It is a sad fact of life that the more components you have in your home theatre system, the more remote controls you have to deal with. Simple tasks such as watching a DVD can have you reaching for several remotes to turn on the TV, control the surround amplifier, adjust lighting and of course working the DVD player.

The Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote aims to provide a solution to the remote shuffle by combining an easy to use universal remote with basic automation so that you can easily access most functions of your home theatre system.  Although significantly more expensive that the universal remotes available at electronic stores, the Harmony One offers considerably more functionality.

Inside the box is the remote itself, a lithium-ion rechargeable battery, charging cradle and power supply, quick start guide, USB cable and software CD. The control fits well in the hand and has large easy to access buttons. At the top of the control is a colour LCD touch screen which provides access to additional functions and activities. The backlight function is bright enough to be able to comfortably use the remote even in a dark room.

After inserting the battery and charging the remote for a few hours, you plug it into a USB port on your PC for programming. Surprisingly, this is much easier than trying to type in manufacturer codes or assigning functions to buttons by training the remote.

The supplied software connects to the internet and automatically upgrades the firmware for your region. It then accesses the comprehensive Logitech database (which currently supports more than 225,000 devices from over 5,000 brands) to download the infra-red commands to the remote control.

To use basic remote control functions you simply access the component you want to control from the touch screen and use the buttons for channel selection, volume and playback functions. You can also use the buttons to access menus. If, however, you want to access the full functionality of your component, you can do so by touching “soft” buttons that appear on the LCD touch screen. This allows you to effectively do away with the manufacturer’s remote because (in theory) every function is accessible via the touch screen. In practice this system works well, but not perfectly as some touch screen functions do not always work, particularly if they attempt to access a function not supported by the component. In the rare event that your device is not available in the database or a function does not work properly, you can still manually train the Harmony One from the manufacturer’s remote.

If you are prepared to spend the time to set it up, the Harmony One also provides automation functions that allow you to send sequences of commands to your components so that you can access activities (such as play DVD, watch Pay TV or record a program) at the touch of a button on the LCD display.

To get you started, the software provides wizards to help you set up common activities such as play a DVD or listen to a CD. Unfortunately because of the complexity of most home theatre systems, you will need to spend time tweaking the settings so that the components turn on and work as expected. This becomes even more complicated if a component requires multiple commands to access a function (for example pressing the AV button twice to select the DVD input).

If you are prepared to put in the effort, you will be rewarded with a remote that can control up to 15 individual devices at the push of a button. No doubt some people will spend hours programming the Harmony One to do away with multiple remotes or for the simple cool factor.

The question is whether it is worth the money and effort? If it is, then the Harmony One may just be the device you have been looking for.