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After years of gathering audio and video components and game consoles I am awash with remote controls.  I tried a universal remote, which worked well, but it had one major flaw.  While it did control all the devices, I would have to change the mode on the remote control to access one item at a time.  Trying to watch cable television would mean that I would have to turn on my television, cable box and receivier and change the receiver to the correct mode.  That is a whole bunch of steps.

After a great deal of research and looking at the various remotes on the market.  I finally dropped $200 on the Logitech Harmony One and I am extremely pleased that I did.   The remote is the easiest to setup and the easiest to use on the market.  There is no competitior. 

The remote is setup through a computer, Mac or PC.  After installing the software the user picks which components that they have and the remote will control.  The items are divided into sections like TVs, CD Players, DVD Players, etc.  Then there are drop down lists to pick manufacturer of the component.  The user must enter the model number.  There is no drop down list.  I had forgotten the model numbers of some of my components and I had to try to find them on the conponents themselves, which some had it on the back and not on the front.  What a pain. 

After choosing all the components, the software goes out to the internet and compares the items to see if the components are supported.  There are hundreds of thousands of devices supported.  Even my new LG BD-300 Blu-Ray player was supported.

Afterwards, the software works through a bunch of scenarios on how components are used.  For example, while watching a DVD player does the sound come form the TV or from the receiver and which mode is used on the receiver.  After answering a bunch of these questions, it was time to hook up the remote to the computer, via USB cable.  The synchronization took less than 1 minute.

The remote then was ready to go.  The remote contains a touch screen and regular buttons.  The touch screen is used for activities like "Watch TV" or "Watch DVD."  The other use for the touch screen is used for functions that are not available on the buttons for each device.  Hitting the "Watch TV" turned on my TV, turned on my cable box, turned on my receiver and placed the receiver in the correct mode.  Awesome!  One button to turn on everything.  From there hitting the "Watch DVD" would turn off the cable box, switch the receiver mode and turn on the DVD player.  Awesome again.

Finally one remote to control all my devices and they all work in tandem.  This is a must for people for people that have many components.