Quantcast
Subscribe to magazine

Bring Harmony to Your Home

Logitech's Harmony Remote 676 is slick, powerful, and easy to use.

Eric Dahl

  • 0 Yes
  • 0 No

Logitech Logitech Inc Harmony 676 Remote Control

Photograph: Marc Simon
What good is a home theater if it's a colossal pain to use? A universal remote like Logitech's Harmony Remote 676 makes controlling all of your components easy.

To program the Harmony, you log on to a Web site and tell a wizard what TV, DVD player, cable box, or other devices you have. You then answer questions about your setup (for example, what video input your DVD player is connected to), plug the remote into your PC with a USB cable, and download the codes to control your devices. Sound simple? It is.

1. Action buttons: With one press you can watch TV; play a CD, DVD, or video game; or listen to the radio. Custom setup options let you control what happens when you start any of those activities (for instance, you can tell it to set the surround mode on your receiver when you play a DVD). Now if they could only automate making popcorn....

2. Help button: Wow: a Help button that actually works! For instance, when the DVD action didn't switch to the correct input on my receiver, the help menu guided me in troubleshooting the problem.

3. Screen: Access less frequently used commands (like the volume-tweaking commands on a CD changer) from this screen. The Harmony can also download TV-program listings for your favorite channels via USB and display them here.

4. Command buttons: Finding key commands like Play, Fast Forward, and Change Channel by touch is easy.

5. Glow button: When you need to see what you're doing in the dark, the Glow button makes the other buttons on the remote light up.

Universal Remote

Logitech Harmony Remote 676
Rated 4 stars
DW VERDICT: Slick, powerful, and easy to use.
PRICE: $160 (street)
Current Price (if available)

  • Recommend this story?
  • 0 Yes
    0 No

Print 65% more pages than with refilled inks. Trust Original HP Inks. Hit Print Reliably.

Featured APC Accessories For Your System
10% Off Entire Cart at Online Store

  • APC Back-UPS ES Safeguards your equipment from damaging surges and spikes that travel along your utility & data lines.
  • APC SurgeArrest Performance Highest level of protection for your professional computers, electronics and connected devices, as well as provides surge protection.

People who read this also read:

  • 2007 Microsoft Office Suites Comparison This paper compares and contrasts four suites of the 2007 Microsoft Office system: Microsoft Office Standard 2007, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007, Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 and Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007. This paper is intended to help organizations understand the applications and capabilities offered, and to identify the suite that best fits their needs.
  • Windows Vista Migration: The Business Proposition It's not so much a matter of "if" but "when" for most organizations regarding migration to Windows Vista. Laying the groundwork now for this migration can yield higher ROI than waiting until later. This Computerworld Technology Briefing explains it all.

PC World's Marketplace