Harmony H688 - Page 2  

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I've only used the guide a couple of times out of curiosity. The remote was receiving updated program listings quite regularly as I was tweeking the 659's setup for the first couple of weeks. However, now that I have the remote setup the way I like, I have no desire to plug it into my PC just to receive program listing updates. Also, the listings are not that easy to read, and there is no indication of which channel the program is on.

I do not watch much regular TV programming, though, so others with more intense TV viewing habits may disagree regarding the feature's usefulness.

I set the TV guide download to 0 days, to make my downloads into my Harmony faster.

By the way -- thanks for the tip about assigning two or three things to one button anywhere on the Harmony!

Can any of you tivo and harmony users tell me where you put the "tivo button" on the harmony remote? I must be missing something.

The "TiVo" button or "DirecTiVo" button in my case is the "Menu" button of course. What else would it be? ;)

I tend to like to keep the buttons obvious. In the long run it's much easier. Anyone can grab the remote and use it. Everything is as it appears to be.

Good tip, Mark. Doing this cut my download time in half. I do not use the guide function of the remote, anyway.

So when they say they're making changes, are we talking MAJOR changes? or just minor ones like switching the volume and page up/down buttons?

The changes mainly had to do with having a lot of the buttons adjacent to one another, with no height difference to enable the user to find them by touch. That, and hopefully the "Page/Volume" switch would be the only changes planned. It's programming will be identical to the 659.

Here's a picture of the revised 688. There are raised "bumps" on the Volume, Channel, Page and |<< and >>| buttons. It should be available by mid-March.

I noticed in that last picture for the 688 there are three buttons on each side of the LCD screen, just like the 659. Does this new remote only use the bottom four buttons for most functions, ala the 659, or did Intrigue fix this issue on the newer model?

I'm waiting for a reply on whether the colored buttons will be on the production version.

** In the time it took me to type this, IlyaV also responded with a similar post - but, here's my take **


One thing that I notice is that in the picture with the color buttons, the unit not only seems to have the newer volume / page up - down button changes but also a design change to the center 4 way navigation button. I wasn't at CES - so all of my analysis is based on pics - but it appears to me that in the CES pics and in Mike's earlier picture that the 4 way nav and "ok" button is 1 large multi-functional button while the BestBuyPlasma image seems to have a separate "ok" center button in the color shot. I think I like this better for backlight and tactile purposes as well as addressing concerns from people who have had problems with those sort of single button designs in the past. I could go either way with the color buttons in general - but have to wonder how the color would affect the backlighting (I am assuming that it will have the same blue backlighting) - and thus, the black text might not be as readable with color buttons.

While I was originally really turned off by the design of this remote when comparing it to the 659, the more I think about how I use my equipment, the more I realize that Harmony has come up with close to the perfect layout. They have addressed the PVR issues and the slippery plastic coating on the 659 key issues - and given me every key that I need on a regular basis as a PVR user (both Replay and Motorola 6208). However, as many others both here and at Remote Central have mentioned, I actually (after much thought) decided that Harmony was on to something with their original design and now would have preferred the page up / page down in their original locations. For me, this has to do with the use of the Motorola DCT Series Digital Cable boxes that are used (at least in some cities) by most of the major providers (Comcast, Cox, RCN, etc.) These boxes use the Page Up / Down button in the guide - and do not allow for the use of the channel up / down button as an alternative.

Oh well - either way, I am ordering and looking forward to this remote being the best design from Harmony Yet! Now if they just let power users pay more for the XML abilities and/or have the ability to create activities within activities (such as Watch TV - then Watch HD, Watch SD, etc.) - we have a perfect fit for my needs!

Regards,
Matt

Here's where the picture posted above comes from. It's just a data sheet with just a drawing of the 688 rather than an actual picture, so I'm not sure whether it reflects something new, or old. FWIW, the ones at CES looked like my previous picture.

New pictures of both the black and silver versions of the SST-688 are now available here. It looks like the colored activity buttons made it to the production version.

I wonder if they'll let me trade in my 659. I really like the new placement of the transport buttons. Would make my PVR life SO much easier.

Wonder if any of you have had any experience with the 768 or can compare with other Harmony remotes?

I can't decide what remote to get to replace my old Sony.


Thanks,
Geoffrey

I have the 768 for the following equipment:

Pioneer Elite 45TX
Denon 2200 DVD player
Sony Sat T60 DirecTivo
Samsung TS360 HD DirecTV receiver
Proscan VCR
Gamecube
Panasonic TH42PWD6UY plasma

Works awesome. Takes some time to tweak it to my specific tastes and requirements but I like it very much. i've tried the MX500 but wasn't to my liking. I may get the 688 because it's seems much better for use w/ a PVR. Harmony support has been outstanding for me. Which is a lot to say, since I bought mine on ebay.

will this thing (688 or 659) operate the motorola voom box? planning to go to voom soon. As for now will it operate the "action" functions on hughes e86 HD box? so you can get to the setup menus? and can I set convergence on my samsung HCN 4723W RPTV ? I really like the 659 and 688 designs. Dont think i want to go through menus like on their 700 series model. see button, push button..simple and perfect, the less menus the better.

If the VOOM box is not currently in Harmony's database, they will add it if you give them a call, so you shouldn't have a problem.

Hi OSB and Ilya.

Thanks ever so much for your information Will certainly check out the link and look further into both remotes.

Have looked the MX 500 and the 700 remotes but they seem rather complicated. I did download the software but did not really care for the interface.

Checked the Harmony site and VOOM is listed so I'm glad for that. Was surprised that the even had Lexicon in their list.


Cheers,

Geoffrey

Mid april for the 688?

Yes.

Seems this company has gone the way of Wal-jobs offshore -

Very Sad.

There are almost no remotes made in the U.S. Every company (other than Philips who makes most of theirs in Belguim) gets them from China or Korea.