Harmony Remote SST-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver)

by Harmony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.4 x 2.8 inches ; 5.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00027IOGI
• Item model number: SST-688S
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 9, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

DVD players have more features, receivers have more functions, and Tivo gives you unprecedented control over everything from your MP3 collection to Monday Night Football. The future has arrived, and it's great, but there's one drawback; there are a lot of buttons to push. If you've got a stack of remote controls, each with enough buttons to control the space shuttle, the Logitech Harmony H688 remote may bring some sanity to your coffee table. The H688 offers an innovative, web-based solution to corralling all of your remote functions into one device. Although there is room for improvement in some areas, this remote exceeded our expectations, even when it was asked to control a wide range of old and new devices.

The "Activity Remote"
Universal remote controls have been around for years, promising to simplify things for home theater or stereo users. The problem with these solutions, however, is that they are largely "dumb" devices, meaning they can only be programmed by pointing them at the another remote and pressing buttons on the old remote until the new one "learns" all the functions of the old. The Harmony H688 makes this hassle a thing of the past by placing solid state memory in the remote that can be updated via a PC USB connection. The information stored on the H688 is updated via an Internet connection and Logitech's (www.logitech.com) Harmony web site. The web site contains a database of virtually every electronics product under the sun that's capable of receiving signals from a remote control. The web interface walks users through a series of steps before uploading the proper controller interfaces to the H688.

Explore all the features of the Harmony remote.

While there are other web-enabled universal remote controls out there (most of which are more expensive than the H688), the Harmony H688's unique role as an "activity remote" is what really impresses. Instead of controlling each device independently, the H688 intelligently groups remote functions into activities. Each activity--which is granted a colored button at the top of the remote--corresponds to a grouping of devices. For instance, the "Watch TV" activity does more than turn on your TV, it also turns on your Tivo, A/V receiver, and digital cable box-- anything you have defined as integral to watching TV. And because the H688 knows everything about all of these devices, it knows how you want them to interact with each other. Want your receiver to control volume instead of your TV? Based on the settings you made in the web interface, the H688 knows this and promptly pumps up the volume on the receiver when you hit the volume button. It's this kind of intelligent control of all devices in, well, harmony that really places the Harmony H688 in a league of its own.

Design
The H688 obviously takes design queues from Tivo remote controls. This is certainly not a bad thing, as the remote fits comfortably in the hand and is well balanced. The all-important activity buttons arrayed at the top make it easy to trigger groups of devices that work together to perform a single function. The LCD, which simplifies navigation through device functions, is clear and bright when the backlight is on.

While the H688 offers a wealth of buttons, there is a downside. Many are too small and the button layout suffers from a focus on fashion before function. The "activity" buttons are especially cramped, and even though they are the most important buttons on the remote, they are the only ones that lack text backlighting. The ring of buttons in the middle portion of the remote are similarly cramped and they provide poor tactile response. Tivo users might find their thumbs sore after using the center directional pad for a few hours.

Setup
Once we installed the included Harmony Remote software on our computer and connected the remote via the supplied USB cable, we went to the Harmony web setup interface. After filling in information about our home theater equipment (brands and model numbers) the interface prompted us to make selections about how we wanted our devices to interact. When the selections process is complete, the web interface packages the completed settings into a file that is uploaded to the PC. The update file is then used by the Harmony Remote software to load settings onto the H688. From start to finish, the entire settings and upload process took about 20 minutes-- a pretty painless experience. One note of caution for Mac OSX users: unlike Windows, the Mac OS will not automatically launch an executable that has been downloaded to the desktop. This can confuse the Harmony web interface, which depends on this functionality to upload and verify downloads to the H688. Fortunately, we found that we could trick the web interface into working properly if we manually launched the update executable on the Mac desktop. Better software integration on the Mac side would be a welcome improvement.

In the Den
We spent some quality couch time with the H688 and came away impressed. Apart from our ergonomic gripes, we were delighted by how much more control the unit gave us over our home theater. In many ways, we felt like we were waving a magic wand, turning on whole sets of equipment and firing up movies and CDs with a single button press. For more precise control of each device we could easily navigate to that device in the LCD menu and tinker with more specific settings. We also liked knowing that we could customize the remote for more advanced needs via the web interface. The basic settings were powerful enough, though, to offer the simplicity and control armchair commanders crave.

