"I just want to watch TV"
"Why is it showing a blue screen instead of my movie?"
"The remote batteries are dead"
These are only the top three complaints from my family when I first set up our media center. Everyone loved the HD picture but hated the process of learning how to use it. To be fair;
- Finding multiple Remotes out of a pile
- Selecting the correct input on the TV
- Selecting the correct input on the A/V Receiver
- Uttering the secret incantation
was too much to ask of my family. The issue came to a head one night when I was out to dinner with my wife and the Caller ID on my cell phone displayed our home number. I missed the call but, thinking that it must be an emergency, immediately phoned home. It was a crisis, but of a different sort. I will keep the protagonist anonymous to ensure my personal safety.
Dad: "What's wrong? Is everything OK?"
Child: "No"
Dad: "Do you need to call 9-1-1?"
Child: "Dad, it's not THAT KIND of an emergency. My friends and I want to watch a Netflix movie and we can't figure out how to make it work."
The next morning, I ordered a Harmony One Universal Remote.
Once your remote arrives, you load the software on a PC or Mac, set-up an online account with the remote's manufacturer (Logitech) so that you can save your media center's configuration and then begin programming the remote via a USB cable connected to your computer. You start by simply entering the names and model numbers of all your system components. The online database matches up your components with their unique remote control codes. The database is updated regularly and even included my Roku Netflix player. You then start building "activities" such as "Watch TV", "Listen to iTunes", "Play FM Radio" by selecting the system components used in each activity. Once you have them all assembled, the universal remote is programmed via the USB cable. It takes 3-4 minutes to update the remote and, once finished, you need to give it a test drive.
What's really useful about this remote, however, is it's touchscreen capability. The push buttons on universal remotes can never include every button for every possible system component. That's where the programmable touchscreen comes in handy. It can be used to program and display non-standard buttons or, more importantly, favorite channels (including their own tricked out icons). Lastly, the Harmony One comes with it's own charging cradle so that it's never out of batteries (unless, of course, your son leaves if between the sofa cushions for a week instead of replacing it in the charging cradle).
To put this in perspective, the picture to the left shows all of the old remotes that have been retired by my Harmony One. It may take some time to set-up and program, but the results are well worth the effort. However, I now must change my usual post-ending tag line to be grammatically correct:
As always ... keep your REMOTE within reach!
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