...
It turns out that, rather than installing a huge amount of software on your own machine, it creates a personal web page for you on Logitech's own website. You have to be online to get this remote to work and need to remember your user name and password for future editing. It is the online ... Read review
Control your Home Entertainment system at the touch of only one button. Easy to use with ... more
its activities, it is also very easy to set up. With instant access to an internet-based worldwide database of infra-red codes, you can control all devices from al...
Postage & Packaging: £4.99 Availability: Usually dispatched within 6-10 business days...
Control your Home Entertainment system at the touch of only one button. Easy to use with ... more
its activities, it is also very easy to set up. With instant access to an internet-based worldwide database of infra-red codes, you can control all devices from al...
Postage & Packaging: £4.99 Availability: Usually dispatched within 6-10 business days...
Advantages: Great ergonomics, flexible functions, anti-obsolescence Disadvantages: Slow software, need broadband to set up, some glaring omissions
...remainder of the weekend as Logitech didn't reply until the following Monday afternoon. When the reply came it was impressive. I had a polite note from a technical support person (Gerald, if I remember correctly), who was sorry for my troubles and told me that he had added a new parameter to my TV power controls, which allowed the signal to be transmitted for longer. This was already uploaded to my home page (almost spookily), and I duly downloaded ... ...me, and only hope that Logitech have learnt the pitfalls of Panasonic's power protocols through my sore experience.
Now, a few months down the line, I am extremely glad I persevered. Those eight hours over four days it took to set up seem like a drop in the ocean, especially considering three other learning remotes had failed for me over the last several years (including a Cambridge Audio and Marantz). These had all been at least ... more
I've had my Harmony for a few months now. It works fine, exactly as I had hoped and I am now extremely pleased with it....
....BUT, I thought I had better write a review before I completely forgot how nearly I could not get this thing to work, and I am IT and AV literate.
THE PREDECESSORS I have had three 'learning' remotes in the past, none of them satisfactory. They were either too uncomfortable to hold, too battery intensive or just not good enough at learning. I was aware of the brilliance of products like the Philip's Pronto but its prohibitive expense and my now deep lack of trust in such products meant I could not justify getting one.
This time though, I had ended up with nine remotes in my living room and had had enough. After reading up on a few options, this was the product I settled on, mainly because I know and trust the company who make it, and the price did not break the bank.
APPEARANCE First impressions were excellent. The remote feels lovely to hold (and I have very large hands). It is beautifuly balanced, and although long, has finger supports on its reverse just where you need them so you never lose grip when stretching for more distant buttons. The finish is a good quality mix of black, chrome and grey plastic. The buttons have a good positive feel, although one or two need quite a firm press to get them to work. The backlighting is reasonable (I have seen better), but does at least stretch to every button on the handset.
ONLINE HOMEPAGE Before you can use the remote, you have to install and follow the instructions on your PC or Mac. The software will work with Mac's OSX, or Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 and XP. The Harmony has a USB socket at the top and you plug this into your home computer with the supplied cable. For the record, my PC is a Dell Dimension Pentium 4 running WIndows XP Pro.
It turns out that, rather than installing a huge amount of software on your own machine, it creates a personal web page for you on Logitech's own website. You have to be online to get this remote to work and need to remember your user name and password for future editing. It is the online aspect that really slows things down though, even with my 2MB broadband connection. I was really twiddling my thumbs sometimes as I waited for the mouse click I had just made to take effect. It became even more frustrating when I accidentally clicked more than once and found that I had paged several times too far ahead into the setup.
SELECTING YOUR HARDWARE It it wasn't for this annoyance, these first stages of the setup would have been very straight forward, and very logical. You begin by telling it what your equipment is... eg: TV - Panasonic, DVD - Denon and so on. The website has a vast database of all kinds of equipment, from ancient CD players to my extremely obscure remote control light switch, and this model can control up to 15 different machines. If you cannot find your hardware (very unlikely), you can teach the Harmony from your existing remote and it will then upload the codes to your personal website (and presumably then adds it to their own database).
ACTIVITIES Once you've taught it about all your hardware, it asks you 'how' you go about various activities. For example, if I want to 'Watch TV', I need to turn on my TV and set it to AV2, turn on my VCR and set it to AV1 and turn on the set-top box. It asks you all these questions in the form of multiple choice and all possible combinations seem to be catered for. It then asks you which machine you use to change channel, which to change volume and so on. I was even able to programme two DVD watching options - one through the TV, the other through the AV system and projector, the latter including a light-dimming function! I noticed I could even have included motorised screens and various gaming consoles.
