Your Universal Remote Control Center
RemoteCentral.com
Harmony Remote Controls Forum - View Post
Previous section Next section Previous page Next page Up level
Up level
The following page was printed from RemoteCentral.com:

Login:
Pass:
 
 

Page 1 of 14
Topic:
Harmony unveils next-generation remote -- Harmony One
This thread has 199 replies. Displaying posts 1 through 15.
Post 1 made on Saturday January 5, 2008 at 21:04
RonL
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
June 2003
235
Harmony One @ Logitech.com (see the 3D view)

Review @ PC Magazine

Today at the Consumer Electronics Show, Logitech (SWX:LOGN) (NASDAQ:LOGI) unveiled the Harmony® One advanced universal remote control, marking a significant leap in the evolution of the best-selling line of Harmony remotes. Offering the same one-touch, activity-based control as other Harmony remotes, the Harmony One makes controlling home entertainment even easier with a full-color touch screen, an intuitive button layout and an exceptionally comfortable user-friendly design. The product has received the CES 2008 Design and Engineering Award: Best of Innovations in Home-Entertainment Accessories.

As home-entertainment systems become more sophisticated and complex, people are often frustrated and overwhelmed by the need to have multiple devices, the frequent necessity for family members to have written instructions to control the system (otherwise known as a cheat sheet) and the growing number of remotes on the coffee table. And, according to industry research, more and more families will face this problem. IMS Research’s report, “The Future of High-Definition TV – 2007 Edition,” forecasts strong worldwide growth for HDTV over the next four years (nearly 148 million HDTV households by 2011). And in the U.S. alone, consumer spending on digital-living products is on track to hit $300 billion in 2010 (Parks Associates, “Digital Living Forecast,” Dec. 2006).

“The Harmony advanced universal remotes have been highly successful at providing easy, one-touch access to favorite activities, such as watching TV, playing a video game, or listening to music – all with a single remote,” said Ashish Arora, vice president and general manager of Logitech’s Harmony business unit. “To further improve our lineup, while developing Harmony One, we sought to intimately understand the interaction between people, their remotes, and their entertainment systems. In fact, Harmony One is the result of our most comprehensive research and development undertaking ever – more than 20,000 hours.”

A key outcome of Logitech’s research is a 2.2-inch color touch screen that uses capacitive technology, which responds to tiny electrical charges from the fingertips. Capacitive touch-screen technology is more durable, compared to touch screens that respond to pressure. The color touch screen provides control of any home entertainment device with an infrared receiver, including digital video recorders, high-definition televisions and many household appliances. The Harmony One remote’s touch screen can also display icons of specified TV stations for quick access to favorite stations.

Based on a customer survey, Logitech also determined that it could improve its customers’ experience with the Harmony remote by creating a more intuitive button layout. For improved ease of use, the Harmony One remote provides an intelligent and intuitive button layout divided into four distinct zones (numbers; traditional DVD controls; D-pad with volume and channel up/down; and on-screen menu buttons) for seamless control of today’s most popular home entertainment devices. Only the 40 most-essential buttons appear on the Harmony One remote – so people can find the right one quickly. Each button is individually sculpted, providing useful tactile cues so people can operate the remote by touch, rather than relying on sight.

To better address ergonomics, the Harmony One remote features a curved, exceptionally comfortable shape that is easy for anyone in the family to hold, regardless of hand size. Presenting an elegant piano-black top and a silver base, and black buttons with white backlighting, Harmony One is the perfect complement for any living room. And the rechargeable remote’s recharging station has a sleek profile with an adjustable light that makes it easy to find, even in the dark.

In addition to its optimized design, the Harmony One delivers the renowned benefits common to the Harmony family of universal remotes, including its exclusive one-touch activity-based control system powered by the world’s largest A/V-control database of entertainment equipment, guided online setup and sophisticated telephone support.

Press release

Pictures:




Click image for source.


Colored buttons on LCD now possible. Picture courtesy of Geil. See second page for more.

More pictures at Engadget and Harmony.com.

See the second page of this thread for more pictures of the software and setup.

Last edited by RonL on January 11, 2008 16:17.
OP | Post 2 made on Saturday January 5, 2008 at 21:06
RonL
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
June 2003
235
Harmony One vs Harmony 880 from Review @ PC Magazine




Harmony One vs Harmony 720

On January 28, 2008 at 14:33, Jason Persampieri said...
On the avsforum, someone posted this pic:
"
/>

Last edited by RonL on January 31, 2008 02:09.
Post 3 made on Saturday January 5, 2008 at 21:55
Jason Persampieri
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2001
22
Very nice!

