This can help eliminate remote juggling

Our main TV setup consists of a "home theater in a box" by Sony, a Time Warner Cable DVR, and a Samsung Television.

The TV is all menu operated, the DVR requires a ton of special buttons, and the Sony DVD/surround system is a strange combination of audio and DVD controls.

Our family ranges from 7 year olds to adults, and everyone was tired of the three remote controls.

We tried three different universal remotes - and they all failed to control everything properly. We decided to give the Harmony 670 a try. The Harmony is different than most remotes because it is task oriented. For example, if you want to watch cable TV, you press the "watch TV" button and the remote turns on all the stuff needed for that activity. There's a number of task buttons, like "watch a movie", "listen to music", etc.

The remote is set up via a web based application. It's not too bad to navigate, but requires a few rounds of trial and error. The exercise is usually like this:
1. step through the web page and choose the options you think will work.
2. load the remote via a USB cable.
3. try the remote, note the things you're not quite happy with,
4. repeat from 1 till you're satisfied.

Honestly, I'm not 100% satisfied, but it's still far better than juggling three remotes.

I had to teach the family that the remote does not work right unless you keep it pointed at the TV till the green light goes off. This can be a few seconds when you press a task button like "Watch a movie" that has to turn on and set up three pieces of gear.

This remote uses four AAA batteries, and I'm afraid it has quite an appetite for them. Now, I'll admit that our DVR use requires us to hold down buttons for long periods of time to navigate menus and set up to record shows. With our heavy use, we go through a set of batteries every 3-4 months. Most of our remotes go years on the original batteries so this was a surprise.

We do like the backlit buttons and LCD.

It feels solid in the hands, and seems well built, but after about 9 months of pounding, our boys have worn out one of the menu buttons. I'll have to send it back for warranty repair - it's still within the 1 year warranty.