Came home from work tonight and immediately grabbed the 880 off of its charger and fired up the Logitech software. After pushing the initial configuration to the device and trying it out, I can honestly say this remote is awesome! There is still some configure changes that I think I am going to make if I can figure them out, for instance the way my TV works is that to go to S-VIDEO I need to press the input button twice and the Harmony doesn’t seem to relay this. It does, however, allow you to press a “help” button and it walks you through resolving any issues. One of the things I found that I can configure and think is really cool, is the background of the LCD display that everything shows on, that’s a nice touch Logitech. But, seriously, this remote rocks! I now only need one remote instead of six!

The Harmony 880 arrived today, it got here a lot faster than what I thought it would and I am pleased by that. I was hoping to get it all configured and start using it tonight, but according to the instructions I need to let the battery charge completely first. I am very happy that the auction description was accurate, this remote is brand new and was still in the factory packaging. I was able to install the software and begin configuring in my devices because the device configuration is apparently stored in the software and online in my Logitech account (which I had to sign up for) and will be retrievable if I ever wipe my computer. Getting all my devices configured took some time though, mainly because I needed to get model numbers off of them. The really neat thing is that I can add these devices to activities which will all be controlled by pressing a single button. For instance I set up an activity to “Watch Tivo” and assigned it to a hot key, now when we press that button (hopefully) what will happen is the TV will get turned on, it will be set to the appropriate input (AV1) and the stereo  w ill turn on and be set to the appropriate input (Audio1), the remote will then control the volume (through the stereo) and changing the TV channels (through the Tivo) and have all the Tivo remote functionality (pausing TV, playing back pre-recorded shows, etc) all in one remote. If this all works tomorrow the way I think it should then I am going to be extremely happy with this remote.

Today I won an eBay auction for a new remote for my TV, and every other remote using device in my entertainment center! For a while now I have been rather unhappy with the fact that I have six different remotes for the items in my entertainment center, but I had been dealing with it. However, the other day, a glass of soda got spilled on the remote for my stereo and it is now no longer functional. The device that I bought today should fix that issue and replace all the other remotes in my “collection”, including my Tivo remote. The remote is a Logitech Harmony 880 (no longer on their site, but here is the 900) and I have heard really good things about it, if it performs even half as well as I hope then I am sure I am going to be very happy with this remote. In addition to being able to control up to 15 devices, the devices that it can support are continnually expanding through its online database. You configure the remote by connecting it to the computer via a USB cable and logging in to a Logitech account. My buddy Will at work showed me his account (he has two different Logitech remotes and loves them) and it looks really cool. The image to the right is a stock image I found of the remote and its charging cradle. Can’t wait until this arrives so I can configure it and try it out!