In over two months using it I have yet to have it fail to turn something on or activate the right mode, but there are helpful buttons to fix things if they go wrong by sorting through what’s not on or correctly set.Īll the same actions can also be performed using the Harmony remote app on any Android or iOS device, meaning others in the room don’t have to have the remote to change the channel. Once you’re done with the lot, press the dedicated off button on the very top of the remote and it takes care of the rest. If I want to swap to the Amazon Fire TV, I hit that button and it switches the input on the amp, switches off the satellite box and we’re off. I then get a custom remote to change volume with the amp, switch channels with the satellite box and activate picture-in-picture with the TV. For me that’s the amp, the satellite box and the TV, all set to the right input and mode automatically. Hit “Watch TV” on the touchscreen for instance, and it’ll turn on everything needed for watching TV and set a starting channel. The smartphone app also works as a full remote, with the volume buttons being able to control the TV’s volume, for instance. The remote has its own charging dock into which it slots when not in use, but will last a good week or so between charges if you so wish. The top third of the Elite is a 2.4in colour touchscreen for choosing devices, selecting favourite channels or activities, or for setting off custom commands that are not bound to physical buttons. All these things should be a given for a remote costing as much as a television, but other solutions costing similar amounts fail on this fundamental level. The remote has a heft to it without being heavy and the soft-grip back makes it easy to hold on to. It is easy to reach all the buttons, and they have a nice, responsive feel to them. There are remotes for show and there are remotes for using, and this is the latter. It is one of the best designed, most comfortable to use remotes I have had the pleasure to hold. You have the remote, the hub and the app. There three elements to the Logitech Harmony Elite. If your home theater (and/or smart home) setup isn’t inordinately complex, one of the other remotes on this list might make for a better buy.The Elite in its charging dock with the Harmony Hub to the right. The bad news: At nearly twice the price of the Companion, you have to really think hard about whether the very high cost of the Elite is worthwhile. Finally, the remote includes a rechargeable battery and a docking station, so you’re much less likely to lose it. The Hub and Companion must be physically plugged into your computer to sync if you configure them through Windows not so with the Elite. Second, and this is the biggie, you can sync changes wirelessly, by tapping a command in the settings function of the remote itself. First, it can control up to 15 devices, while the Hub and Companion are both limited to eight. Bottom lineĪside from the touchscreen control, the Elite offers a few other nice upgrades over the Companion and Hub. It was so much simpler to use a real remote control to watch Hulu via my Xbox One instead of having to deal with the clumsy Xbox game controller that I may never look back. That said, for the most part, working with the remote is straightforward and can even be fun. In single-device mode, there’s no way to map buttons to another device, even though, in this example, the volume buttons don’t do anything when controlling the cable box. For example, I found I often switched to manual control of my cable box, but this locked out the volume controls that are routed through my receiver. If you need to dig into a more complicated setting, it’s easy to switch to single-device control by selecting the specific product you want to command, but this locks you out of simultaneously controlling anything else. Things get a bit hairier if you need to delve past the commands you’ve designed specifically for your actions. LogitechĪ spacious touchscreen makes key shortcuts easy to find. (Though, of course, you can do both of those things if you so desire.) For each action, the commands that appear on the touchscreen are fully customizable, so you can drop in commercial skip buttons, extra volume controls, or just about anything else. Jumping between HBO and Comedy Central is a one-tap affair, with no need to resort to the guide channel or tap in a bunch of digits. Switching channels is a snap: You can set up to 50 favorites, which appear as icons on the display. Your devices fire up in quick succession without any additional effort. It doesn’t get much more intuitive than picking up the remote-which wakes on motion-and tapping “Watch TV,” which instantly appears at the top of the color screen. The Elite shines when you are interacting with the touchscreen.
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