Pros

• Excellent integration of functions across all device types
• Easy setup and customization via web interface
• Up-to-date and accurate database of all devices

Cons

• Some cramped keys and lack of ergonomics
• Mac OSX compatibility could be better

Product Description

Harmony H688 Universal Remote Control - This unique remote control redefines the term universal. It does the usual TV, DVD, & VCR functions, but it can also control computers, your fireplace, lighting, & more! You can program this remote for so many functions due to the community-based Smart State Database on the Internet. That's right, you can program your remote online! You also get the one-of-a-kind Smart State Technology Activity Control. Just press an "Activity" button on the remote, like "Watch a Movie", and the H688 will automatically set-up your system. Without a complicated macro! 56 Top Mounted Hard Buttons Built-in Speaker Powered by 4 AAA Batteries (not included) Includes a USB cable Color - Metallic Silver

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a universal remote that really works!, September 8, 2004

By 

Alain Avakian "Alain" (GLENDALE, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harmony Remote SST-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver) (Electronics)

I have been struggling with five remotes to control my DLP TV (Samsung), AVR (Denon), DVD player (Denon), TiVo, and Sci-Atlanta Cable Box HDTV DVR (8000-HD).

Controlling all of the above was a daunting task of juggling 5 remotes, so I got the Pronto Pro, and six months later, found juggling the 5 remotes more practical than using the Pronto Pro, which relies on a LCD pannel for most of the controlling.

Then I saw the Harmony h688. It looked very ergonomic, just like my prized TiVo remote, and had PVR buttons on the remote as well. I read some reviews which claimed programming would be easy.

This was the best purchase I have made all year! Within 25 minutes, I had the remote talking to all my components, including the following tasks:
1. Watch HDTV
2. Watch TiVo
3. Listen to Music
4. Watch a DVD
5. Use Computer
6. PC with TiVo

For all of the above, the remote would switch all the right equipment to the right inputs and knows the status of each equipment (on or off). For "PC with TiVo", it would set my Audio to TiVo, my picture to PC (DVI), and have a PIP with TiVo in it.

Everything worked as advertized within the fist 25 minutes!


(...)

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Technology - Small, Terrible Buttons, September 11, 2004

By 

RattleSnake - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harmony Remote SST-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver) (Electronics)

The Good:

This remote is perfect for people who have a large number of AV components they need to tie together. I love the web programming capabilities (though it's not as easy as it could be).

The Bad:

The buttons are simply awful! They're way too small and don't have any space between them, making it impossible to use the remote without first finding the buttons by careful visual inspection. And what's up with that silver ring for the direction buttons? It's all for looks and not for normal use.

Why can't they just make the buttons normal size like TiVo or Sony?

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars finally, I can put all my original remotes away, July 10, 2004

By 

James Pugh (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harmony Remote SST-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver) (Electronics)

If you can consider $200 for a remote, then buy one. Instead of replacing individual remote controls the unit easily programs itself to use your system-which is a complicated feat when you listen to your TV through a stereo and use a cable box or dish to control the channels.

When I got the unit, I went to the harmony web site and told it what components I have-then I set up activities like watch TV. The web site asked what I watched TV on. (The TV of course.) Then it asked what I used to change the channels. I choose the cable box. Then it asked how to control the volume-I play the sound through my stereo. It then asked the what input to set the stereo to when watching TV and what input the TV uses to tune the cable box. Now when I hit the "Watch TV" button the remote turns on the stereo, TV and cable box, set the stereo to the proper input and sets the TV to receive the cable box. The channel buttons operate the cable box and the volume buttons work the stereo. The unit knows just how long to wait after turning something on before it tries to send further commands. In the mean time it can operate the other components. Way cool!

The remote knows what components to turn off and on when you change activities. So if after watching TV I want to listen to the radio-with one button the remote turns the TV and cable box off and sets the stereo to my favorite radio station.

That's just a couple of examples of what the remote can do. The online database has all the codes I needed to get started and I fine tuned the functions on the remote after the initial setup.

To answer the previous post, the unit can work input selection where you have to hit the input button until you get the desired input as opposed to a button that directly selects the input. I knows how many inputs are in the cycle and counts how many times it needs to send the code. The "help" button prompts you through getting the remote back in sync with components if you change the inputs manually.

The remote also has device mode where it works like a dedicated remote for each component-in case you don't like the "activity" model.

I have the H688 since it has page up and page down buttons I frequently use with my Replay TV digital video recorder-choose the unit that has the buttons you need.