The Harmony is a stroke of genius!

An ingenious remote control and delivered from Amazon quickly. Who on the PC has only two left hands, but should consider the purchase carefully. And the time a 56k modem should have left behind. :-)

Sequentially:
I had already impressed the Harmony 525 and Logitech'm concept. With the "Actions" you always have exactly * the * matching remote control for what you are doing. After a few years a number key no longer worked, so that a new matured. My choice was then on the Harmony 700th

When switching from the old to the new model, I had to take only the existing data and could then be programmed to other functions.

I describe now short and impromptu setting for a newbie. Note Agile is a PC with Internet access at home, the best in the living room.

Step 1: Download the programming tools

Step 2: You create an account with Logitech. To this are sensibly the e-mail address (this is unique) and a password. Important: Only when you are logged in programming tool, you can see the operating instructions of its Harmony as a PDF.

Step 3: You specify which units (the very exact type designation is required) to be controlled.

Step 4: Defining "Actions". An action is, for example, "TV", "Watch DVD" or "Listen to satellite radio." For each action, you tell the program which devices must be turned on and which inputs they require. Beilspiel "TV": TV on satellite Empfäner a, a surround sound system. TV HDMI input 1, surround sound system Optical 1. all others.

Step 5: Programming button assignment. Each button on the remote control to select a table by proposals to your devices from which device is to be addressed and what effects they exert. Example: key Lautsärke +, device = surround system, function = louder.
Saugut is that you can display even user-defined functions in the display. On my satellite receiver depends a hard drive. To get access to it, I have for example the display function "hard drive" is defined. Thus, is not some "other" button and thus occupies the function clearly visible even for my wife.

Step 6: When everything is ready, upload the data via USB on the remote control and look forward to that (usually) anything goes. You do not need backup, because all it has is programmed in Logitech on a server. Even if the PC dies, is (for the Harmony) no problem. Download the program on another PC, log in with email address and password, and the data is returned.

Do not be afraid to call the toll-free hotline. There one is friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful. Waiting times I do not know. The employees at the hotline to see what you have programmed, your data may change and also have the patience to wait until you have played and tested these modifications on your remote control. If necessary, you will receive an email.

The battery charging via the USB port is perhaps constructed somewhat unfortunate, here I would like to see their own more durable socket. I for one consider a second battery pair ready which I boot externally. If necessary, I invite not on, but only to exchange the batteries.

It is criticized again and again, the programming was unnerving slowly. That's not true! Because the data are not available on your own computer, but with Logitech, naturally short delay times are always to be seen. Uploading the data to the remote control takes a while. This is normal because you are transferring a yes so you have created new software into the internal EEPROM. Subsequent changes are incidentally very fast out of hand.

The Harmony 700 feels good and high quality on, looks professional and is certainly very durable. A well thought-out concept and a friendly hotline. What more do you want?