I just wish it had Bluetooth/RF support for my PS3. It seems like more Universal manufacturers need to take into account Sony's "blunder."
Post 4 made on Saturday January 5, 2008 at 23:00
drew2k1
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
March 2003
115
Wow. I'm getting itchy fingers, despite the new remote NOT having dedicated color buttons. Why won't Logitech give the US color buttons??? Cable systems use them. DIRECTV uses them. Logitech needs to give them to us so we can use them too!
Post 5 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 04:37
cjgpers
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
September 2001
68
On January 5, 2008 at 23:00, drew2k1 said...
Wow. I'm getting itchy fingers, despite the new remote
NOT having dedicated color buttons. Why won't Logitech
give the US color buttons??? Cable systems use them.
DIRECTV uses them. Logitech needs to give them to us
so we can use them too!

Yes, colour buttons are the first thing I look for on a remote. If it doesn't have them, then I won't even consider it. The Sky HD system in the UK uses colour buttons a lot.

I didn't realise that cable systems in the US used them as well. If Logitech included colour buttons on all remotes, they wouldn't have to engineer different products for the UK market (eg. the US 550 vs the UK 555).
OP | Post 6 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 04:45
RonL
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
June 2003
235
Note you can put color buttons on the touch LCD.

I think if you put any more buttons on that remote, you are forced to significantly reduce the size and spacing of the other buttons. Small buttons and inadequate spacing are the most common complaints about the Harmony remotes. In the design documentation on their site, Harmony says they wanted to address those complaints with this remote, so it was important to keep the number of buttons to a minimum.

DVD recorders, TiVos, Dish Network STBs, Verizon FiOS STBs, U-Verse STBs, older DirecTV STBs, and some newer cable STBs do not use colored buttons.

On some cable company boxes, the color buttons are used to access advanced options, search or filter programming, and/or edit the settings for an existing recording. They generally aren't used when watching live TV, navigating the guide, picking new programs to record, or when viewing recorded programming.

For the vast majority of U.S. customers, I think the colored buttons are just fine on the touch LCD, and a far better choice than reducing the size or spacing of the other buttons. UK customers may use those buttons on a more regular basis, I don't know.

PC Magazine certainly likes the Harmony One. They said it was a major improvement over past Harmony remotes. See their review:

[Link: pcmag.com]

Last edited by RonL on January 6, 2008 18:21.
Post 7 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 06:00
kuyer
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
January 2007
59
I looked at the site of Logitech, but there was no software to download.
Thus this mean we get a update for our software to?
Or do they deliver the One with its own software?
Henk, from Holland.
Harmony Forum The Netherlands.
http://harmony-forum.nl/
Post 8 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 09:54
akirby
Super Member
Joined:
Posts:
March 2004
4,640
Why would it need new software?
Post 9 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 10:27
kuyer
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
January 2007
59
On January 6, 2008 at 09:54, akirby said...
Why would it need new software?

When you went to the support site and fill in the One, this is what they say:

Software

* Title: Software Not Yet Available
* Software Version: N/A
* Post Date: N/A
* Platform: Windows XP
* File Size: N/A
Henk, from Holland.
Harmony Forum The Netherlands.
http://harmony-forum.nl/
Post 10 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 12:05
drew2k1
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
March 2003
115
On January 6, 2008 at 04:45, RonL said...
Note you can put color buttons on the touch LCD.

This is what I have already done on my HK-TC30, but I still would rather have dedicated hard color keys.

I think if you put any more buttons on that remote, you
are forced to significantly reduce the size and spacing
of the other buttons. Small buttons and inadequate spacing
are the most common complaints about the Harmony remotes.
In the design documentation on their site, Harmony says
they wanted to address those complaints with this remote,
so it was important to keep the number of buttons to a
minimum.

But international customers have seen the same Harmony remotes with four dedicated color buttons, with no changes to button size or remote size. I can't wait to see what the international Harmony One will look like ... but I'm positive it will have color buttons.

DVD recorders, TiVos, Dish Network STBs, Verizon FiOS
STBs, U-Verse STBs, older DirecTV STBs, and some newer
cable STBs do not use colored buttons.

On some cable company boxes, the color buttons are used
to access advanced options, search or filter programming,
and/or edit the settings for an existing recording. They
generally aren't used when watching live TV, navigating
the guide, picking new programs to record, or when viewing
recorded programming.

I'm not as willing as you to generalize this and say how MSOs are using or are not using color buttons.

For the vast majority of U.S. customers, I think the colored
buttons are just fine on the touch LCD, and a far better
choice than reducing the size or spacing of the other
buttons. UK customers may use those buttons on a more
regular basis, I don't know.

