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219 of 221 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely fantastic. But nope, it's NOT for everyone., 21 Feb 2007
This review is from: Logitech Harmony 555 Universal Remote Control (Electronics)
I recently got this remote for myself. I have a TV, Sky Box, Amp, DVD and PS2 (to use as DVD sometimes when some discs wont play on my main player) (and upstairs I have TV, Freeview, DVD). So you see I needed to get one of these.
I previously had a touchscreen universal remote which could control 8 devices. The backlit touchscreen thing was cool at first, but I soon realized that controlling volume was a pain - had to make single clicks for each single step of volume. It's just stupid. I ended up going back to use my other remotes.
This Harmony 555 caught my eyes when it was reviewed in the Stuff magazine. LCD display looked cool, and it had all proper buttons (that's why I preferred this over the new Philips remote which was half buttons half touchscreen). Logitech boasts that they have a database of over 125000 devices from 3500+ manufacturers from around the globe. That's really something I thought. Other universal remotes can learn from the original remote, so can this too (just in case u need to). And oh, it can control 15 devices, and can have more than one of the same type (eg two TVs, two DVDs). Other universal remotes, I think, can't do that. And if you have light switches or airconditioners which work with an IR remote, u can use the H555 to control those too. You'd get the codes for them in that database of 125000 different devices. It's just WOW!
I must warn that this can not be used out of the box. It's not one of those remotes where u press a few keys on the remote for each device type and it'll start working. This needs to be programmed via a computer connected to the internet. And it takes quite a bit of time. That's because there are so many things you can do with this, it's just so customizable. If you want a remote to work out of the box, look for something else, seriously! But if you're like me - happy to spend good few hours programming it - I'll totally recommend this one. You'll get a universal remote like no other, totally customized for you. You might just want to keep on customizing it - at least whenever you feel that there's this one button which should work differently.
When the remote is not in use, it'll be on a standby mode with it's LCD switched off to save battery. As soon as you pick up the remote it gets alive, you dont have to press a key to get it active, I think it has some kind of a motion sensor :-) You can also program activities (or macros) from the web-based configuration page. It's quite nice. Say if you wanna watch TV - u can mention the particular TV unit you wanna use for the activity, what input source (eg. freeview/sky), what input channel on the TV (eg. AV1) and where you want to control the volume (eg. on the TV itself or using the separate amp you have). When you press the "Watch TV" button, it'll turn on the Sky box, the TV, put it in the right channel, turn on the amp (and put that in the right audio source channel). And when everything is switched on you can work without selecting any particular device, i.e. if you change channel, it'll change it on your Sky box, if you increase volume it'll do that on the amp. When you're done watching TV, you can just press one power button, and it'll switch off everything that was being used for the activity. It's just so cool. Using the H555 is an absolutely delightful experience.
Once again, I'd emphasize on the fact that this is not for everyone. As you can make out from the other comments too, some people will really like it, some absolutely hate it. But if you like to tweak things around to get exactly how you want, if you are not afraid to experiment and if you don't mind putting some time into programming this, this is the remote you ought to get.
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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easier to set up and use than I expected, 18 Jan 2008
This review is from: Logitech Harmony 555 Universal Remote Control (Electronics)
The system in our TV room consists of a Flat screen TV, DVD player, Satellite receiver, VCR, surround sound amplifier (for DVD and satellite) and Humax PVR (which is used as the freeview receiver). For some reason my wife doesn't seem to think that she can operate any of these items and has been giving me severe ear ache on the subject "as she'd like to be able to watch TV without needing me to turn it on for her". I therefore ordered the 555 to make life easier for both of us. It arrived yesterday and I was amazed at how easy it was to set up to switch on any of the combinations that I use. What was even more impressive was that if for example I am watching Freeview via the PVR and then want to switch to watching a DVD all the correct devices are switched on or off and the TV moves to the correct input at the touch of one button. As I bought this as a birthday present SWMBO (She who must be obeyed) has not yet used it but I am confident that she will have no problem understanding how to use it. EDIT - The Birthday has now happened - the remote control has been handed over and it has been given approval as "very easy to understand and use" (Phew).
The only tip that I would pass on is that the remote remembers the last combination that you asked it to set up and uses that memory to calculate moving through the settings to the ones next required. If you then use any original remote controls to change anything that you are using the 555 to control the next time that you use the 555 it may not give you the correct result. This is easily dealt with via a help button and once you have re-synchronised the remote with what you want the system to do it then carries on correctly.
Recommendation - once you've got it programmed lock the old remotes in a cupboard to prevent this problem
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72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Patience Rewarded...eventually!!!, 18 July 2007
This review is from: Logitech Harmony 555 Universal Remote Control (Electronics)
I recently puchased this product after reading the reviews to replace 6 different controllers ( including a very complex older pioneer av one) and had a fairly good idea what to expect.Thank you frank reviewers for your help!
Here are my post-purchase observations:-
IN A NUTSHELL:-
It is NOT a plug and play unit but it will WORK VERY WELL. Your patience will be rewarded...eventually. One button press of 'ACTIVITIES' will switch everything on the correct items. Now even my good lady operates it, finding it easy to use (ONCE SET UP) and she hates gadgets.
A MORE DETAILED VIEW...I'll try to be brief:-
As you may have thought, the setting up is not simple.
The logitech interfacer is tiresome.
You will need the patience of Job to work out how to navigate the 'user friendly' logitech interface. Also the correction/learning sequence will involve connecting the handset to a computer, then disconnecting to test it , then reconnecting again to correct any problems- best use a laptop in the same room as all your tv/hi-fi stuff.
Do allow the logitech desk top /auto update onto your machine and get the updates before you start setting your controller up. In fact you need to look on the logitech webstite for the vista software updates, this is a must for vista users...do it first
You will need to teach the odd recalcitrant/disobedient commands for your new contoller that it refuses to follow, which you will find after trawling through the help guide... just typing in something to the logitech search box won't get you the answer. I found this teaching, rather learning, section by obeying the troubleshooter guide and worked out that it would eventually ask me if I had tried to teach my controller the few commands it did not transmit, it then might show me how to do that...it did.
It took me about 6 hours to set it up and store the neccessary comands for ever in my logitech account. I am a technofile...this stretched my patience. The unit developed a headache and I had to work out that all the command sequences ( the ' ACTIVITIES') had to be removed before I could set it up again... So if it fails to update your activities list, remove all of them , update ie remove the lot, then start adding your activities in again.
THIS IS NOT A GADGET FOR THE FAINT HEARTED.
That said, it actually deserves 5 Stars when it is set up but the path to that nirvahna is not made easy by logitech's interface and need to constantly disconnect and test the hand controller then back to the interface, hence my overall 3 stars.
Don't be put too off and don't expect it to work straight out of the box- Set aside a sunday. You'll eventually work out a partnership with it and wondered how you existed without it. You will have aged in the process.
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