Reviews
A
nyone with a home theater rig knows the pain of deal-
ing with multiple remote controls. Sure, you can buy a
universal remote and hide most of the others away, but
a time will inevitably arise when you need to switch an audio
input from analog to digital and you won’t be able to do the job
without the remote you packed away. Unless, that is, you have
the Harmony H688.
Here’s how the Harmony works: You press the button
labeled “Watch TV” and the Harmony turns on your TV, ampli-
fier, and satellite or cable box, switches everything to the right
inputs, and changes to your favorite channel. Want to listen to
an MP3 from your streaming box? Press the “Listen to Music”
button and the Harmony will turn off your TV, switch the input
on your amplifier, and activate your MP3 streaming box. It’s
got a multitude of buttons, so you can control any device
that’s made its way into your entertainment center, from the
DVD player to the gaming consoles.
Configuring the Harmony is reasonably simple for a
device that does so much. You connect the remote to your
PC using the included USB cable, install the proprietary
software, and point your browser to a configuration web
site. At the web site, you’re asked a series of questions about
the devices in your home entertainment rig, and then you’re
assisted in deciding exactly what happens when you press aparticular task button—like “Watch TV” or “Listen to Music.” In
the unlikely event Harmony doesn’t know the infrared codes for
one of your devices, the remote can be made to learn the old
remote’s codes. We thoroughly configured our Harmony in less
than an hour, and haven’t needed to touch another remote since
we started using it a few months ago.
What if you need to use a command that isn’t mapped to
one of the H688’s many buttons? You can use the remote’s
integrated LCD
screen—which
is backlit just like
every other button
on the device—to
access every sin-
gle command your
original remote
can perform, and
some that it can’t.
—WILL SMITHPantone ColorPlus
Get aCCurate disPlay Colors on the CheaP
I
f you’ve ever wondered why a digital image that sparkled on your monitor
looks like crap in print or when viewed on the web, it’s time you learned
about color calibration. Like zeroing the sights on a gun or setting the zero
point of a bathroom scale, calibrating your monitor ensures that color repro-
duction is as accurate as possible.
ColorPlus facilitates such fine-tuning. The package includes a hardware
color sensor that attaches by suction to your CRT. For LCD users, ColorPlus
ships with an adapter to avoid damaging the delicate surface of your flat panel.
The ColorPlus software runs you through a five-minute setup that cre-
ates an International Color Consortium profile for the monitor that can be
used with such applications as Adobe’s Photoshop. The package also ships
with a “starter edition” of Adobe’s Album 2.0. While usable for basic photo
editing, the starter edition is stripped of features; it also becomes annoying
in record time by encouraging you to upgrade to the full version at every
opportunity. Feh.
Setup was a snap, but we did stumble at one phase where we misun-
derstood the step for setting the monitor’s brightness. We admit the error
was partially our fault, but it reinforced our instincts that the instructions and
directions could be clearer and more helpful across the board. Setting up,
installing, and running the initial calibration is painless, but ColorPlus leaves
you hanging after that. It lacks detailed documentation on how to use the pro-
files with Photoshop , and is missing other basic FAQ information that would
help newbies get the most out of the calibration package.
If you print photographs, calibrating your monitor is just one part of the
equation—it won’t control or help you adjust your printer’s output. But to get
high-quality prints, you must have confidence that the image you see on yourdisplay is an accurate repre-
sentation of the image file’s
data. The ColorPlus system can
give you this confidence—and
cheaply. It’s certainly less frus-
trating than trying to eyeball
your way to perfection.
—GORDON MAH UNGGet rid of every other remote control you own. The
H688 can replace them all.UNIVERSAL REMOTEPILE O’ REMOTES
It’s not as comfortable for PVR-type use as the TiVo
remote, but we’d rather have the convenience of a
single handset.
$250, http://www.harmonyremote.comMAXIMUMPC VERDICT 9
The ColorPlus sensor attaches to your monitor and allows
you to easily calibrate your display.Low-cost hardware, better than guessing.RADIOHEADCRACKHEAD
Needs better documentation.$100, http://www.pantone.comMAXIMUMPC VERDICT 8
Harmony H688
(oly CoW This is the uniVersal remote (oly CoW This is the uniVersal remote
We’Ve been Waiting for(oly CoW This is the uniVersal remote
It’s shaped like the standard TiVo remote,
but the Harmony H688 is the ultimate PC
programmable universal remote control.MAXIMUMPC AUGUST 2004