need to reduce the bass on your receiver, you more than likely have to fetch your other remote, anyway. I've been on the lookout for something that is easy to use -- that doesn't require hiring a C++ programmer to figure out how to use it -- and can handle all the commands of all of my remotes. I even considered hiring someone to sit next to the entertainment center that would adjust the knobs and settings at my beck and call. Anything not have to dig out four remotes from under my couch cushions. And until now the rather large two-handed Sony Remote Commander seemed to be my only option.
So walking the floor at this year's NAB, on my way to hurriedly find a restroom to give my kidneys a break, I saw a booth that promised to take away all my remote pain. A Web-based programmable remote that can control practically any A/V device out there from one hand held unit with a little LCD window. Sound crazy? Well I risked a few kidney stones to find out, and I'm glad I did.
Both models of the Harmony Remote have a USB interface that plugs into your computer. You log onto their web site and enter in the brand names and model numbers of all your A/V gear from receivers to PVRs like Tivo. You tell it what cable system you use and in what region, and then pretty much hit the "go" button and it downloads all the appropriate codes into the remote. The remote now has the ability to send every command from every remote you have for your gear. That's it. Simple as that. In theory, and very, very close to practice as well.
I requested Harmony send me an SST-768 unit so that my fiancée and I could bang it around and try it out at home. About a week later, it shows up at my door. I open it, pop in the batteries, hook it up with the USB cable to my megalomaniac tower PC and get on their site. After a few toe bruising minutes of crawling behind my entertainment stand trying to write down all the model numbers of my stuff, I entered the information into their web site. Remarkably, Harmony recognized and had the codes for every single thing I entered, from my JVC 27" TV to my Playstation 2 to my cable company's Motorola digital cable box.
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The Harmony asks you set up your remote with activities like "Watch TV," or "Play DVD," "or Listen to CD," and so on. With each activity you choose, you tell it what components you want turned on, and which component will control things like volume. This is cool since most of the time I want my TV's volume to control the sound when I watch TV, but my receiver to control DVD audio when I watch a DVD. Sucks having to use two remotes just to change the volume. Harmony's volume button will use whatever component's volume you tell it to, depending on what activity you've selected. Handy.
Once my data was input for everything, Harmony offered to download and store up to 15 days worth of programming into the unit from listings from my cable operator. That would mean I could pick channels based on what was showing at the time by scrolling through the listings on the backlit LCD panel. That's a nifty feature, but since I have digital cable with its own on-screen listings, I decided to keep that feature off.
Once I hit the submit button, Harmony downloaded all this information and programmed my remote, remotely. Fancy that. I unplugged it from my tower, and I was ready to go.
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