Hardware Review: Logitech Harmony 550 Universal Remote

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 08/27/07 at 12:08:45 pm

I’m starting to wonder if I can go a full week without spending ridiculous amounts of money on new toys. This weekend we finally switched over to DirecTV, the new receiver is cool and everything but I have my Series 2 TiVo and I need to control the DTV box through the TiVo. At the same time I want to be able to easily control the DTV box’s standalone functions along with my TV and my new up-converting DVD player all without picking up 10 different remotes to pull it all off.

I knew there was only 1 product that could help, 1 device that could seamlessly control all of my entertainment gizmos with just a few buttons and that device is the Logitech Harmony Remote. I’ve actually been looking at these remotes for a while but I just couldn’t justify the price tag. I mean these things can cost up to $400.00 and it’s just a remote! That’s all it is, a remote control… Or is it?

This weekend I bought myself the Logitech Harmony 550 Advanced Universal Remote. This is the cheaper model, it only retails for a mere $130.00 USD, I actually had Best Buy price match it to a price I found on Amazon.com for 79.99 shipped, but still.


I’ve only had a few hours to really sit down and play with the thing so this review will contain primarily my initial thoughts of the remote. I guess the Harmony 550 can only be described as “Complicated, yet simple.” I say that because at first the remote seems overwhelming. I mean this remote can literally control everything and it shows, lots of buttons and things going on. At the same time, as I’ve said I have only had a chance to play with the remote for a few hours and I’m already quickly getting used to all of the functions due to the highly intuitive menus on its LCD.

The remote is a snap to configure. You have to have a computer to get everything going and it’s helpful if the computer is near the devices you want to set up. In my case I had my notebook in my bedroom and I was able to test everything as I was programming the remote. I could definitely see running back and forth with the remote in the initial setup process being a pain as you will likely need to go back into the software to customize everything in more detail. The configuration software is very easy to use and every single detail really is highly customizable. You can control which button does what for which device or you can use a quick and easy wizard to walk you through the setup of your ‘activities’.

The activities feature is basically the primary focus of the remote. You can select like ‘Watch a DVD’ and it will switch your TV to the right input, turn on your DVD player, it can even automatically press play or open the tray for you all with a single button. In my case, I needed the configuration to be slightly more advanced when it came to my TiVo and the DirecTV receiver working together. I wanted the ability to have certain buttons such as the info button pop up information on the DTV box, but the other buttons control the TiVo, I had a feeling that the Harmony remote would be the only one that could pull off something like that and I was right.

The remote comes with everything you need to get started. It came with two sets of name brand batteries, USB cable and software and a quickstart guide. I didn’t have to buy anything extra to get the remote going or anything like that.

The remote itself as you see in the pictures is pretty good size, but its super slim. It has a real nice feel to it, the build quality is good… It doesn’t feel cheap at all, In fact it reminds me of a cell phone in terms of weight and quality. It’s nice.

The backing is has a rubberized texture making for a nice grip which is good, you don’t want to drop this thing on a hard floor or something. Although the remote feels sturdy enough to where you probably could get away with dropping it without sustaining significant damage. The LCD screen and the backlight on the keys are also very cool looking. The LCD could be higher resolution as it often uses more than one line for some of the options that should fit on a single line. But I guess for a LCD screen on a remote control what can you expect? I suppose the higher end Harmony remotes with the color LCD’s might have higher resolution LCDs.

The LCD screen is going to be one of the key features to this remote and you will find yourself looking at it fairly often to control the proprietary buttons to say your PVR or TV. For example, my LCD TV doesn’t have a Sleep function in the menu system but the remote for the TV has a dedicated ‘Sleep’ button. The harmony remote doesn’t have a dedicated sleep button so it actually shows up as a soft key on the LCD screen. Very cool.

Another function that this remote has is a Help button. You can press help when something unexpected happens or if you get lost and the remote will actually try to resolve the problem for you. An example of this is when my TV and DVD player were not turning on in sync. I pressed help and it asked if the TV was on, I said no and it turned it on for me and asked if the problem was resolved. From then on I haven’t had the syncing problem again.

