So far it is really easy to setup, with minimal effort if you don’t include squeezing around the back of your TV to find the model number. After programming all your devices in, the software will ask if you want to setup some automatic macro functions based on the devices you have selected. Macros like playing a DVD whereby one press will turn on your TV, your DVD player, change the input mode of the TV to your DVD player and then play the DVD.
All the macros are completely adjustable and you can fine tune them to do anything you want. The software takes a little getting used to however, as it tries to be as user friendly and fully customizable which can lead to a little design confusion at times.
Our test setup for this remote is a strew of appliances with Infrared control:-
- Sony Bravia Plasma - Xbox 360 - Logitech 5.1 speakers - GIGABYTE HTPC case with infrared receiver and Windows MCE - Obscure brand of Air Conditioning unit
Everything was instantly recognised as expected, except for the air-conditioning unit that is. However, the brand of air conditioner was in the list. It was resolved by programming the Logitech remote with the functions of the original remote (quite a feat when you don’t read Chinese in Taiwan).
We accepted the default macro button suggestions and configured them to do what they were supposed to; like turning on the TV, turning on the air-con, playing movies from the HTPC and the like. We then told it to update the remote via USB.
My second gripe here is that it takes about 7 mins to do an update. I think it is due to the fact that the unit does a full firmware and software update check and it has to verify everything written to the device. But still, even at USB 1.1 speeds it should be a lot quicker I feel.
Once programmed, we started testing by using the plain functions of the remote, selecting the TV and messing with all the settings to see that even the really obscure buttons in the menu worked. The devices that were recognised and programmed from the database online had no problem with even the obscure functions such as changing aspect ratios, bringing up picture-in-picture mode etc. – All of these functions worked perfectly.