UPDATING THE HANDSET Once you have selected all the options, you click to save and your online profile is duly updated. The software then prompts you to update the handset, which starts a several minute upload of all the instructions to the Harmony through the USB. Finally, in theory, you are ready to go.
FIRST TRY So, my experience so far had been fairly straightforward if frustratingly slow. With great trepidation I approached the Living Room and sat infront of the TV. There is a button at the top of the Harmony labelled 'Activities' and on pressing this, all the activities I had programmed appeared on the LCD, four at a time with scroll buttons at the bottom to reach other pages. Great! They were all there! It is possible to edit the order in which each activty appears and to chose their names. You can also programme the two 'soft' buttons at the base of the screen to activate certain functions not present elsewhere on the Harmony. I pressed 'Watch TV' and the VCR and set-top box both came on to the correct channels, but the TV stayed stubbornly silent. A signal had obviously been sent to it as the red LED on the set blinked, but it was either not the correct signal or perhaps the correct one but not for right length.
HELP There is a help button on the Harmony, which I pressed to be taken through a set of questions on the LCD screen. "Did this cure the problem?", "Is the TV on now?", etc. etc. All to no avail.
I tried another tack: there is another button at the top labelled 'Devices' that brings up a list of all your hardware. As soon as the particular machine is selected, all the Harmony buttons control that one machine. I duly selected 'TV' and pressed the power button. Fortunately this did the trick and the TV came on. I found that all the functions from the original Panasonic remote, even obscure tuning, aspect and setup functions, were available, which impressed me. Things were clearly not working as they should though, so I followed the main manual's advice and plugged the Harmony back into the USB.
ONLINE HELP My PC immediately recognised its new friend and automatically fired up my home page (remember you need to be online). I clicked trouble shoot and followed the clear but still very slow instructions. Each change I made was uploaded to the handset and tried. There were dozens of parameters I could change - methods of turning on the TV by selecting a channel, toggling on and off, even teaching it an exact frequency or learning from the original remote, but none of these worked.
The final recourse was to contact the Logictech team via an e-mail link from the home page, filling in which component I was having trouble with and what nature the fault was. There was a promise to get back to me within 24 hours.
SIX HOURS DOWN THE LINE I had been setting up for six hours by now, and it was Friday night so I gave up and returned to my nine remotes for the remainder of the evening. It turned out that this was to be for the remainder of the weekend as Logitech didn't reply until the following Monday afternoon. When the reply came it was impressive. I had a polite note from a technical support person (Gerald, if I remember correctly), who was sorry for my troubles and told me that he had added a new parameter to my TV power controls, which allowed the signal to be transmitted for longer. This was already uploaded to my home page (almost spookily), and I duly downloaded the change to the Harmony via the USB.
Eureka! The TV came on, so did the set-top box and VCR! At last! AND I could control my lighting. With a smug grin, I decided to try the Hi-fi and selected 'Listen to CD' from the Activity menu. The VCR and set-top box turned off and the amplifier and CD player came on... but the TV was also still on, and it soon dawned on me that the 'off' control for the TV no longer worked.
FOUR DAYS DOWN THE LINE I was back onto the support team via e-mail instantly and this time the reply came back in a couple of hours, trying another method to turn the TV off. By Tuesday afternoon there had been two more e-mails to technical support before the TV properly worked, both of these were courteously and swiftly dealt with.
This is the crunch though - my TV is an extremely common Panasonic wide-screen model, only three years old. It is hard to accept that the Harmony had managed very obscure and high end components with ease, yet not this basic model. I wondered why the 'duration' parameter was not available by default with the software. I could adjust almost everything else manually, including how long to wait between each signal is sent and what frequency the signal is sent at, and I could teach the Harmony individual commands direct from the original remotes, but never was I able to adjust duration without contacting technical support.
To be fair, the Harmony learnt every other function perfectly, including a frighteningly complicated Lexicon AV decoder, and ancient InFocus projector, not to mention the afore mentioned remotely dimmed light switch.
CONCLUSION I came tantalisingly close to having a very positive experience setting up this product and I can see how close they are to getting this right. If it wasn't for the sluggishness of the online homepage and the language barrier between the Harmony and my Panasonic's power controls, my experience would have been perfect. I pity the person with less patience or techno-knowledge than me, and only hope that Logitech have learnt the pitfalls of Panasonic's power protocols through my sore experience.
Now, a few months down the line, I am extremely glad I persevered. Those eight hours over four days it took to set up seem like a drop in the ocean, especially considering three other learning remotes had failed for me over the last several years (including a Cambridge Audio and Marantz). These had all been at least as pricey as this Harmony and are all now donated to various friends and family, whilst I am now very relaxed and confident that I have at last found the ideal all-in-one solution.
