Remote Possibility

So with all of our new home theater upgrades comes another minor irritation. We have 6 remotes for each device and to watch a DVD or HDTV it required switching back and forth between all six of them. I even created a crib sheet for Pam to help her figure out the huge array of buttons. It was ridiculous.

To solve the problem, I did some research and decided to purchase a Logitech Harmony 688 remote. This unit promised to make our lives easier with one-touch “activities”, internet-based programming and all the features we would ever need. I got it home, loaded the software and connected to the the Harmony website. You enter the brand and model of each piece of equipment you want to control and the codes are downloaded automatically. Then you configure activities like “Watch a DVD” or “Watch Tivo” and a macro is recorded for one-touch operation.

The problem came when I had to continually reconfigure the remote because it wasn’t controlling the TV or Amp correctly. I was able to get it to work each time after some troubleshooting but the next day it wouldn’t work. I figured this thing cost a lot of money ($149) and it needed to work perfectly without all the hassle. Yesterday I returned it for another less complicated remote (URC6131) that works fairly well, controls the Tivo and only costs $17.

Now there is only one remote on the table and no crib sheet to explain which buttons to press to watch TV.