/dev/null/kevin

A while ago I posted a review of the Harmony 880 universal remote.  It's been over two years so time for a follow-up.  In that time, both the physical product and the software have changed slightly.

Summary: The Harmony 880 is a little better now!

In those two years the remote held up very well.  The buttons remained clicky and responsive, and the screen remained unscratched.  The lithium-ion battery did show some signs of wear as the multiple rechargings have taken their toll.  Battery life dropped from about a week to about 2 days.

However, after two years, the IR emitters eventually died.  My universal remote was universally controlling nothing.

I used the night vision on my camcorder to verify that the IR emitters were not emitting any IR signal (actually, an extremely weak one).  A quick web search found that this has happened to other people as well.  Some brave souls replaced their emitters with new ones they bought at Radio Shack.  Others said that Logitech/Harmony fixed theirs (some for a fee).

I opted to call Harmony support and after the usual "install the latest software/firmware" dance they agreed that the emitters were probably bad.  Send the remote to Canada (!) for repair.  They gave me instructions and an RMI number.

It was around this time that my daughter broke her arm (she's fine) so I got distracted and didn't send the remote right away.  Five calendar days passed (120 hours) and I received an automated email telling me that my incident had been closed.  Oh noes!

Fortunately, just replying to that email with "please don't close yet" was all it took to get them to reopen the ticket.  This actually happened several times as my package to Harmony in Canada took over a week for them to receive it.  I guess those Canadian customs officers are very thorough.  It cost me US$15 to ship it, BTW.

Harmony confirmed, again, that the emitters were bad.  The total repair cost would be US$50, $25 to fix, $15 to ship.  Hmmmm.  Decision time.  I'm already out $15.  Compare $65 vs cost of whole new remote ($200 - $250) (and I could get new Harmony One).

I opted to pay the cost of repair.  We'd been forced to live like cavemen, using multiple remote controls, for weeks now.  Harmony also sweetened the deal by saying they would ship a brand new replacement unit rather than repair my old one.  In addition to a new unit there would be a new battery (remember mine was dying) and a new base station.  I think this also saved them time/money by shipping the brand new unit from a center already in the US.

The new unit arrived within 48 hours of payment (done via phone for security).  I noted a few improvements right away.  In addition to the new remote smell, the whole remote had a more textured feel.  The old remote was a little slick if your hands were really dry.  The base station was also slightly improved.  One "con" that I didn't notice for my first review (and which I saw in other reviews) was that the remote didn't always sit well in the base station and wouldn't charge.  It also wouldn't be obvious that the remote wasn't seated properly.  The new base station is cut differently so the remote pops into place perfectly.

The other improvement (which I would have gotten anyway) is the software.  My setup has been stable for a while now so I missed the last few software updates.  The new software is no longer web based and is a little less clunky to use.  The old version had so many PC-only plug-ins that to call it web-based would be misleading.

The new software is cleaner, smoother and snappier.  It follows the same structure but doesn't take forever to redraw complicated button layout diagrams using HTML forms.  There is both a Mac and PC version for the software, but the Mac version isn't working on my MBP.  Technically, the Mac isn't even recognizing that the remote is connected via USB so I can't judge the Mac's version of the software.  That's a problem for another day.

Final Score: 4.5 / 5 stars

Let me be the first third hundredth to say that I don't like the Rail-Cam that they used for the NHL All-Star game.  It's a camera that moves back and forth along the top of the boards.  Unfortunately, they put it on the same side of the ice as the normal camera so all it really does it get in the way of the action.  It's very distracting to watch the game and see the camera moving back and forth.

The pictures if gets aren't even that good, mainly because it's disorienting to watch the view from a moving camera. They either need to get rid of it or just move it to the other side of the rink.  That's probably not possible since the players sit there, but they can't leave where it is.

Say it with me: The rail-cam sucks. 

Tags: hockey | railcam  | nhl

Speaking of Stupidity, Mike Harding has a great post about his troubles with Comcast.  It's a great example of how to lose a top-paying customer.

Tags: comcast, cable, customer service


Tags: cable comcast customer service
October 27, 2006 02:42 PM PDT Permalink | Comments [0] |

What has more filler?  An American hotdog or the "Dancing With The Stars" results show?  Never has my TiVo been more valuable than when it's skipping over all of the crap they add to pad this show to a full hour.  This show should be 5 minutes long not 60!
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September 20, 2006 10:47 PM PDT Permalink | Comments [0] |

I watched the new and CGI-improved Star Trek episodes this weekend.  For the most part, I was happy with the results as there were many rumors of them being horribly "Lucas-ified."  CGI Spock ears and Jar Jar Binks, y'know.  But none of that came to pass.  As promised, the main changes were to external scenes, or to the bridge viewer.  Nothing was really added or removed, except mistakes, and the CGI itself isn't so good that it looks out of place.  If they had CGI technology in 1966 it would have looked like this.