I could honestly go on about all of the cool little features I have found and have yet to find on the Logitech Harmony 550 but if you’re seeking more information or technical specs I would take a look at the remote’s product page on the Logitech website.

If you’re looking for a remote that can control EVERYTHING and can control everything very easily… In harmony if you will. Or if you’re looking for a somewhat affordable remote control that can perform said harmonical goodness, then I would highly recommend the Logitech Harmony 550 Advanced Universal Remote control.

Come on HD-DVD, You can do it!

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 08/21/07 at 09:08:01 pm

When it comes to the battle of the next-gen High Definition media, I’m a big supporter of HD DVD. I like HD DVD for a few reasons, for one it’s not as proprietary, it was designed as a format that multiple manufactures can make and multiple studios can use. Blu-ray on the other hand is all Sony, Sony makes them, Sony pushes the movie studios to use them, and Sony makes most of the players. I mean I know it’s still early in the game but you can already tell that Blu-ray will be overall a more restrictive format.

I’m starting to really hate Sony as a company because of the thousands of media formats they are throwing out there. For a while it’s like they came out with a new piece of media and new hardware to run it every week. For example, how many different versions of the Sony Memory Stick are there?! 6?! Maybe 7 I think, ridiculous. Oh, Then they have the UMD, that’s really taking off. The Minidisk, remember that? I can’t get rid of my Minidisk player. They are all going to die and be thrown into a museum of Sony’s failures alongside the Betamax.

Now we have the Blu-ray. Honestly, I hope it does die in the water. I’m seriously rooting for HD DVD but Blu-ray is actually putting up a fight. Over the last few months Blu-ray has actually been doing better in HD DVD in terms of video sales, I think the Playstation 3 plays a big part of that. It’s not over yet though, the reason I’m writing about this is because I came across an article tonight and it sounds like Paramount and DreamWorks Animation SKG announced that they will be switching their next-gen media to HD DVD. Paramount is a major studio so I’m interested to see if others will follow and what this means for Spielberg films which are all done through Paramount along with DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films.

You can read about Paramount’s switch to HD DVD here. Also, take a look at this article that explains why Sony is constantly releasing new media formats.

Let’s review a blog!

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 08/20/07 at 07:08:08 pm

Jon Lee Dot See Eh or Jonlee.ca (it actually took me a while to realize that, seriously) is a Web Development Blog written by none other then Jon Lee, a Chinese-Canadian residing in Toronto, Ontario.

I actually stumbled upon this site through a link posted in the new (mt) MediaTemple user forums. The website overall isn’t nothing special in terms of design (Sorry Jon, but you said you wanted criticism) the header and colors could really use some work but the content is spot on. I have featured “better your blog” websites on here in the past but this website takes the cake. It really does have tons of great tips and tricks including ways to increase traffic and monetizing your blog or website.

Take a look for yourself at JonLee.ca.

My friend has got some stuff for sale.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 08/20/07 at 11:08:44 am

I’ve got a good friend that has some nice stuff, and he’s selling it all so he can join green peace and save the whales. At least that’s a story he could use for the ladies, in reality he does have some stuff up for sale and he asked if I could blog about it and here we are…

He gave me some boring write up for his car but I think I’ll just take the parts that are important to me and leave out the vital details that potential buyers might actually need to know.

First off and most importantly this car just looks fast doesn’t it?! That’s because it is, I would know because I’ve ridden in it… It’s actually a 2005 Ford Mustang coupe with the V6. The car currently has around 40,000 miles, the interior is in great shape it’s all tan leather inside.

Let’s see, it also looks like he’d like me to mention that it’s well equipped with AC/Heat, it has traction control which is useful for our Minnesota winters and it has the single CD stereo system. He has actually put a lot of money and effort into an aftermarket audio system, I’m not sure of what all it includes but it sounds fantastic I’m sure.

