Logitech Harmony 550 LCD Remote Control
- Type: Universal
- Broadcasting Type: IR
- Applicable Devices: TV, DVD Player, Receiver
- Devices Controlled: 15
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An enjoyable, or frustrating remote - your experience will vary!
Pros
Takes total control of your system making systems easier for people overwhelmed by them.
Cons
The fact that it demands "total control" can be frustrating if you sometimes enjoy manual.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you often find yourself frustrated with your AV system you may love this remote. If you know your system well and use it manually often, you may be frustrated.
I bought the Harmony 550 remote when we recently made a change to our AV system that was incompatible with our previous remote. It seemed to be a good unit at a very favorable price ($79) when recently on sale.
I've been pleased with the remote in some regards, but very disappointed in others.
Initial Unpacking:
The unit comes packed in the common "mega" blister pack which can be the bane of many to actually get open. I was pleased to discover that the packaging was however fairly easy to open due to a "PULL HERE" section which actually tore down a perforation line in the plastic. Within seconds I was in.
The remote came with 4 batteries installed (to operate the "demo" features while still packaged) but also came with 4 new Duracell batteries , as well as a USB cable and the software CD.
Initial setup:
A deciding factor to purchase this remote was the fact that it was Mac compatible. Being a Mac-only household this was essential, and I was glad to see that Logitech realizes that not everyone uses Windows. Of course, the CD contains Windows versions of the setup software as well.
Installation is simple and the program is soon open. You are prompted to connect the remote to the computer and away we go.
It is important to realize that you MUST have an active Internet connection for the software to work since the relevant data that is transferred to the remote comes from Logitechs servers. Please ensure the computer you setup the remote from is connected to the Internet before starting out.
Software Setup:
Of course before the remote will work you must actually set it up. Once the software is loaded you are walked through a fairly straightforward process where the software identifies what your AV system consists of. Although straightforward you will have to know the exact model numbers of ALL your AV equipment. For devices with the model information on the front this is easy, but for some devices (such as bigscreen TV's) you may find yourself on your hands and knees behind your equipment searching for the manufacturers sticker. Having all of this ready ahead of time will make the process easier!
Once you input all of your equipments model information the setup wizard proceeds to ask you how you use your equipment, for example if you listen to your satellite/cable decoders audio through your stereo, or your TV. It will also ask what inputs you have setup for different devices. For the crowd who knows their AV system well this is easy stuff, but for those who may not be exactly sure it could become confusing easily. Your mileage may vary, but be prepared to spend some time on the setup portion of this remote unless you are very confident about your equipment and it's current setup.
Once you are done completing the setup wizard the software connects to your remote and configures it accordingly. This takes only a minute or so.
Once complete the software prompts you to disconnect the remote from the USB cable and attempt to turn everything on using it. If it works you simply inform the software that "Everything worked as expected", but if not you tell it that there was a problem and the software walks you through a troubleshooting procedure. Once complete you must update the remote again, and try the "test" procedure again.
It's all fairly straightfoward and before long you should have a functional remote control.
This may *seem* complicated, but due to many older generations of "universal" or learning remotes, the computer setup aspect of the Harmony 550 is actually a breath of fresh air. Previously the setup could be a painful procedure of learning codes, manually configuring macros, and then troubleshooting without the help of a computer.
In Use:
So, it's time to actually use the remote, and this is where some of the units misgivings quickly began to come to light for me.
The first thing that I noticed was that the remote wasn't properly controlling the audio on my AV receiver when it was in TV mode. I had no way to control the systems volume without manually switching the remote to the specific control panel for my receiver, and then needed to switch it back to the TV panel. Clearly this wasn't acceptable.
I dove back into the software to find the solution, eventually discovering that the setup wizard (for some reason) thought that my DVD recorder was what was controlling the volume (as well as many other features) instead of my AV receiver. It took me an unfortunate amount of time to actually discover this, and then an even longer time to manually change all the relevant settings before re-syncing the remote.
Once this was done it functioned as intended. Unfortunately more misgivings were soon on the horizon.
1/ The number buttons are small. Too small. When holding the remote in one hand it's difficult to push any of them, and even when holding the remote with two hands they are still very small for big fingers.
2/ The default programing for some items misses major and important buttons on primary screens. For example, my PVR uses the "Live" button to switch back and forth from PVR to live-TV mode, yet this button was several pages in on the screens scrolling option. For a commonly used button such as this, having to scroll around (and then back) on the displays soft-button feature is simply unacceptable.
For me, some further tinkering in the software (and another sync) remedied this issue, but again, for those who are not very savvy with the software or entirely disconcerted with the whole procedure, accomplishing a fix like this could be overwhelming or impossible, leaving the user using a potentially frustrating setup instead.
