Features and Design

Does the collection of A/V remotes on your coffee table resemble a small, mismatched flotilla? Are your remotes using enough AA and AAA batteries to power a small Foreman grill? Wish you could hit one button to dim the lights, queue up the surround sound, and get your favorite movie rolling? The Harmony 1000 can definately make that happen.

The Logitech Harmony 1000 is an ingenious and high-quality remote control. One look confirms that Logitech put a lot of time, effort and money into creating a slick, full-featured, easy-to-use remote targeted for use by all sorts of TV and movie addicts, whether technically proficient or not. The brushed metal and high-gloss black frame is very classy and matches most modern TVs and home theater components.

Physical Stats

The Harmony 1000 is roughly 4.2"x5.5"x0.7", making it almost the same dimensions as two 80GB iPods laid side-by-side; it does weighs around 6.8oz however, making it a very lightweight device. The LCD display on the 1000 itself measures about 2.1"x2.75" or 3.45" diagonal. It's as large as, if not larger than, most modern digital camera LCD display; but there is a very good reason for this.

Touch Screen LCD

The most recognizable and important features of the Harmony 1000 is its large touch screen 320x240 pixel LCD display. The LCD display is bright and crisp - perfectly visible in all lighting situations - even in full sunlight. It responds well to almost all physical input; fat fingers, skinny fingers, PDA styli, even the corner of a piece of paper. Tap it hard or caress it softly, the Harmony 1000's screen responds instantly and accurately.

Customize It

Another cool feature related to the LCD screen is the customizable nature of the background image. You can select any image from your computer, so long as it's 320x240 pixels in dimension and less than 160KB in file size. I found that the easiest way to do this was to select several good images, make a separate folder for copies, then resize accordingly. From the Harmony 1000 software, select those dedicated, resized images as desired. Once you've selected a new image, click the "Update Remote" button on your computer screen. After a couple confirmation screens, the Harmony 1000 will update, reboot and its new settings will appear.

In addition to the custom background images, you can also control things like 12-hour vs. 24-hour clock, whether to show or hide the "Starting Activity" screen, change the type of onboard help system, and whether or not to enable RF (Radio Frequency) remote capabilities.

Image Courtesy of Logitech