Exstatica

In a previous post I discussed my Media Center setup. After some time with my Logitech Harmony 880 Remote Control, I’ve been frustrated, annoyed, and ultimately happy with my remote. I’ve had this remote for about 2 months now. I picked it up at Costco for about $119.00, and was very excited to rip it open and play. Since I got it mid day, and I’m an instant gratification kind of person I ripped the box open and wanted to play with it. I held back, especially since I was at work, Its not like I was going to control anything in my office. So I put it on the charger. Great choice so I could play with it at home without having that hidden concern of breaking the manuals rules of a full charge before using.

When I first set it up, I thought I’d have it configured, and done. Never having to touch it again. I spent some time thinking I knew exactly how I wanted the remote and what activities I want where. Boy was I wrong. Here is my advice to using this remote.

Think about all the devices you have, TV, Stereo, Game Consoles, Computers, DVD players, whatever you have that you may want to do with a touch of a button. for me, I have TV, TV w/ Stereo for surround sound, Media Center, DVDs, and XBox. I setup all my devices to turn on each component that was dependent on the other.

For Media Center I had to turn on the TV, and the Stereo. After about 2 months of this setup I started to realize the fustrations I had with this remote. First I enjoy switching between tv and the media center all the time, mainly because sometimes I like to check on a download, or search a webpage. Using an activity for this was not really acceptable. My media PC Is always on, and having the activity turn everything off to turn other things on was just kind of time consuming. So on every single activity I modified the display screens left side buttons. They were the devices attached to the TV. HDMI1 HDMI2 and so on, but labeled a little smarter like TV, XBOX, PC, and well thats it. This way no matter which activity I was in, I could switch between inputs. I also didn’t like the fact that the remote turned off my PC. So I modified the Media center activity and Device options and set it never turn off this device. That has made things much much better.

The software is great. Its a mesh of an application and web based. You can tell it uses a lot of syncing with the web, which is good so you never loose your settings, however if the site fails or goes away I’m not sure how this will affect the remote in the long run. Being such a technology whore however, I’ll probably have replaced it by then.

Pros: Great battery life, syncs with PC, has a help button for GF’s who offer to make you some water for breakfast. Rechargeable, and is backlit based on movement.

Cons: I wish the Display was an OLED, and it had RF. Audio feedback would be nice. I would love to have a row of hardware device buttons, like TV, PC, and Stereo that change the soft buttons at the top, instead of having to hit devices.

Bottom line? I love the device, its a perfect fit for my technology driven home. I recommend it.