11. Logitech Harmony 1100

• Harmony 1100 Remote...
• • Newegg.com
  • $349.99
• • Crutchfield.com
  • $399.99
• • eXtremeMegaDeals
  • $342.99
• • Quack Quack Distributors
  • $348.00
• • NextWarehouse
  • $349.86

$499.99

In the world of high-end universal remotes, there are those that can be customized and scripted and those that can’t. Remote controls such as the Philips Pronto fall into the former group, but their very expensive, complex, and time-intensive. Now, many dads are tinkerers and don’t mind a bit of a learning curve to master a flash new piece of technology, but a true custom remote might stretch the patience of any but the most ardent home theater lover. At the other end of the spectrum, we have the usual universal remote, able to learn the codes of many devices so that half a dozen wands might be consolidated into one. The Harmony 1100 falls into an intriguing middle ground. It’s somewhat scriptable, definitely universal, on the high side of the consumer price spectrum, and incredibly cool to use.

First off, this is not your daddy’s usual remote control. The Harmony family has always excelled at providing one-touch control of an entire home theater. For example, with stand-alone remotes and my current home theater setup, to watch a Blu-ray movie, I would need to turn my TV to RGB1, turn on the Blu-ray player, turn my Belkin HDMI switch to its second channel, turn the amplifier to V-AUX, and then turn off any other devices no longer in use. That’s half a dozen remotes in play there. A modern Harmony remote not only assumes the role of all those separate remotes, it will perform each of those functions in the order specified. (The ability to dictate order of execution is necessary because, in my case, the Belkin switch won’t recognize channel 2 unless the Blu-ray player on that channel is already turned on.) The palm-sized Harmony 1100 can do this plus a whole lot more.

The 1100 is dominated by a 3.5" touchscreen. Some people dislike touchscreen remotes because they often require the user to look away from the TV in order to find function buttons. (Imagine trying to touch type on an iPhone.) The Harmony 1100 gets around some of this handicap through several means. First, there are the standard button controls running down the right side of the remote, including volume and channel rockers and a D-pad. Left-handers will be offended at the one-sided nature of this arrangement, but there it is. Logitech places a series of four bumps down the left and right sides of the screen that act as markers for your fingers so its easier to find a bump, then just slide over a bit to tap the on-screen button in that position without needing to look at it. Not least of all, the new software in the 1100 lets you pick the button layout in the primary activity screens. For instance, when doing the Watch PVR activity, you can specify that the 30-second skip button is prominently displayed with Pause and Record on the first screen. You get to prioritize the functions you use most, and you can change the label and icon for each button. Logitech offers 90 button images to choose from. You can also replace Logitech’s background image with a photo of whatever you please.

Logitech’s online Harmony database now spans over 225,000 devices from more than 5,000 manufacturers, giving you the ability to control everything from a VCR to an Xbox 360 to RF-controlled lights. (Yes, the 1100 outputs both infrared and RF, which lets you control devices behind closed cabinet doors if you have Logitech’s optional $100 RF Wireless Extender.) The remote tethers to your PC via USB, and, armed with Logitech’s Harmony application and an Internet connection, you can assemble your home theater’s device profile and download it to the remote. Note that this is where the tinkering often comes in. I found that my DVD player required special tweaks to the IR signal timings in order for the Harmony to control it, so anticipate a few rounds of trial and error to get everything set up properly.

For those willing to take the time on setup, though, the Harmony 1100 is as impressive a showpiece as it is a functional hub for Dad’s ever-sprawling home entertainment gadgetry.