Logitech Harmony SST-659 Universal Remote Control (Grey)

Until now. This remote is designed for the person holding it, not the engineer who did the rack and stack on the equipment. It is intuitive to use, and backed by the most well trained support staff it has been my pleasure to encounter.

Some months ago, my wife had a stroke. Her ability to use my carefully-programmed macros on a "universal" remote evaporated, along with a lot of her speech. It's called "aphasia" and affects emotional control as well. She literally has been in tears with the frustration of trying to watch a VHS movie on her own. That is, without calling for my help in operating the system.

I had decided to design a system-level box to control our equipment: to let her choose one button to "watch a movie" or "watch TV" or "watch a DVD" instead of trying to re-educate her damaged memory on the way different boxes provide the picture while others provide the sound. Should we really need to know all that to enjoy the higher quality of separate units?

Doing the initial research for my own design, I bumped into this Harmony unit and the others from Intrigue Technology. I didn't really expect it to be simple enough for a stroke victim to use, but I hoped I could add programming and possibly some extra electronics to make a complete solution.

No need. The company provides a web site to program the remote for your specific set of equipment. Quick and easy. The result came close, but it still tends to assume you want to revel in the intricate features of all that expensive equipment. Here a button to adjust the aspect ratio; there one to control sound processing.

Cindy does not want any of that. Can't use it. She wants to watch TV or a movie. Period. So I called Harmony tech support: Can I do this? Could I simplify that? Do you have tools to let me try those things? "Certainly, sir, but I think I've fixed it for you already. Click 'update your remote' and see if it's working the way she likes it now." Well, sometimes box A misses the command, and she can't decide how to fix that. Is there an IR amplifier I could use? "Probably, but first let me try changing how we send that command. Click 'update' and test it again..."

With great patience, several technicians over two days removed all the confusing aspects of using a home theater. And all the things a picky engineer found to complain about as well. Now, Cindy is very pleased with "her" remote and with her recovered ability to enjoy television or tapes without calling for help.

I am a retired computer design engineer, and believe me: I was prepared to build custom circuits, code elaborate programs -- do anything needed to let her enjoy herself again. (We live in a remote area, where "simple televisions" get nothing at all. We need the boxes, the satellite receivers and video recorders and what not -- just not the complexity.) This device, and tech support's encyclopedic knowledge of remote signalling in AV equipment made all that design and expense unnecessary.

And it was easy on my end. It did not require my talent. Just theirs at tech support. The actual time it took to do all this was less than an hour I suppose. Perhaps two. Spread over five or six phone calls. It only took two days because Cindy had to be allowed to use the equipment. She needed time to run into all the little aspects that she found confusing. Several times I thought the issue was beyond the control of a remote, but the simulator tools at Intrigue Technology and the imagination of their technicians surprised me with an answer for each problem.

Even with her current speech problems, I think they could have done this with Cindy being the one on the phone at this end. All you need is the ability to describe what bothers you. And quite possibly, nothing at all will bother you. The stock programming required a very simple set of questions about model numbers and worked just fine to the standards of most users. A stroke victim is simply the acid test for simplicity.

It is rare to be able to offer an unqualified endorsement of a company and product, but this is one of those opportunities. If you have anyone in your household who does not share your pleasure in that feature-rich stack of electronics, or if you yourself sometimes just want to "watch a movie" instead of comparing PLII processing to Dolby, then you want this remote.

First, you should know that this is one of the "many buttons" remotes. The same company has created a minimalist remote with very few buttons. I assume that also works well, but for my family, a remote with clearly labeled buttons for each function is best.

There are two main features that distinguish this remote. First, it uses a USB connection to your PC and an Internet-based interface to set up the remote. This gives it great flexibility and access to new updates instantly. The downside is that if you don't have a fast internet connection, set up will be painfully slow.

The other feature is the use of dedicated "Activity" buttons that unify all the various commands you need to "Watch TV" or "Watch a movie". There are two buttons so labeled on the remote for those two activities and more are available as "soft buttons" via a small LCD display.

This is similar to the macro function of other programmable remotes like the Pronto. But unlike these others, the Harmony already has the programming set up - it just needs the codes and when you tell it your make and model for your home entertainment devices, it is all set up for you.

I found I had to do a little extra twiddling to get the Harmony set up for my receiver (an older Denon). But you can always use the simple Learn mode to set the correct IR signals as with any other universal remote.

The best thing I can tell you is that within 30 minutes of opening this up, I had it set up and working like a champ. And my wife and son love it too!

She just doesn't like seeing a coffee table with four remote controls (TV, Cable Box, DVD player, TV) on it. She loves to watch movies on the home theater, but there is no way she can ever set it up to work correctly, and so if I don't do it, it doesn't happen.

This device is unbelievable! It took me about half an hour to gather the names and model numbers of all the various components of the home theater, and then enter them into the website of the manufacurer (go to harmonyremote.com to see exactly how easy the setup is). Then, the remote is updated by the USB cable (included) you connect from the remote to your internet-connected PC. All the settings of your components and the remote-control language that came with each component is updated into your new all-in-one remote. The update is done in a matter of 45 seconds (cable internet connection), and then it's ready to go.

It is organized by activity rather than by device. This means there is an actual button that says "Watch a movie", another that says "Listen to CD", etc. It can even control things like minidisk players, DAT playes, CD jukeboxes, satellite boxes, etc. If you have more than one music source, you can control multiples. And if you have both cable and satellite, you can make a "Watch Cable" and a "Watch Satellite", for example. It can even control projectors, combination devices (TV/VCR, DVD/VCR's, for example), switching devices, and even your room lighting or fireplace(if they have an infrared control)!

When you pick "Watch a movie", for example, it will turn on your TV, set it to the proper video input or tune the correct channel, turn on VCR, turn on receiver and set signal source to VCR, and change the remote control keypad to a VCR controller. If this sounds like gibberish (and to my wife, it does) get this device.

The setup is so easy, she could have done it herself (but she was afraid to try because the thought it would be too hard). It was absolutely painless.

Summary: If I could give more than 5 stars, I would.