![]() The $149.99 Harmony Companion includes everything from the Harmony hub plus a simple companion remote. The $99.99 Harmony Hub doesn't actually include a remote at all, instead relying on the free Harmony app to interface with a small Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled central hub that controls your gear. The $49.99 Harmony 350 Control can run up to 8 devices at once, as can the $79.99 Harmony 650 Remote, which adds a small color LCD screen. Logitech has six current generation Harmony models (others are available from previous years). The Harmony series, in that sense, is less concerned with what gear you have and more focused on what you want to experience. A step up from conventional universal remotes, they offer app-based customization and one-button start-up convenience. While the company is known for a multitude of electronic products, their Harmony remotes are a godsend for gear heads. There are many universal remote options, but my go-to brand for the last several years has been Logitech. A programmable device that allows a full 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos and 4K Ultra HD home cinema to operate as simply as your Grandma's 1994 Zenith CRT. Or maybe all your remotes look the same in the dark and you always snag the wrong one.Įnter the universal remote. Maybe your wife refuses to watch TV in the living room. Maybe you've got friends or family over and you have to repeatedly explain how to watch a movie. ![]() With the setup out of the way, let's take a closer look at the remote itself.There comes a day in every home cinema enthusiast's life where too many remotes overwhelms functionality. With a properly configured Harmony Elite, your kids, babysitter, significant other, visiting in-laws, and anyone else can easily operate your complex A/V configuration - they just need to tap on the desired activity and the remote will handle the rest. This is not only a time saver for your home's entertainment captain (you, presumably), it's a godsend for less tech savvy people in your household. There's no fiddling with inputs, and because it asked during the setup phase, the Harmony Elite knows to send volume button commands to the surround receiver and channel commands to the DirecTV box when I'm watching TV. Let me reiterate, it does all those things with a single tap. For example, after creating the Watch TV activity for my particular setup, a single tap turns on the TV, switches to the appropriate input (HDMI 1) that's connected to my surround sound unit, turns on the Onkyo receiver, switches to the correct audio input, and powers up the DirecTV satellite box. When you create an activity, you end up with one-touch operation for tasks that would normally require multiple button presses and remotes. You can do this by plugging the remote into your PC via the included micro-USB to USB cable or through the aforementioned Harmony app. Once you plug the Harmony Hub into a power source and place it in your A/V rack, you're ready to configure the remote. Cool stuff.Ĭonfiguring the RemoteSetup here is pretty simple. If you're watching a sporting event and the crowd goes wild while you fetch a beer, you can press pause in the kitchen (provided you brought the remote with you) and catch up on the action when you return to the living room. This means you don't need a direct line-of-sight when controlling your A/V or smart home gear, nor do you even have to be in the same room. Though it uses IR for your gadgets, the Harmony Hub communicates with the Harmony Elite remote through RF signals. It's essentially a super IR blaster, and Logitech includes two mini wired IR blasters that plug into the main unit to extend its reach in your A/V rack - perfect for multi-level setups. It takes commands from the remote control or your mobile device (using Logitech's free Harmony software for iOS and Android) and passes them on to your electronic gadgets via IR, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth wireless signals. What you see here is the included Harmony Hub, which is sort of the command center.
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