There were two updated episodes shown this weekend, "Balance of Terror," which is usually listed in the top 3 of best episodes, and "Miri," which isn't.  Ever.  "Balace of Terror" was a very good choice for a first episode since it is an excellent episode and it features lots of exterior space action.  The internal shots, while not changed, also look really good as they have been processed for Hi-Def broadcasts.  The new shot of the phasers firing is particularly nice since they added reflection off the Enterprise's hull (Yes, they look like photon torpedoes, but hey, they were learning back then).

A couple of things actually weren't better.  The Romulan plasma torpedo looked both better and worse.  It looked more "realistic" (for something that doesn't exist), but also looked more out of place.  Also, the Romulan ship going in and out of cloak looked really bad.  I liked the old way of it fading out (becoming more transparent).  The new way has it disappearing from the outside in.  Maybe I'm just used to the old way, but I didn't like it.

The second episode on this weekend was "Miri" which is not a great episode (actually, it sucks) and didn't feature many scenes that qualified for updating.  The opening shots of a duplicate Earth looked good, and that was about it.  "Miri" contained another not-so-good "improvement" -- the hand phaser's sound and visual were both worse.  In a word: wimpy.  It's not quite "Han Shot First" but it's certainly annoying.  "Bonk Bonk" on the "gr'ups" who made that change.

Much was made of the remastering of the opening score and Shatner's opening monologue.  I didn't really notice anything.  Sorry, Cap'n.

Finally, these syndicated episodes are still cut and trimmed like the original syndicated episodes.  i.e. lots of abrupt and inappropriate transitions.  I would hope that the DVD versions contain the full-length versions.

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September 18, 2006 12:02 AM PDT Permalink | Comments [0] |

A long time ago I made some predictionsthat mostly came true.  I was basically 11 for 14 on predicting which new TV shows would fail.  I was wrong about Numb3rs and very wrong about Grey's Anatomy and The Office.  That said, anything above 50% is good, so I'm happy with my 79%.  And I still think Grey's Anatomy is a dumb show.

So, let's see how I do with this next season.  These are only based on the title and a brief summary.  I looked at the competition and also the production cost.

Note: Green means my prediction looks good or came true and red means that I might be wrong.  The strikeout text means that a show has been canceled.  Bold means that it has been officially renewed.

The half hour sitcoms are the hardest to predict.  They are generally cheap to produce and even the lame ones can survive for several seasons.  Any sitcoms in the middle columns could make it.  At least there aren't any more "fat guy and hot wife" shows this year.

Update [10/06/2006]: Smith and Kidnapped were canceled.  Guess I gave them too much credit.  On the other hand, Heroes was given a full season greenlight, so it will at least live through this season.

Vanished was moved to Fridays, probably to die, and Justice was also moved, which means it will probably also die.  Any Fox show that moves due to the baseball playoffs usually dies.

"Studio 60" isn't doing so well.  While getting great reviews and confidence from the people who buy commercials, it's ratings are slipping and one cast member is unexpectedly pregnant, causing some behind the scenes changes.

Finally, Brothers and Sisters is doing better than I predicted.

Update [10/11/2006]: Six Degrees is losing 60% of its Grey's Anatomy lead in, which TV people hate, so I'm guessing it's in trouble.  Shark and Ugly Bettyare the two highest rated new shows, so that shuold be good for them (and me).   Some of these new shows haven't even debuted yet so I'll get more news next week.  Jericho is also doing mediocre, but it will likely last past Christmas.  The Nineis doing okay, but after watching the show I realized that, while it's an excellent show, it shouldn't last more than one season due to the nature of the story.  If they drag the story out longer than one season people will stop watching anyway (see Prison Break).

Update [10/12/2006]: I watched 30 Rockand it was kind of limp.  There were a couple of good jokes, but I can't see it being hit.  In other news, The Knights of Prosperityhas yet to even air.  ABC doesn't have confidence in it.  So, technically I might be wrong about it just because it may not even air by Christmas, but I'll still claim victory if it fails.

Update [04/04/2007]: 30 Rock received a surprise (and deserved) renewaltoday so I figured I'd check how I was doing.  I'm 15 for 24 on my predictions so far.  To be fair, I need to see which shows are renewed to know for sure, so I could do better, but for now I'll assume the shows that are still on in the second column will make it.  'Til Death should have died (it was failing) but it got lucky enough to last until American Idol gave it a big lead in and now it's thriving.  Oh, and The Knights of Prosperitydied a quick death when it finally made it on to the air, so I'm claiming victory on that one.  Heroescontinues to soar and flaunts my wrongness at me every time I see a promo.    I couldn't be happier to be wrong, however.

Update [05/15/2007]: ABC and NBC have release their preview schedules for next fall, so I was able confirm some correct, and incorrect, predictions.

Update [05/16/2007]: Jericho and The War At Home have been canceled.  'Til Death as renewed. 

Technorati: television

Here is an updated and corrected version of my Network TV grid for the new television season (US).  I had a few typos and the networks also made some small changes.