Another MAJOR issue (that other reviewers have also mentioned) is that any manual control of your AV system can quickly confuse the remote. You MUST use the remote exclusively to control your system (most importantly, turning it all off) otherwise the remote easily looses it's sense of your systems settings and can end up just making a mess of controlling it. I find it frustrating that something as simple as manually turning off your AV system at the end of the evening can leave the remote unable to control it in the morning since the remote assumes that everything is still turned on. The only way to fix this is to hit the remotes "power off" button to reset the remote to the power off state, but unless you are careful to ensure none of the actual "Off" commands are received by your AV system, you can actually end up confusing things more since this will actually turn some items on when the remote now thinks that they are off. When you actually run the "Turn on my system" macro, the effected equipment then gets turned off.
To the remotes credit there is a easy to use and quite intuitive "help" feature that will work through any unfortunate situations such as this and fix the issue. Based on (unfortunately too much) experience this help feature works perfectly, asking you questions about your equipment (Is device "X" on?, is your AV receiver set to "X" input?" which walks you through the process of fixing the issue, but when the issue was brought on by something that should have never brought on a problem to begin with, it can be frustrating to be forced to follow this diagnostic procedure before the remote will become functional again.
Clearly the remote is aimed at those who *never* control their AV system from any other method then via the remote itself, as any control done elsewhere can lead to frustration.
Finally, I found in use that without careful programming of the screens "soft" (variable / programmable display) buttons you can find yourself looking for a variety of features/buttons that you need that are simply not on the main screen, forcing you to wade through several screens full of seldom used features to reach the one you want. If you have to do this routinely you start to wish you had a "hard" button for these features instead. Unfortunately with a lack of spare programmable hard buttons this can be difficult.
Last but not least, the tactile feel of many of the buttons (especially the number buttons) is sub-par. It's sometimes difficult to tell if you have successfully pushed them or not without waiting for the outcome on your AV system. On the flip side, some buttons have a strong and audible "Click". Why all of the buttons couldn't be the same, or at least better then the "mushy" feeling they have leaves me wondering if this remote could be so much more.
Final thoughts:
If you fear ever having to manually touch any of your components and often find yourself with a jumble of confusing settings that leaves you unable to use your system without a mix up or 10 minutes of random button pushing to find the correct sequence of settings, this remote may be great for you. Once you get it programmed and the quirks worked out it *should* do all of this automatically. Just be prepared to let the remote do it all as it henceforth demands full control, and doesn't give it up easily.
If you are a power user who frequently takes manual control of your AV system to perform some features, be warned that the remote always assumes that *IT* has control. If you change your receivers input setting and a TV setting, getting the remote to pickup where you left off can be confusing as it simply continues assuming that nothing has changed and it's still where it left off, instead of where you left off.
As a power user myself, I'm torn - I have enjoyed the software programmable features of the remote (once I adjusted to the software), but the fact that it isn't willing to "just be a remote" but always wants to be "the boss" leads me to find it frustrating at times.
Will I keep it? The jury is still out on that.
If you are a basic AV system user who finds all the possible settings confusing and overwhelming and would be happy to let the remote take care of it all for you, then you could be very pleased with this remote so long as you are comfortable with the setup.
Thanks for reading my review, and I would appreciate it if you could review it below!
I've been pleased with the remote in some regards, but very disappointed in others.
Initial Unpacking:
The unit comes packed in the common "mega" blister pack which can be the bane of many to actually get open. I was pleased to discover that the packaging was however fairly easy to open due to a "PULL HERE" section which actually tore down a perforation line in the plastic. Within seconds I was in.
The remote came with 4 batteries installed (to operate the "demo" features while still packaged) but also came with 4 new Duracell batteries , as well as a USB cable and the software CD.
Initial setup:
A deciding factor to purchase this remote was the fact that it was Mac compatible. Being a Mac-only household this was essential, and I was glad to see that Logitech realizes that not everyone uses Windows. Of course, the CD contains Windows versions of the setup software as well.
Installation is simple and the program is soon open. You are prompted to connect the remote to the computer and away we go.
It is important to realize that you MUST have an active Internet connection for the software to work since the relevant data that is transferred to the remote comes from Logitechs servers. Please ensure the computer you setup the remote from is connected to the Internet before starting out.
Software Setup:
Of course before the remote will work you must actually set it up. Once the software is loaded you are walked through a fairly straightforward process where the software identifies what your AV system consists of. Although straightforward you will have to know the exact model numbers of ALL your AV equipment. For devices with the model information on the front this is easy, but for some devices (such as bigscreen TV's) you may find yourself on your hands and knees behind your equipment searching for the manufacturers sticker. Having all of this ready ahead of time will make the process easier!
Once you input all of your equipments model information the setup wizard proceeds to ask you how you use your equipment, for example if you listen to your satellite/cable decoders audio through your stereo, or your TV. It will also ask what inputs you have setup for different devices. For the crowd who knows their AV system well this is easy stuff, but for those who may not be exactly sure it could become confusing easily. Your mileage may vary, but be prepared to spend some time on the setup portion of this remote unless you are very confident about your equipment and it's current setup.
Once you are done completing the setup wizard the software connects to your remote and configures it accordingly. This takes only a minute or so.
Once complete the software prompts you to disconnect the remote from the USB cable and attempt to turn everything on using it. If it works you simply inform the software that "Everything worked as expected", but if not you tell it that there was a problem and the software walks you through a troubleshooting procedure. Once complete you must update the remote again, and try the "test" procedure again.