What else… it has a few huge dents from a truck hitting it, he was pulling out of the gas station and BAM!! freakin’ freightliner slams into the car just like that. You can’t see it in the picture but the car is all jacked up on the one side…

No I’m just kidding, the exterior is actually in near pristine condition. He claims there are a couple scratches and things but I thought it looked great. Lastly all of the maintenance is up to date yadda yadda yadda in other words he takes care of his car, the thing runs like it’s brand new.

Equipped as shown he’s asking $17,900, otherwise $16,500 without the aftermarket audio.

Next up is his computer. He’s not going to need this thing while he’s in the rain forest saving the polar bears so were going to go ahead and list it here with the car.

It’s an Apple iMac G5 with the huge 20″ LCD. It’s like less than a year old and it has the 2.1 GHz IBM G5 processor. It has 512MB of DDR ram with the 700MHz FSB. It’s a real nice machine; he used it for audio production and stuff so it can definitely handle anything that’s thrown at it in terms of performance. He didn’t send me any other details for it, I’m assuming he would include an Apple keyboard and perhaps a mouse with it, I know he has the original box and all of the software and books etc. It’s in very good condition, no scratches on the screen or anything.

It sounds like he wants $900.00 or best offer for the Mac, I heard that he might go as low as $850 for that special someone which if you compare with eBay is a heck of a deal.

He might be selling some other audio equipment and things too, if you’re interested in any of this stuff drop me an email and I will hook you up with the necessary contact info for Kyle or if he wants me to post it on here I will go ahead and update this post.


$109.00?! I don’t think so Columbia House.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 08/19/07 at 05:08:36 pm

Columbia House clubs, where would the world be without them?! I signed up for the Columbia House DVD club like 3 years ago to get a few DVDs for next to nothing. The deal was almost too good to be true, I guess that’s because it is.

In order to meet the terms of your agreement you have to buy like 2 or 3 DVDs within your 2 year contract and if you don’t they can burn down your house, or at least send you an outrageous bill that they try to make you pay. The problem however is not that you have to buy a couple DVDs, that’s really no big deal if that’s all it was. Columbia House will ‘suggest’ DVDs every month, they call them director’s selections or some crap. They suggest them but they also automatically charge your credit card that you used to sign up for the service and they will send you the selections automatically if you don’t decline them. Declining the selections isn’t a hard process, they send you an email and you just have to click the link but you only have 1 or 2 days to decline or they will send out the DVD and charge you. Lucky for me I signed up with a temporary or ‘virtual’ Paypal debt card that is only good for one use, so they would charge it and it would be declined and then they send me a bunch of emails trying to get me to update my card information. Fat chance.

Skipping ahead, I may or may not have bought the DVDs I was supposed to. I was almost sure that I did but Columbia House claims otherwise and they want me to pay for god knows what since they never sent me a listed invoice. I’m not going to buy DVD’s from them, their double the price of anywhere else. Ridiculous.

So I received another letter the other day, this time from a collection agency threatening to destroy my precious credit if I don’t give them their 109 bucks. Honestly I don’t think they have the ability to do so, I never gave Columbia House any detailed information. They don’t have my social security number or anything, they don’t even have the correct address.

But I decided that since they want to scare me with letters, I’d send one back. Here’s what it read –

To whom it may concern,

I am disputing the validity of these charges. I had received this letter on 08/18/2007 and it says if I reply within 30 days I can file a dispute.

I do not know which products I am being invoiced for as I had fulfilled my membership requirements with Columbia House by meeting the purchase requirements. I however never did receive my end of the bargain, when I signed up for the promotion and ordered the DVDs I received a rain check for one of them due to it being out of stock. I made a selection by mail and used the rain check but I never received the last DVD.

As I have stated before, I am sure I have met my membership requirements but regardless of if that’s true this contract should be null and void as Columbia House is not offering sufficient customer service to resolve any problems or questions I have had. Their phone system does not allow for a subscriber to easily speak with a human being, and Columbia House has not answered the emails I have sent them!

