Thanks to HDMI CEC, I can already turn on all three devices, control the volume, and turn them all off using just one remote control, but that’s about all that protocol can do. The set-top box tunes to my favorite channel. My “Watch TV” activity, for instance, consists of turning on my Panasonic Viera TV, Onkyo TX-NR737 A/V receiver, and my DirecTV set-top box and setting the TV and A/V receiver to the correct inputs and outputs. Programming “activities” enables you to issue a plethora of commands to many devices with the touch of a single button.Īctivities are sequences of events that involve one or or multiple Devices (the other touch-sensitive button). The programming occurs via Bluetooth alternatively, you can program the remote using a PC or Mac, but then you need to connect the remote to the computer via USB. Much of the initial Harmony Elite set-up is accomplished using a smartphone or tablet app (there are Android and iOS versions). The 2.0-inch-tall by 1.5-inch-wide color screen is big enough to present shortcuts to four items at once (just slide your finger up and own to display more), and haptic feedback vibrates the remote each time you make a selection on the screen or on the two touch-sensitive buttons below it: Activities and Devices. It has a motion sensor, so the screen activates the instant you pick it up. The remote itself is fabulously well designed, very comfortable to hold, and each of its buttons is within easy reach of your thumb. The system had no problem reaching my DirecTV satellite tuner even though it’s at the very top of my floor-to-ceiling cabinet (the bottom of the DVR is eight feet off the floor). So for this review, I set Harmony hub and IR blaster on a table in front of my entertainment center and left the door open. My own entertainment center doesn’t provide enough clearance for that, so I’ve long used a Niles Audio MSU250 infrared hub that has five discrete emitters that I can affix right on top of the IR receiver for each device I need to control. The IR blasters are useful for controlling components inside an enclosed entertainment center-provided there’s enough room between the components and the door in front of them. ![]() Smartphones and tablets are great, but don’t underestimate the utility of physical buttons. ![]() The hub relays the commands to the target device using either IR or RF, whichever is appropriate to the target. All commands go from the remote to the Hub via RF, so there’s no need to point the remote at anything in particular. The Harmony Elite consists of a candy-bar-style remote control with touchscreen, a charging cradle to recharge the remote’s batteries, the AC-powered Harmony Hub, and two IR blasters that plug into the hub.
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