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The secret ingredient in any home theater is the right universal remote control. And it's no secret that our special blend involves a few different Harmony Remotes strategic placed throughout our homes. If you're still living without a universal remote control, still forcing friends and relatives to sort through multiple remotes just to do the simplest things, you owe it to yourself to spice it up a bit. Give it a try, you'll love it.

The Future of Electronics Retailers, part 2

We talked about the future of custom and specialty A/V dealers in Episode #369. Soon after that, CE Pro published an article online entitled Where's the Young Blood? It raises an interesting question, and one we didn't even get into in our original discussion. Assuming there will always be a market for specialty A/V dealers, will there always be specialty dealers to service that market?

To sum up the article, the author made some informal observations about the average age of the attendees at specialty shows like CEDIA, EHX and the Home Theater Specialists of America's annual meeting. His observation? Very few company owners under the age of 40. The average age of a CE Pro reader is 45. So he asks where the next class of specialty dealers is. Will there be one to step in when the current generation retires?

It's way too early to call the industry dead, or even dying. If the average age continues to increase over the next few years, there may be something to the inquiry. But right now there's just not enough data. But let's assume for a minute that there is a problem. Assume there is a significant lack of young blood in the custom home theater business. Why would that be, can it be fixed and should it be fixed.

First of all, the younger generation values very different things. We get emails often from younger listeners who have friends that don't own a TV at all. They spend more time on YouTube and MySpace than they do watching CSI or Lost. They'd rather see what's happening on Facebook than on Grey's Anatomy. Priorities are different. The TV isn't the center of the family social experience as much as it used to be. It's more important to see a video on your cell phone than on a TV, where you have to sit still for an extended period of time.

That is, over course, a gross generalization of an entire generation, but there's some truth to it. So if a smaller segment of the younger generations actually values things like HDTV, 7.1 sound and high quality audio/video, you can expect less would be jumping into the field as full time professionals. We still believe the market will always be there, but it may not be there the way it always has been. It might get significantly smaller over time.

As much as we'd like to mourn the death of high quality video experience at home, much like the MP3 killed the audiophile's pure view of 2 channel audio, we need to resist the urge. It would be sad to see home theater go the way of SACD, but we don't think it will ever get that dire. It will probably just get easier and easier for a DIYer to implement. That way people will get the custom experience they equate with luxury without having to pay too much for it.

Harmony Remote Round-Up

So what are the options? Why would you choose one over the other? Great question. First of all, they all have the same basic programming style. You plug them into your computer, then tell the software what components you have in your home theater or any TV room for that matter. The programming software will automatically create the right "modes" for you, stuff like: Watch TV, Watch DVD, Listen to CD, etc. Other than that, it's all about your individual needs and tastes.

Harmony Remote was acquired by Logitech a few years back. Since then they've introduced some pretty cool new remotes. But they all share the original philosophy of being really easy to use, easy to program and easy to maintain.

Harmony 550 Advanced Universal Remote
MSRP: $129, Street: $85 (buy now)
The entry level Harmony, does everything you need but without any glitz or flash. Think of this as a good pizza. Does the job, but not something you'd necessarily bring up in conversation the next day. It supports up to 12 devices, but still give you the awesome activity based interface that really simplifies the home theater. It isn't one of the rechargeable models, so you'll need to keep 4 AAA batteries on hand for when it dies. Braden uses one in the master bedroom.

Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360
MSRP: $99, Street: $70 (buy now)
This remote is nearly identical to the 550, but with some special buttons (X, Y, A, B) specifically for the Xbox 360. It works just like all the rest of the remotes, and you can even use it if you don't own an Xbox 360. In fact, some Cable customers who have the DVRs with the silly press 'A' to accept or 'C' to cancel style menus could remap the Xbox buttons to support the DVR. This is like good mexican food. It's a little specialized, so you need to be in the right mood, but boy is it good. Supports 11 devices and runs on AAA batteries. Braden uses one of these in the kids play area where the Xbox 360 is.

Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote
MSRP: $249, Street: $120 (buy now)
This is where things start to get fancy, you may need to dress up a little for this one. It features a color LCD screen with customizable action buttons and is rechargable. You simply store it in the charging cradle and you never need to worry about replacing batteries. This is a nice steak dinner out on the town. Enough to get dressed up, but a great deal at the same time. You'll brag about what you got, and how little you paid for it. It supports 15 devices. Braden had one of these, but gifted it to a friend when it was replaced by something else later on the list.

Harmony 890 Advanced Universal Remote
MSRP: $349, Street: $212 (buy now)
This is the 880 but with built in RF and Z-wave. It's like getting the steak dinner and adding that piece of chocolate cake you were eyeing. It sounds like a good idea, but you probably don't really need it.

Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote
MSRP: $249, Street: $183 (buy now)
This is THE Harmony remote right now. It has the combination of form, function and price to make it the ideal solution for just about any home theater. Like the 880 it has a color LCD screen with customizable action buttons and is rechargable. The big difference is that it's a touch screen. So you get the coolness of a touchscreen but the ease of use of a hard button remote. This is the lobster and filet meal you'll brag about to your friends for weeks - until they're tired of hearing about it. Braden has one in his home theater.

Harmony 1100 Advanced Universal Remote
MSRP: $499, Street: $378 (buy now)
We've just stepped into that fancy, high class restaurant most of us feel underdressed in. This remote is super cool, but also a bit pricey - because it can be. It's a 3.5-inch, full-color touch screen remote that's sure to impress your friends. While full touch screen remotes are really cool, they present some usability challenges. The screen can't typically fit all the buttons on it that you might need, so they appear on separate screens or pages. You have to scroll through the pages to find what you're looking for. Of course it's all customizable, but in our opinion hard button remotes tend to be more convenient. It has built-in RF, is rechargable and will control 15 devices.