Columbia House did not provide the offer as advertised. This company is a scam and IT WILL BE EXPOSED.

I demand a copy of a signed contract or Letter of Agency, this information must require my full profile of personal information including social security number, valid address that matches my Minnesota Drivers License, and a signed statement to the terms I had allegedly agreed to. As I stated before, to my knowledge I have met the terms of the agreement I signed up for, Columbia House however did not.

I also request a full invoice with every item in detail that I am being charged for.

If I do not receive all of this information in full my next letter will be to both the Better Business Bureau and the State of Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. This is not a idle threat, it may not stop or even slow down Columbia House’s shady business practices and tactics but it will also not stop me from disputing this incident to the best of my ability.

I will be expecting a reply from both you the collection agency and Columbia House concerning this dispute, and I thank you for taking the time to read this and your efforts in forwarding this to the correct department so I may have this resolved.

Regards,

( my scribbled signature )

I’m interested to see if I actually pushed any buttons with this, I honestly doubt they will even read the thing but I thought I’d give it a shot anyways. I considered sending them their $109.00 in another form, such as $109.00 value’s worth of coupons to local businesses or maybe I could send them 109 ¥en…

Good luck getting your blood money out of me Columbia House because it isn’t going to happen.

The definition of Irony.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 08/16/07 at 08:08:20 pm

It seems that this week the hot topic has been Cable, Cable Broadband, and DirecTV’s BPL plans.

As I mentioned in an earlier post today, I work for a cable/telecommunications provider based out of Northern Minnesota. The problem is I don’t live within our service area, I live in an area which USCable serves.

The internet service through USC has been great but the television service is mediocre at best and very overpriced compared to other providers in MN including the one I work for. I decided to go back to dish but this time I’m going with DirecTV. A few of my co-workers and friends all have recently switched to DirecTV in the last month or so and I’ve heard a lot of good things so I’m pretty excited to disconnect and get a dish.

With my new-ish HD LCD I’m looking into the HD content that DirecTV has to offer. I didn’t get an HD box off the bat, we just jumped into a standard service promo they had going but I may upgrade to an HD box in the coming months. I will have to settle for my locals and up-converted DVDs in High Def for the time being, which is more then sufficient… For now.

The bet is over, She won.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 08/16/07 at 07:08:02 pm

Since Sunday I have had a running bet with Courtney about who could pull in the most moolah from sponsored posts. We both gave it our best, I actually have one more high paying opp reserved but I decided to throw in the towel, even if I did the last post I would be over $10.00 behind her and I would be at my daily limit. So it was a challenge and she is officially the queen of sponsored blogging.

The bet explains why there has been so many posts this week, a lot of extra content around the website to the point where it’s almost defacing it. I’m just happy to be back to normal again ;)

Cable companies facing big bandwidth crunch.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 08/16/07 at 11:08:25 am

If you’re starting to become frustrated with the download speed of your cable ISP or the relatively low number of HD channels available, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Your local cable provider will soon be faced with a serious bandwidth crunch, according to a new report released by ABI Research. The problem comes from more demanding applications, including high-definition video, video on demand, online gaming, and higher-bandwidth Internet applications. The result? Big problems—like fewer HD channels and sputtering download speeds—if the industry doesn’t respond to the challenges in front of it.

Some of you know that I myself work for a cable provider based out of the Midwest. I thought this article was pretty interesting so I thought I’d link to it here with some of my thoughts.

Bandwidth really is a big subject right now; there are so many demanding applications and technology that really use the pipe beyond its full potential. Our company is in the process of launching VoIP phone service and we have definitely seen a nice spike in overall band usage now that we’re approaching a good amount of customers. I wouldn’t say that we can’t keep up but we are starting to find new ways to manage the bandwidth more efficiently so that we can offer the best quality of service possible.

This article is pretty interesting though, it shows some of the challenges that the major players in the cable industry are starting to face. If you have any interest in the technology behind bandwidth prioritization and rate shaping I would recommend taking a look.

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