Again, I'm not willing to generalize what US customers want. I know MANY customers of DIRECTV and Cablevision who want dedicated color buttons on their Harmony remotes. (European customers use the color keys quite a lot - they are teletext keys used for many services.)

All I'm asking for is that Logitech ALSO sell in the United States the version with the dedicated color keys. If they want to sell it for more, fine - just make it an option for US customers who WANT dedicated color keys.
Post 11 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 12:11
drew2k1
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
March 2003
115
On January 6, 2008 at 10:27, kuyer said...
When you went to the support site and fill in the One,
this is what they say:

Software

* Title: Software Not Yet Available
* Software Version: N/A
* Post Date: N/A
* Platform: Windows XP
* File Size: N/A

Hi, Henk! I see in your signature that you are from The Netherlands! I tried unsuccessfully in October 2007 to buy the European HK=TC30 from Raf Electronics Webshop (www.raf.nl), but got a nice reply back that they don't ship outside of Holland. I bet you could do a nice business reselling European Harmony models to the US on eBay! :)
Post 12 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 12:16
lebaige
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
June 2005
10
It looks awesome but I cannot justify purchasing anything but an RF remote at this point, having used one for a year. The difference in missed commands is just ridiculous, i.e. with the RF 890 I've never had one missed command. Not one.
Post 13 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 14:34
jlet
Super Member
Joined:
Posts:
March 2004
2,631
On January 6, 2008 at 12:05, drew2k1 said...
But international customers have seen the same Harmony
remotes with four dedicated color buttons, with no changes
to button size or remote size...

That is because they replace other buttons like Sound, Picture, A and B (see 550 vs 555), or there was room already to add the extra 4 buttons.
H659, H680, SA8300HD, TH-50PZ850, AVR-X4000
Post 14 made on Sunday January 6, 2008 at 15:38
thebard
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
October 2007
36
On January 6, 2008 at 14:34, jlet said...
That is because they replace other buttons like Sound,
Picture, A and B (see 550 vs 555), or there was room already
to add the extra 4 buttons.

I'm with Drew on this one. I understand what you're saying about the color buttons displacing the sound/pic buttons, but providing that option for the U.S. market would be appreciated.

Personally, I wouldn't use the color buttons for cable/teletext functions, but for commands or maros that are used across all activities, and yet are not available on the hard buttons, such as "Zoom", "Surround Toggle", etc. Yes, I know you could use the LCD screen for these, but I prefer to relegate more obscure commands there. And, yes, I know that the sound/pic buttons provide those functions, but (in my opinion) at the expense of the activity concept. The family-friendly approach of the Harmony line is defeated when my wife or son need to enter a sound or picture "mode" to turn surround off, then get confused why the buttons no longer control the cable box but rather the receiver.
Post 15 made on Monday January 7, 2008 at 23:47
Geil
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
January 2008
19
I got lucky and got my hands on the Harmony One two days ago (so stupid but I could have had it weeks earlier :P) and so far it is GREAT!!!! no more crashing H1000... no more looking at the LCD "all the time"
To Clarify:
- The desktop software that came with the remote is 7.4 (whereas the latest download is 7.3.2)
- Firmware version is 2.3 for reference
- Documentation indicates Mac and Vista compatibility (I installed onto my trusted XP)
- I was forced to create a new account during the S/W installation but then I logged out and back in with my old account info and simply replace my remote and everything worked
- Favorite Channel Icons now support larger res of 75x44 pixels
- Took over my old background but the new desktop S/W lacks the interface to allow me to change it?
- LCD quality is significantly better than the 880 but not quite as good as the H1000
- BTW for those who always complained you do see the clock in the upper right corner :)
- The contact of the remote to the charger is much better and consistent
- I certainly agree with the review and love the unit so far and will report back with more if there is interest e.g. battery life (my H1000 is now down to 3 days)
- Also no more reaching for my knife to gain access to the USB port like on the H1000
- Images of colored, shaped and labelled buttons under Additional Buttons option for my ScientificAtlanta HDPVR, started showing up with the latest H1000 update as well

Last edited by Geil on January 8, 2008 00:50.
Find in this thread:
Page 1 of 14


Jump to


Protected Feature Before you can reply to a message...
You must first register for a Remote Central user account - it's fast and free! Or, if you already have an account, please login now.

Please read the following: Unsolicited commercial advertisements are absolutely not permitted on this forum. Other private buy & sell messages should be posted to our Marketplace. For information on how to advertise your service or product click here. Remote Central reserves the right to remove or modify any post that is deemed inappropriate.

Hosting Services by ipHouse