Logitech Harmony 880 remote - Review

It usually starts with just a TV and eventually grows into so much more. You know what I’m talking about….that rack of electronics in your living room. After a while, you can’t find room on your couch to sit because of the remote control zoo; and no one other than you can switch from watching TV to playing a DVD. You might be able to accomplish this feat when no one else can, but the remote juggling act gives even you a headache.

Enter the Harmony 880.

Setup/Software
Unlike most other remotes which require you to use difficult button combinations to learn commands and setup macros, the Harmony remote is completely configured using the included software or web interface. The configuration is then downloaded to the remote over USB. Not only does this make setup more intuitive, but can be a life-saver if the remote loses it’s settings for whatever reason. Just download the configuration to the remote again.

The setup software can take some time to get used to. I think this is due to its focus on being user-friendly. This works well for basic setups but can become a little difficult when trying to handle more advanced settings or configurations. However, after a little while, you’ll soon find that all the power you need. It would be nice for there to be an “Advanced Mode” or something for power users.

The software asks you for information on all the components in your system (you’ll need model numbers for all of them). The database is extensive, and you will have a hard time finding a device it doesn’t know the commands for. After this, the software helps you set up Activities for the different things you might do with your system such as “Watch TV,” Watch a DVD,” “Play Music,” etc. For each activity, it asks which components will be used, the inputs/outputs these components need to be set to, what will control the volume, etc. You can tell it to send additional commands if you want to specify a sound mode or display mode or whatever for that matter. It then saves all this information as the “state” the system needs to be in for that activity. The remote keeps track of the current “state” of all your components so it knows what to change when you change activities. Logitech calls this Smart State Technology. During activity setup, it also gives you the option to configure most of the hard buttons and the soft keys with any command from any device being used.

In addition you can configure the device mode for each component. Device mode is more like traditional remotes. You select a device and then whole remote controls only the selected device. You can configure most of the hard and soft keys for each device mode. This is a good place to keep all of the advanced commands for each device just in case you need them. You don’t want to have to get out the original remote again.

If the Harmony database does not already know a particular command (this might happen on more obscure commands), it will allow you to learn the command from the original remote.

Activities
Once you have setup all your activities, you can switch your whole system to do whatever you want with one button press. This is basically what macros accomplish on other remotes. The difference is that programming activities doesn’t require you to figure out and program the long sequence of commands to get where you want to go. The Harmony setup figures all that out. In addition, you don’t have to consider all possible scenarios like you would when you program a macro. You might need a different macro to Watch TV if you are starting with the system off than you would use when you are already watching a DVD. The Harmony keeps track of all components so that sending the Watch TV command works no matter what state your system is currently in. This whole approach to a universal remote is unique and superior to anything else I’ve used.

Buttons
The buttons on this remote are all fitted into the contour of the remote and have little separation. Some will like this and some will not. This allows the remote to have a lot of hard buttons without looking like it has a lot of buttons. It also gives the remote a very sleek look. However, some will complain that they cannot feel any separation between the buttons and cannot use it without looking at it. The buttons are hard plastic and have a nice little click when pressed. Whether you like the layout and feel of the buttons will be a bit subjective. I loved the feel of the buttons the first time I felt the remote.

The buttons for Mute, Prev, and all buttons below these on the remote are customizable and can be assigned a command different from what I describe here.

• Off – This button turns the system off completely from whatever state or activity it is currently in.
• Activities – Pressing this button brings up the list of activities on the LCD screen. You can then press the soft keys next to the screen to select an activity. When in a device menu or other screen, pressing this button twice brings back the current activity screen.
• Help – You can use this button to sort things out anytime the system isn’t working properly. Normally this will occur when things are out of sync such as when the TV is off but the Harmony remote thinks it’s already on. This can occur if a device doesn’t receive an IR signal for whatever reason. Pressing this button will bring up a series of questions to work through the problem. It will ask things such as “Is the TV on?”…“Now is the TV on?”…“Did that fix the problem?” It will keep asking such questions and sending signals until the problem is fixed.
• LCD screen – The top part of the screen displays the day of the week and time, a battery meter, and the current activity or device being controlled. The rest of the screen has space for 8 activity soft keys or other commands. These are completely customizable, and multiple pages of commands are possible. The commands which appear on the screen correspond to the current activity or device.
• Softkey buttons (8) – There are 4 buttons on each side of the LCD for activating the option adjacent to each of them on the screen.
• Mute – This needs little explanation. It mutes the sound.
• Left/right arrows – These are for moving through the pages of commands/activities on the LCD screen.
• Glow – This turns on the backlight and screen. However, simply tilting the remote will do the same thing.
• Prev – This is normally used for switching to the previous channel.
• Device – This brings up a list of all devices on the LCD. Choosing one from the screen enters the device mode to control that device. This mode is more like traditional remotes. You can customize the hard buttons and LCD softkeys for each device.

• Media – This brings up a list of favorite channels on the LCD. You can even download channel logos for use on the screen.

• Vol+/Vol- - Volume control
• Ch+/Ch- - Channel control
• Directional pad/OK – Normally used for navigating menus and selecting items.
• Up/Down buttons – I like to use these as Page Up/Down buttons for menus and the program guide. However, they might also be good for Thumbs Up/Down buttons with a TiVo.
• Menu – Yeah, this is good for bringing up a menu.
• Exit – This is good for exiting from menus.
• Guide – Use this to open the program guide.
• Info – Use this to display program information
• Transport buttons – Stop, Prev/Replay, Next/Skip, Play, Record, Rewind, Fast Forward, Pause – These are pretty typical. Use with your DVR or DVD to control playback.
• Number buttons – No explanation needed.
• Clear – Can be used to clear on-screen information
• Enter – Yep, it enters.

Other Harmony remotes
I’ve used some other Harmony remotes and love how they operate. All work on the same basic principles and make your system much easier to control. It’s just a matter of deciding which particular Harmony remote suits your needs the best. A good comparison of the remotes with lots of nice pictures can be found at Remote Central.

Conclusions
I’m sold, that’s all there is to it. In fact I’m so sold on this product that I recently purchased a Harmony 659 for my parents. I’ve been using the 880 for over a year and it’s by far the best universal remote I’ve ever used. This is an excellent remote which offers extreme ease of use and can tame even complex systems. I highly recommend you give the 880 or any Harmony remote a try.