» Harman Kardon TC 30 Activity-Based Remote Control

Harman Kardon TC 30 Activity-Based Remote Control Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Nothing more than a slightly modified Harmony 550 remote
Comment: Take a close look at this remote and the Harmony 550 by Logitech. Only difference is a color screen with the option for 6 activities and the Mute and Last buttons have moved up a little.

Works as advertised. Takes a little fiddling to fine tune commands, but once done it works like a charm. Great device for maintenance of domestic harmony.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Long Term Loser
Comment: While the size, shape, and function of this remote is nice I have to say that it is best to stay away from it. HK has horrible support and has taken the programming software off their website and now charges for it ($10). Seeing how Logitech makes frequent and free updates to their software, I feel this is outrageous and warrants a poor rating. Long term you do not get the same programming and software updates as do the Harmonies. You are always behind in firmware and software and now you have to pay to upgrade. Customer Service at HK is a nightmare I had to redial a long distance number (no 800#) for 30 minutes to get past constant busy signals. Once there I had to wait 40 minutes to talk to someone that just passed me to a different dept. which then passed me right back and so on and so forth until a bad transfer disconnected me. Do yourself a favor, get a different remote because if you ever have a problem HK does not stand behind their products without a fight and a charge.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Remote Control
Comment: After using this product I can't imagine living without it! It makes life so much easier that juggling 4 or 5 remotes. It's help menu is a breeze to use. Just a great product.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Quirky but high potential
Comment: The TC 30 was my dream remote, since I had heard great things about the Harmony software and, in my opinion, Harman/Kardon can do no wrong design-wise. Of course, as a college student, the MSRP was not even feasible for me a remote control. Immediately following Christmas though, Amazon had it for about the price of a Harmony 550 in retail stores; I couldn't pass it up. This remote is essentially a Harmony 550 on steroids, with an extra pair of programmable buttons, a color LCD screen, rechargeable battery with dock, and tilt-sensor. It also looks incredible, especially the glossy black charging dock with blue LED.

For the TC 30(and Harmony remotes in general), setup is both its greatest asset and biggest flaw. It is a breeze to add any (and I mean ANY) device from Harmony's extensive database for control and to set up activities. For example, with all devices off, I can press "Play Xbox 360" and my Aquos will turn on, change to a component input, my receiver will turn on to 'Game,' and my 360 will turn on. When everything is on, the remote will display programmable actions on the LCD screen, covering any device involved in the activity. I even have the Xbox A, B, X, and Y buttons mapped for browsing the media functions. In most instances, this is fantastic. My roommate literally could not even play DVDs before, but now all he has to do is push a single button. In some cases, though, everything doesn't work so smoothly, and the remote seems to turn some devices off instead of just leaving them on. Also, the response delay is often noticeably long, which can get annoying. These are probably user error on my part, but the setup is very sensitive in that regard and WILL take time to get perfect. Strangely, even though it uses the Harmony software, the remote uses a special Harman/Kardon interface that is not quite as functional as Logitech's web-based system. If you log into the Harmony site, it will redirect you to Harman/Kardon's homepage, which is completely worthless - I'm still trying to figure that one out. You can download and install the recent Harmony software, but Harman/Kardon reps instructed me not to (but it worked fine and had some more features).

Speaking of customer service, my remote DID completely lock up on me one time as I was updating it with some new settings. An email to customer service was returned surprisingly quickly (less than six hours) and the solution worked immediately. It involved resetting the remote to factory settings, then simply re-updating the programming (everything is stored on their servers through your account). In all, a very painless experience. As far as the button layout goes, I prefer that of the "peanut-shaped" Harmony remotes, as the TC-30 (and Harmony 520/550) have some odd placements. At the same time, I like the rectangular shape better; be aware though that this remote is almost nine inches long and at times will require two hands to move between the number pad at the bottom and the LCD at the top. The backlighting is a nice blue color, but it doesn't shine through the white text of the buttons as well as it could. It's easiest to see in either complete darkness or full light, and can get hard to distinguish at times. If I can nitpick, I wish the record button had 'REC' in white letters instead of the traditional red circle. It's something you have to see to understand; it just isn't black, white, silver, or blue. The tilt sensor is a sweet feature and will save you from having to hit the "glow" button. You're going to need to see the LCD screen anyway, but you also want to save battery life, which is fantastic, as far as I can tell. I've been home from school for a week and a half now without charging and it still is going strong. The remote doesn't sit very securely in the dock, but I doubt that would really ever become an issue.

This remote has some big flaws, but the fact is, I'd be using about five remotes otherwise. It has completely changed how I control my devices and now I don't have to worry about guests (or my roommate) not being able to control anything. My uncle has this remote: Universal Remote Control MX-850 IR/RF Aeros Remote Control, which works very comparably in my experience, but lacks the character that the Harmony remotes have. Unfortunately, as of the time I wrote this, no TC 30s were in stock at Amazon. I honestly don't know what I'd do without it at this point. Did I also mention that the thing looks fantastic?

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect
Comment: I am very happy with this remote. It does everything it says it will do. Even a non techie like me can program it. I use it for my Dish Network VIP 622, Pany TH42PHC8 TV, Pany DMR EMS 25 CD/DVD, Pany Receiver SA-XR 55, and JVC VCR HR-59600U. It was a little tricky to program because I didn't understand the instructions for awhile. My only complaint would be the placement of the buttons. It's not laid out as convenient as it could have been so I have to move my hand around a lot. You don't really need two hands though. All in all, I'm really happy to have one remote again.

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