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Harmony Multi Remote, Question

Harmony Advanced Universal Learning Remote ITIIR880

I was looking at the above remote, and have a few questions about it.

A little backstory. I live in a non technical family household. My father can generally figure out wich of the three remotes controls wich unit, but my mother is at a loss. THe problem with most multi remotes, is that if y ou don't remember wich button you programed the feature in(considering it's not specifically labled for it), your out of luck. Plus, you have a limited number of programs to do.

Would this remote be a better option? I need one to control the 5.1 Theater setup, the Panasonic 42" Plasma, and the Panasonic DVD Recorder/VCR Recorder..

I'm also hoping they'll have customizable buttons on the LCD screen for each function.

LewB

Re: Harmony Multi Remote, Question

Neil:
I control a similar setup with a harmony 880 and it works quite well.
Yes, you can have up to 8 activities on the main screen that you label as you see fit 'Listen to music', 'watch DVD', whatever you want. These are the macros. It's quite flexible and I have yet to find anything I can't get it to do.
A nice feature is the 'help'. Say you have an activity and one of the commands doesn't happen (power on the DVD for example). Press the help key and the remote will ask you -one by one- if all the activities in the activity (macro) took place. You can then tell it that the DVD didn't turn on and the remote will resend the DVD power on.
Be prepared to spend some time setting it up, the web page is pretty good, but it's easy to miss stuff the first time around.
Down sides -
I find the buttons rather small (as do many others).
Devices with a lot of controls (like the Panasonic plasma) can have many screens used to contain all the functions. I think the plasma has 8 screens to page thru. You can re-arrange these to put the ones you use most often in the first screen, or assign them to other buttons, but that's more tweaking that you will need to do as you use it.

Lew
My DVDs

Eric_L

Re: Harmony Multi Remote, Question

I also have the 880. It is a breeze to setup and easy to operate. Mine broke after it's umpteenth fall from the sofa to the hardwood floor. For the two weeks while I waited for replacement I thought I'd go nuts. You learn to depend on it. Even though I know what order to use the remotes - I resented having to.

I also like the rechargeable battery.

The only downsides are noticeable at the more advanced levels. I find that it is a bummer I cannot make or define my own macros - and there is some limits to how much you can customize the macros. I also notice that the default time spacing is a bit long (making system controls slow) It was easy to shorten it. I don't have a problem with the button sizes. Most of the control buttons are intelligently laid out so I didn't need to customize much.

If I were going to add any feature to it I would have to say I'd add a 'remote finder' to the base (aka charger station). Just press a button on the base station and the remote starts beeping. That is the only feature about my old remote I miss.

Martin Luther observed that the human race is like a drunkard who falls off his horse on the left and makes up for it by falling off the next time on the right.