Logitech Harmony H655

Most of us have multiple remote controls at home for use with our TV, VCR, DVD and other electrical devices. Juggling all of these can be a nuisance and you may have thought about buying a 'universal' remote - a single device that can control all of your entertainment systems.

Unfortunately, while the idea is good, many of these are so difficult to set up that it's scarcely worth the effort. Logitech's Harmony attempts to change all that by providing a universal remote that's easy to configure and use.

The twist with the Harmony is that you set it up by plugging it into a USB port on your PC or Mac. Your system then connects to the Harmony website, where a series of pull-down menus allow you to select the manufacturer and model number of your TV and other devices. The site then downloads the relevant configuration information to the remote from its online product database.

If the database can't provide a precise match, there's an option to try and 'train' the Logitech device by pointing your original remote controls at the Harmony and pressing a series of buttons. This allows the unit to synchronise itself with your original remote controls.

It's a good idea, although we still found the configuration process a bit of a struggle at first. It took about three attempts to configure the Harmony to control our TV set properly, but once this was done we then found it easier to add other devices.

Admittedly, £100 is a lot of money for a glorified remote control, but the Harmony will certainly appeal to the serious home entertainment buff who wants to control their entire system with a single device.

Contact:
Logitech 020 7309 0127
www.logitech.com

Specifications:

• Windows 98 SE or later, or Mac OS X 10.2 or later
• USB port
• 4 AAA batteries
• Internet connection