Logitech Harmony Remote

Logitech Harmony Remote is a line of universal remote controls manufactured and sold by Logitech.

History

The Harmony was originally created in 2001 by the Canadian company, Easy Zapper and first sold in November 2001.cite press release
title = New Harmony Universal Remote Links Home Entertainment to the Internet
publisher = Easy Zapper, Inc.
date = September 27, 2001
url = http://web.archive.org/web/20020204104948/www.easyzapper.com/Harmony/PressRelease_20010927.asp
accessdate = 2007-09-05] The company later changed its name to Intrigue Technologies and was located in Mississauga Ontario, Canada. It was later acquired by computer peripheral manufacturer Logitech in May 2004 for twenty-nine million dollars.cite press release
title = Logitech Acquires Intrigue Technologies, Maker of Acclaimed Harmony Remote Controls
publisher = Logitech
date = May 5, 2004
url = http://ir.logitech.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=171943
accessdate = 2007-09-05]

Products in production

* Harmony One (not region specific)
* Harmony 1000 (American region)
* Harmony 895 Pro (European region)
* Harmony 895 (European region)
* Harmony 890 Pro (American region)
* Harmony 890 (American region)
* Harmony 885 (European region)
* Harmony 880 (American region)
* Harmony 785 (European region)
* Harmony 720 (American region)
* Harmony 688 (European region) (discontinued)
* Harmony 670 (American region)
* Harmony 620 (American region)
* Harmony 659 (American region)
* Harmony 555 (European region)
* Harmony 550 (American region)
* Harmony 525 (European region)
* Harmony 520 (American region)
* Harmony for Xbox 360 (American region)

Harmony One

The newest (as of January 2008) in the product line, the Harmony One features a color touch screen and is rechargeable. It does not offer any RF capability.

Harmony 1000

The Harmony 1000 is has customizable touchscreen commands, sounds and a rechargeable battery. It is also compatible with the RF extender.

Harmony 890/895

The Harmony 890/895 is the same as the 880/885, but it adds the radio frequency (RF) component enabling the remote to control devices even without line-of-sight to and from different rooms up to a range of 30 meters. It should be noted that the remote can NOT control proprietary RF devices, but it can control special Z-Wave RF devices as well as IR devices without line of sight via the RF extender. [ [http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/374&cl=gb,en Logitech Harmony 895 Advanced Universal Remote] ] [ [http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/374&cl=us,en Logitech Harmony 890 Advanced Universal Remote] ]

The 890Pro (there is no 895Pro) adds multi-room and multi-controller (you can setup primary and secondary remotes that work with the same wireless extender) support as well as a different color scheme. It also adds two buttons (picture and sound) that allow for quick access to picture and sound related commands. It is not listed on the Logitech website and is sold through custom installation companies. The 890Pro does not ship with the RF extender.

Harmony 880/885

The Harmony 880 was the first Harmony with a color LCD screen and a rechargeable battery. The Harmony 885 remote has extra buttons as mentioned below. Most Logitech websites show the Logitech 880 as their image of choice in representing the Harmony range. The 885 replaces up and down keys with four colour keys used for teletext and more recently by some set top boxes.

There was a short lived 880Pro that had the picture and sound buttons. This remote did NOT feature multiroom/multicontroller support like the 890Pro.

Harmony 720

The Harmony 720 was initially offered exclusively through Costco [ [http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6538970.html CNet Harmony 720 Review] accessed 09 October 2008] in 2006 and featured a color screen and backlit keys. It seems it was designed as an inexpensive competitor to the earlier Harmony 880, with little differences except for the ergonomic design and key layout [ [http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6538970.html CNet Harmony 720 Review] accessed 09 October 2008] . It's now available through other vendors [ [http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-720-Universal-Remote/dp/B000GD3J3G Amazon.com] accessed 09 October 2008] but remains unlisted on Logitech's product page. [ [http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/&cl=us,en Logitech Universal Remotes] accessed 09 October 2008]

Harmony 670

The Harmony 670 is a mid-range universal remote that offers most of the functionality in the Harmony line. The 670 has a monochrome LCD screen and puts DVR functions in the middle of the remote. [ [http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/377&cl=us,en Harmony 670] ]

Harmony 620

The Harmony 620 is functionally identical to the Harmony 670, but comes in black instead of silver/black.

Harmony 659

The Harmony 659 is another mid-range universal remote that offers most of the functionality in the Harmony line. It has a monochrome LCD screen. [ [http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/379&cl=us,en Harmony 659] ]

Harmony 550

The Harmony 550 is a mid-range remote that is similar in functionality to the Harmony 659 and 670, but with a different button arrangement and a squared-off physical design compared to the hourglass design of the 6xx series. It has a backlit monochrome LCD screen. [ [http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/376&cl=us,en Harmony 550] ]

Harmony 360

The Harmony 360 is pre-configured to be used with the Xbox 360 console, and has special buttons, X, Y, A, B and media center control, correlating with the same as found on native Xbox controllers. It has a back-lit LCD screen, uses 4 AAA batteries. [ [http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/375&cl=us,en Harmony 360] ]

Harmony Remote software

The remote software allows users to update the remote configuration, learn IR commands, and upgrade the remote's firmware.

Early versions of the remote software were browser based only. Newer versions are Java based, but the software still requires constant internet connectivity to work, as remote control codes are actually downloaded on demand from Logitech, allowing updates to product database and to remote codes and sequences to be easily distributed. This also allows Logitech to survey their market in order to determine products for investigation and research. The Harmony control software is compatible with Windows and Mac OS X. A group of developers are currently working on Harmony Remote software for the Linux platform [ [http://www.phildev.net/concordance/ Concordance Project] ] [ [http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/congruity/ Congruity Project] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/&cl=us,en/EN Harmony at Logitech.com]