Harmony 1000 Universal Remote Control Reviewed

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harmony_1000_remote.jpgHome theaters are becoming more and more complicated. With each component coming with its required remote control, as the number of components in your system grows, so does your need for a good universal remote. Sure, those with the dough can easily get the likes of AMX or Crestron, but for most of us, this is just impractical. Enter the Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote, with its activity profiles and ability to control 15 devices from a single panel.

Additional Resources
• Read remote reviews from brands like Monster, URC, Pronto, Crestron, Harmony, Control4 and many others.
• Read more Harmony Remote Reviews here.
 
 

Retailing at just under $500, the Harmony 1000 is the showpiece of the Harmony line, offering a three-and-a-half-inch color touch screen, as well as multiple hard buttons for the more frequently used functions, such as volume, mute, channel and the joystick controller, as well as a few others. The Harmony 1000 aims to be the poor man's Crestron. One huge difference between the Harmony and the likes of AMX and Crestron is that, thanks to Harmony's exceptional software, almost anyone can set up this remote to run even the most complicated systems, either with a Mac or PC. Need lighting control on your remote? No problem. Have highly esoteric audiophile gear? Harmony has the largest database of remote codes on the planet, and if they don't have your device, the remote is capable of learning codes from another remote. If you still are having troubles, call the Harmony support line. They are the best in the business and will make sure your remote works exactly as you want before hanging up with you.

Harmony's system involves the use of activities. You can program as many of these as any system could need. The most helpful feature, the Help button, walks the user through the steps of the macros to troubleshoot when codes aren't received properly. For systems that may be behind doors or even in another part of the home, Harmony makes an optional RF extender, allowing control of your system from over 100 feet away. A recharging station keeps the lithium ion battery always at the ready. If you forget to replace the remote in the base station, don't fret. The battery will last several days before losing its charge.



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  • Comment on this article

  • By No-L

The overarching theme of Universal Remote sounds good and looks good in print and in hand, but my Harmony 1000 is lacking luster is several areas.

1) Without the RF Extender, this remote is basically very awkward. It is not serviced well by its cool appearance alone. Logitech SHOULD HAVE included it with this $500 CAD piece of gear.

2) Needs more hard buttons: I would strongly recommend adding between 2 - 4 hard buttons to the right hand control surface.

3) Lacks customization options in its programming feature called "Sequences" which I believe to be a bit of a macro bobo; to add insult to injury - you can only add sequences to devices, but not to activities.

You can add several custom sequences to any device, but you cannot exceed 5 steps per sequence. The only good thing here, is that you can assign your sequences to hard keys or soft keys.

Overall, this is a nice unit, but I regret the purchase now. I do not have access to control my PS3 because the PS3 does not support RF, and the 1000 does not support BlueTooth (yet).

If the problems I listed above could be remedied in up coming hardware revisions, then I would be able to recommend the Harmony 1000, but as it stands, I simply cannot.

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