Sorry - when I said it has a RF receiver I should have said that it was a separate unit.

Most CE devices sold today probably have some colored buttons on their remote. But this coloring is just added to help users distinguish buttons at a glance; they aren't for general purpose use.

Scientific Atlanta, some [but not all] Motorola, and newer DirecTV boxes are only U.S. products I've seen that actually use colored buttons as general purpose buttons.

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


My new Panasonic plasma has colored buttons on the remote, but they are not used for general purpose functions. My Samsung DLP remote has colored buttons, but they are not used for general purpose functions. My DVD and Blu-ray players have colored buttons, but they are not used for general purpose functions. In all, I have 14 CE devices in my home from 9 different manufacturers -- all purchased in the past two years -- and not a single one of them uses color buttons for general purpose functions.


Dish Network does not use color buttons for general purpose functions.

Remote used on all Dish Network DVRs


I use TiVo, Verizon FiOS, and Dish Network DVRs. If it wasn't obvious by now, I do not want unnecessary color buttons on my remote that force Harmony to reduce the size and spacing of the other buttons I use daily.

Please just look at the Harmony One pictured on the first page. Where are they going to stick colored buttons? There is no room. The only way to fit colored buttons is to (1) get rid of the LCD, (2) increase the length of the remote -- which is already quite sizable, or (3) reduce the size or spacing of other buttons.

Logitech already has another remote like that. It's called the Harmony 885. It has a lot of small buttons squeezed on the remote. Philips just announced similar remote at CES for users that want small colored buttons.

When I had a Scientific Atlanta SA8300HD DVR with SARA, I only used the A/B/C buttons a few times a week. They are used to filter the guide (which I never did) and to edit recordings, but that's about it. I had those A/B/C buttons programmed on the LCD and it was fine. The Harmony One is even better, because it lets you put them in color.



Even if I still had the SA8300HD with SARA, I would still choose the Harmony One over the remotes above because it has larger, well-spaced buttons that are much easier to use by feel. The minute you reduce the size of the buttons and squeeze them all together to make room for more, you kill the usability of the remote. IMO.

Please don't misinterpret what I am saying. I have nothing against those that want colored "hard" buttons. And I have nothing against colored "hard" buttons, so long as they do not impact the size and spacing of the other "hard" buttons. But since colored buttons do affect the size and spacing of the other buttons, I do not want them.

The Harmony One is even better,

This is what Im after is that you can set the coloured buttons up on the LCD of the Harmony one with the appropriate colours so as to easily identify them, I have the 880 and I have them on the LCD with just the name of the colours so you have to read them where as the harmony one you just look for the colour ,so much easier.

Just out of interest when will these start to sell on the Australian market ???

I am sorry to say but after programming both requests as new devices they both ended up with just labeled buttons stating the color but not displaying the actual color. I did not bother taking a picture as there really is no point to it.
I even moved on to try to program custom keys to see if there is ....... but there is no option to select or upload an image :P
I guess with my 8300HD I got lucky the customm images got created...

Perhaps widening the gap between the Mute & Back buttons would be enough.

FWIW, my Philips DVR uses unlabelled colour buttons for many options.

But as you've acknowledged, 2 major STB manufacturers DO use them and as a result, many people need them. I appreciate that you don't, but dismissing all the other voices in this thread because your circumstances are slightly different may not be entirely valid.


You're right, I think I misspoke. I think my brother-in-law has DirectTV. But his remote does have 4 general-purpose colored buttons.



I would accept another 1/4" added to my remote's length for 4 colored general-purpose buttons. But again, I use them extensively. You do not, which explains your position. I hope you understand mine and that of everyone else who does use these buttons.


Exactly, editing and managing recordings is most of what I do. That's why I have a PVR.


Thanks, and I think I agree with your sentiment. However, I do believe it's possible to add 4 buttons to a 40+ button remote without making it obscenely larger.

What if I set the Harmony ! up with a pvr on the data base list that will display the coloured buttons on the LCD and then learn all the commands raw from the original pvr remote so it works with all my commands.????? Would it work , Is this a way around the labelled colour buttons ???

Bad news if you wanted the colour buttons, I'm afraid. Here's a link (see below) about some answers from Logitech's Remote Control Business Unit product manager Alex Zaliauskas. It includes this:

"Zaliauskas confirmed the Harmony One is a global model, there will not be a European model (previously designated by a model number ending in 5). So if you were relying on those programmable buttons, too bad - they're gone. You'll have to use on screen buttons instead, which obviously won't always be on the screen when you need them."

[Link: itwire.com]

That guy's a jerk. If those are the only shortcomings of the "1", he really needs to get a life. He admitted Logitech is already working on the first issue. And, if you want colored buttons, buy a children's remote. I mean, come one, if that's what is preventing you from considering the "1", you really have issues. What's the purpose of the remote? I know the argument that colored buttons make it easier to find certain functions, but from what I see with the layout, it will be very intuitive. If you must rely on colors to find the proper buttons...my, my, my....you have other challenges.

You really don't understand the need for the coloured buttons for us Europeans, do you? My sky box (satellite receiver) remote has 4 coloured buttons used for a variety of common tasks. They are just that - coloured buttons, with no text. Similarly, the colours are used for teletext on the TV. Yes, they can be mapped to the LCD but that only leaves 2 'slots' free. For me, that will mean I can't get all my most common items onto one page (as I could with 6 slots free). Maybe that's not an issue for you, but it is for me.

And why is the guy a jerk? What is he saying that you don't agree with? I'm sorry to say, but his comments seem more reasoned than your own...

Apparently I don't. I talking about the uses for Americans. And I stand by my statement that if people need colors to find buttons (that IS the bottom line), then they have issues. I said the "1" would be intuitive enough (and the buttons spaced far apart) for people to find them easily and know what they're used for without gawdy colors that make it look like a kid's remote.

And the writer of that review is a joker because he takes the extreme position that everyone worships the Harmony remote. That's baloney. I have a 550, which I like, but still has its quirks making it less than perfect.

Let's see if I can clear it up for you. If the menu on the TV says "press the blue button to cancel the recording" how would you find the blue button without a hard button or LCD soft button that's blue? I think that's the bottom line.

Well, I suppose you could create a soft button with the text 'blue' but that's an ugly work-around and not a solution. Note the menu didn't say "press the Cancel button to cancel the recording, which happens to be blue."

And we've already established in this thread that there are STB's in the US that use colored buttons, so this is not a problem for Europeans only.

It's too bad that Harmony won't have an international version of the "One", but there is already room on the remote if they decide to do it, and they wouldn't have to make any keys smaller. There's a gap immediately below the LCD that looks perfect for four color buttons. Here's a mock-up I created and posted at DBSTalk.com ...



IMG URL: [Link: dbstalk.com]

The above photo is not possible unless you make the remote longer and shift everything down, which involves a complete redesign.

The white buttons you see under Options and Devices are part of the LCD.

The space below the LCD is there for a reason. The actual LCD part is significantly larger than the viewable image. You've stuck the colored buttons on the part of the LCD covered up by the remote frame.

If you want to put colored buttons below the LCD, they'll need to go where you see the Activity and Help buttons.