Logitech's New Flagship Harmony Remote

One of the more interesting new products we saw today was Logitech's new flagship remote, the Harmony 1000. The remote has a large color touchscreen combined with hard buttons. The remote is large enough that the touchscreen is not cluttered, yet small enough that you can hold the remote in one hand. The remote has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and is capable of RF and IR communication. Simple programming, great looks, and competitive pricing will make this a very popular remote for many people.

The Harmony 1000 remote's touch-sensitive screen makes the renowned Harmony activity control even easier by displaying the important controls when they are immediately relevant. And unlike some of today's high-end universal remotes, the Harmony 1000 remote controls any device with an infrared receiver - including VCRs, digital video recorders, high-definition televisions, and many household appliances. Using radio frequency (RF) technology, the Harmony 1000 remote can also control multi-room entertainment systems and high-end components hidden behind closed doors, when used in combination with the optional Logitech Harmony Wireless Extender (sold separately). Meanwhile, its brushed-chrome and piano-black finish makes the Harmony 1000 remote an aesthetic complement to most of today's systems.

Logitech's success with the Harmony remotes has come in large part due to the Harmony platform's simple one-touch activity control. Appealing to both consumers and professional installers, the Harmony 1000 remote takes this ease of use to a new level as the first in the family to include a touch-sensitive screen - a feature most often reserved for expensive, custom home-theater remotes.

When people first pick up the sleek, rectangular remote, the 3.5-inch color screen displays icons associated with entertainment activities - such as Watch TV, Watch a Movie, Listen to Music, or Play Games. After an activity is selected, the remote's screen reveals the controls needed specifically for the activity - unlike the many universal remotes with dozens of infrequently used fixed buttons that are often more confusing than useful. For example, when watching TV using a digital video recorder (DVR), people will see on screen the standard skip forward, skip back, record and pause buttons necessary to controlling a DVR. But when they are listening to CDs, they will see the track controls they need to navigate their music.

The Harmony 1000 remote has only nine fixed buttons - such as volume up and down, channel up and down, and a directional navigation pad - basic controls used for most activities, which are located on the right-hand side of the remote. With built-in rechargeable batteries, the remote also comes with a charging stand, eliminating the need to replace batteries and providing a base so that everyone knows where to find the remote. A full charge offers approximately one week of power, depending upon how heavy the use.

Logitech has redesigned its online interface to make the Harmony Internet setup easier than ever. With an intuitive setup wizard to walk them through the process, people start setup by entering their components' model numbers. That information is automatically matched to the characteristics, discrete codes and infrared commands of the more than 175,000 devices from more than 5,000 manufacturers contained in Logitech's online database - the world's largest audio/visual control database. The wizard then helps people define the various entertainment activities and identify the entertainment components used for each activity. Logitech told us that they are currently developing a totally new software package for programming the Harmony 1000 as well as all of their previous remotes. The software will be both PC and MAC compatible. While no date has been announced, it is expected to be released by the end of this year.

The Harmony 1000 remote is scheduled to ship on October 17 for a suggested retail price of $499.99. The Logitech Harmony Wireless Extender will be available at the same time for $149.99 in the U.S. and Europe.

For more information visit www.logitech.com .