The handset still looks and feels great and is as good as new. Not once has it missed a beat since my final visit to the setup page, being used daily and still on its original (4 x AAA) batteries. It even wakes up in the morning, somehow detecting my vibrations as I walk in to open the curtains! It is clear that the Harmony will remain up-to-date for as long as the Logitech database continues updating signal codes, no matter what new equipment I invest in.
I can thoroughly recommend this handset, just get someone else to set it up for you!
Mudspanker 15.11.2006 (15.11.2006)
Ciao members have rated this review on average:
very helpful
Review of Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote Infrared Universal remote control for DVR, TV, VCR, DVD player, Audio system
Advantages: Simple to use, great interface, simple to program Disadvantages: None
...missing somewhere.
We bought Logitech Harmony 525 2 years ago. I knew it would work for me as I am a gadget man. I was slightly apprehensive about my wife and worried about my in-laws (when they come to visit us). I thought it might be too techie thing for them.
It turned out as a very simple to use. I have setup 4 activities - Sat1, Sat2, DVD and CD. You program it on Logitech site using web interface and then sync your remote via USB cable. When ... ...average household with 4-5 boxes under the TV. Logitech database is great and it is more than likely that your devices are already there and universal remote will pick up settings from their web site.
Wholeheartedly recommended product.
The cheapest I have found it (10/10/2008) is £38.5 at
http://www.morecomputers.com/extra.asp?pn=966191-0914 ...
JohnCheese 10.10.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote Infrared Universal remote control for DVR, TV, VCR, DVD player, Audio system
Advantages: Control many devices using Infrared - easy to setup Disadvantages: Can't control bluetooth or FM devices
The Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote is used to control multiple devices in audio and visual systems (ie your tv, video, digital box, music players etc) Currently we use one to control an AV receiver, digital box and projector. Personally i think this is the best one i've used. Although initially to set up takes a bit of time (you have to load a program onto a computer and then add devices to the remote using the provided usb cable), ... ...'unknown' systems remote at the logitech remote and it asks you to press the buttons. Thats it. We had to do that with one of ours and it works brilliantly and wasn't hard to do. The Only Flaw to this remote is it can't control FM signalled devices such as motorised projector screens or bluetooth controlled devices such as Playstations - HOWEVER these devices can come with infra-red or infra-red can be bought as an accessory ...
animalsticks 28.07.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote Infrared Universal remote control for DVR, TV, VCR, DVD player, Audio system
Advantages: Does everything you could want Disadvantages: Small screen makes finding options difficult
This is an absolutely great remote given it's cost. I used to have an One for All Kameleon which cost a lot more money than this.
Setup was very very easy using the Software given and within 30 minutes I had a remote control which did exactly what I wanted.
I use this to control my TV, Amplifier, BluRay DVD, Xbox 360 and Virgin Media Box. Every function of each device is catered for on the remote and the ability for the remote to transmit to more ... ...any settings on it is fantastic.
There are a couple of downsides to this remote. The first is the screen is very small in comparison to some others and scrolling through the pages to get to some of the more unique features of a device can be a pain, but overall this is great and well worth the investment ...
kushik 10.09.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote Infrared Universal remote control for DVR, TV, VCR, DVD player, Audio system
Product Information for "Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote Infrared Universal remote control for DVR, TV, VCR, DVD player, Audio system" »
Remote control
Connectivity Technology
Infrared
Supported Device Qty
12
Supported Devices
DVR, TV, VCR, DVD player, audio system
Input Device
Keypad
Features
LCD display, learning, back-lit buttons
Display
LCD display
Connections
Connector Type
1 x USB
System requirements
Operating System
MS Windows XP, MS Windows 2000, MS Windows ME, MS Windows 98, Apple MacOS X 10.2 or later
Min Hard Drive Space
10 MB
Manufacturer's product description
Control your entire systems with the press of just one button. Simply select an activity (e.g., "watch TV") and your Harmony remote will evaluate the state of all your components and then send the right commands to make your system do exactly what you want. The Harmony 525 strength is its simple user interface, with a very intuitive layout of buttons. The addition of a teletext buttons makes it easy to take full control of your entertainment system. If you want your entire family to be able to use the entertainment system to its fullest, the simple layout and one-touch Activity Buttons makes this remote the ideal choice.
Related tags for Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote Infrared Universal remote control for DVR, TV, VCR, DVD player, Audio system »
Compare Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote Infrared Universal remote control for DVR, TV, VCR, DVD player, Audio system to other similar TV & Video Accessories »
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote Infrared Universal remote control for DVR, TV, VCR, DVD player, Audio system? Click here