Tag Archives: harmony remote

Logitech Harmony One

Posted by on January 2, 2012 No comments

My Harmony 895 received many “beatings” over the last 2 years and finally it was time to “bin” it. Most of the buttons stopped working and that universal remote experience was no more.

The Harmony 895 served me well and it was an obvious choice to go with another Logitech product – this time the Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote with Color Touchscreen.

Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote

The Harmony One arrived via Amazon in a bland brown cardboard box – Logitech calls it a “green experience” (Apple is about the only company which provides one with a true unboxing experience) and while the unboxing was uneventful, the remote itself serves it’s purpose.

Using the Logitec Harmony software for OS X, it was easy to unpaid the old Harmony 895 and associate the new Harmone One with my existing profile. After a 5 minute firmware update, the remote was back in action.

The color touchscreen adds a nice feel to the remote and is very responsive. The transition from the Harmony 895 to the Harmony One was really transparent and the remote is as easy to use as it’s predecessor.

Note: The Harmony One does not support RF (something I did not need).



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Harmony advanced remote software update

Posted by on July 5, 2009 No comments

I missed that Logitech released the latest version (7.6) of their Harmony remote software for the Mac.

I have not updated my Harmony 895 and remote extender in a while (must have been 6 months) and did notice that the firmware on both was bumped up (probably to support the PS3 bluetooth remote extender). This was also the first time, that I was able to update the firmware and settings without a glitch (no more safe-mode requirement on the remotes)

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Harmony wireless remote extender

Posted by on December 3, 2008 2 comments

Very seldom do I catch myself uttering the word “genius” silently to myself as I’m reviewing a piece of equipment. I purchased several months ago the Logitech Harmony 895 universal remote. As part of the package arrived also a wireless remote-extender, which I never bothered installing.

The Logitech 895 transmits remote codes traditionally via infrared, but you are also able to transmit commands via RF which allows you to gain complete control of components that are hidden behind cabinets or walls. With a range of up to 30 meters, you can place your equipment out of sight, or even move it to the next room.

RF commands pass through walls and floors, just like AM and FM radio signals. When you add this extender, you can use your Harmony remote to control your system from a different part of the house — great for folks who have a multi-room audio setup. Or keep your components out of sight in an enclosed cabinet, and use your Harmony remote for convenient access.

The reason for the installation? The DSTV PVR is one of the worst appliances when it comes to remote controlling the unit – you literally have to point straight at it in order to control the unit. The remote extender comes with a base-station (depicted above), which at the back allows the connection of 4 wire leads with dual mini IR flashers to control up to 8 components:

The base-station is installed close to where your equipment resides and the mini IR-flasher is stuck close to the IR-receiver of the DSTV unit. The point-and-click action is a thing of the past, nowadays I am even able to change the music channel while sitting on the patio :-)

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Ultimate Control: Logitech Harmony 895

Posted by on May 20, 2008 3 comments

My home-entertainment system consisting of a 46″ 100Hz Sony Bravia, a Yamaha YSP-4000 soundbar, a Yamaha YSP-150 subwoofer, a PS3, a Nintendo Wii and PVR made me a 4-remote collector. A simple task such as watching a BlueRay movie turned into the ordeal of switching on the PS3, soundbar, subwoofer and TV. Then having to select the correct input on the soundbar and the TV and we are good to go. The same applies when wanting to watch a movie on the PVR – instead of enjoying a movie, I have become the master in remote-control juggling.

Until I found the Logitech Harmony 895:

The Harmony is a (pricey) universal remote control which comes with a charge cradle and a number of remote-blasters (for people who have their equipment in closed cabinets). The remote control has a color display, 8 activity/quick-launch buttons (left and right of the display) and the usual remote control features such as mute, volume, PVR-controls. A cool feature is the built in tilt-sensor which recognizes when the remote is picked up and then automatically illuminates all buttons and switches the display on.

I am not sure how the Harmony software functions on Windows, but the OS X version seems to be browser-based and is painful to work with, if you experience slow internet speeds. What really makes Logitech’s Harmony range tick though is the included software. This provides access to a huge range of control codes for devices. You tell the software what equipment you have, which means getting down and dirty with the precise model numbers, and it then pulls the information from its extensive database. You then plug the remote in via USB and the data is transferred over to the remote. The good news is the database is very extensive and you’d be hard pressed to actually own something that isn’t on there – and of course grows over time. It certainly had no problems with any of my kit – the hardest trick is knowing which category to search in.

The setup was easy, but time-consuming but after 4 hours I reached the level of perfection on the remote:
- Configured 6 activities: Watch PVR, Watch Blue-ray, Play PS3, Play Wii, Listen to radio, Listen to Music
- Assigned 20 graphical icons to my favorite TV-channels (such as M-Net, MTV etc)
Continue reading “Ultimate Control: Logitech Harmony 895” »

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Where is that VT-remote? KO ERHE it is…

Posted by on May 18, 2008 No comments

I was checking out Logitech’s website and their homepage gave me the “there-is-something-odd” feeling:

Probably makes sense that everything is backwards – after all seems to be a Microsoft remote – judging from that back-to-front Windows logo :D

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