It's all fairly straightfoward and before long you should have a functional remote control.
This may *seem* complicated, but due to many older generations of "universal" or learning remotes, the computer setup aspect of the Harmony 550 is actually a breath of fresh air. Previously the setup could be a painful procedure of learning codes, manually configuring macros, and then troubleshooting without the help of a computer.
In Use:
So, it's time to actually use the remote, and this is where some of the units misgivings quickly began to come to light for me.
The first thing that I noticed was that the remote wasn't properly controlling the audio on my AV receiver when it was in TV mode. I had no way to control the systems volume without manually switching the remote to the specific control panel for my receiver, and then needed to switch it back to the TV panel. Clearly this wasn't acceptable.
I dove back into the software to find the solution, eventually discovering that the setup wizard (for some reason) thought that my DVD recorder was what was controlling the volume (as well as many other features) instead of my AV receiver. It took me an unfortunate amount of time to actually discover this, and then an even longer time to manually change all the relevant settings before re-syncing the remote.
Once this was done it functioned as intended. Unfortunately more misgivings were soon on the horizon.
1/ The number buttons are small. Too small. When holding the remote in one hand it's difficult to push any of them, and even when holding the remote with two hands they are still very small for big fingers.
2/ The default programing for some items misses major and important buttons on primary screens. For example, my PVR uses the "Live" button to switch back and forth from PVR to live-TV mode, yet this button was several pages in on the screens scrolling option. For a commonly used button such as this, having to scroll around (and then back) on the displays soft-button feature is simply unacceptable.
For me, some further tinkering in the software (and another sync) remedied this issue, but again, for those who are not very savvy with the software or entirely disconcerted with the whole procedure, accomplishing a fix like this could be overwhelming or impossible, leaving the user using a potentially frustrating setup instead.
Another MAJOR issue (that other reviewers have also mentioned) is that any manual control of your AV system can quickly confuse the remote. You MUST use the remote exclusively to control your system (most importantly, turning it all off) otherwise the remote easily looses it's sense of your systems settings and can end up just making a mess of controlling it. I find it frustrating that something as simple as manually turning off your AV system at the end of the evening can leave the remote unable to control it in the morning since the remote assumes that everything is still turned on. The only way to fix this is to hit the remotes "power off" button to reset the remote to the power off state, but unless you are careful to ensure none of the actual "Off" commands are received by your AV system, you can actually end up confusing things more since this will actually turn some items on when the remote now thinks that they are off. When you actually run the "Turn on my system" macro, the effected equipment then gets turned off.
To the remotes credit there is a easy to use and quite intuitive "help" feature that will work through any unfortunate situations such as this and fix the issue. Based on (unfortunately too much) experience this help feature works perfectly, asking you questions about your equipment (Is device "X" on?, is your AV receiver set to "X" input?" which walks you through the process of fixing the issue, but when the issue was brought on by something that should have never brought on a problem to begin with, it can be frustrating to be forced to follow this diagnostic procedure before the remote will become functional again.
Clearly the remote is aimed at those who *never* control their AV system from any other method then via the remote itself, as any control done elsewhere can lead to frustration.
Finally, I found in use that without careful programming of the screens "soft" (variable / programmable display) buttons you can find yourself looking for a variety of features/buttons that you need that are simply not on the main screen, forcing you to wade through several screens full of seldom used features to reach the one you want. If you have to do this routinely you start to wish you had a "hard" button for these features instead. Unfortunately with a lack of spare programmable hard buttons this can be difficult.
Last but not least, the tactile feel of many of the buttons (especially the number buttons) is sub-par. It's sometimes difficult to tell if you have successfully pushed them or not without waiting for the outcome on your AV system. On the flip side, some buttons have a strong and audible "Click". Why all of the buttons couldn't be the same, or at least better then the "mushy" feeling they have leaves me wondering if this remote could be so much more.
Final thoughts:
If you fear ever having to manually touch any of your components and often find yourself with a jumble of confusing settings that leaves you unable to use your system without a mix up or 10 minutes of random button pushing to find the correct sequence of settings, this remote may be great for you. Once you get it programmed and the quirks worked out it *should* do all of this automatically. Just be prepared to let the remote do it all as it henceforth demands full control, and doesn't give it up easily.
If you are a power user who frequently takes manual control of your AV system to perform some features, be warned that the remote always assumes that *IT* has control. If you change your receivers input setting and a TV setting, getting the remote to pickup where you left off can be confusing as it simply continues assuming that nothing has changed and it's still where it left off, instead of where you left off.
As a power user myself, I'm torn - I have enjoyed the software programmable features of the remote (once I adjusted to the software), but the fact that it isn't willing to "just be a remote" but always wants to be "the boss" leads me to find it frustrating at times.
Will I keep it? The jury is still out on that.
If you are a basic AV system user who finds all the possible settings confusing and overwhelming and would be happy to let the remote take care of it all for you, then you could be very pleased with this remote so long as you are comfortable with the setup.
Thanks for reading my review, and I would appreciate it if you could review it below!
