We Call This The $400 Piece Of **You Know What**
Written: Nov 20 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: controls many things that aren't standard in other universal remotes
Cons: needs reprogramming if the batteries die, bulky to hold.
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| ideagirl's Full Review: Harman Kardon TC 1000 Take Control Universal Remot... |
In my house, we call this the $400 piece of **you know what**. Fortunately, we didn't pay for it, it was a perk from an employer. If we had, I would have taken it back immediately.
Despite the fact that the unit is bulky and doesn't fit in my hand well, we were excited that we had finally found a universal remote that would control everything, including our surround sound receiver. We had three remote controls just to watch television: TV, VCR, receiver. We spent a lot of time saying, "Where's the remote? NO, the OTHER remote." Worse, they took two different kinds of batteries, and we could never remember which was which until they needed to be changed.
The HK unit seemed nice at first. We quickly programmed our TV and VCR functions into it by using the built-in menu. But to get our receiver to work we had to hook it up to my computer and run the Microsoft software. That was relatively painless, too, except that the software kept crashing my computer. All told it took about an hour to get the thing set up for the receiver.
Once that was done, we couldn't wait to try it out. We programmed it with a shortcut--"Watch TV"--and it works ok in that respect. The wheel changes the channels, and the little buttons work fine for the volume and mute functions. But when I want to get in to do something more complex, like balance the surround sound, the LCD screen is really hit and miss. Sometimes it works, sometimes is doesn't. Sometimes I have to hit the "button" on the LCD several times to get a response. Many times I have just given up and walked over to the receiver. And woe be me if someone should accidentally change the function to another screen. Maneuvering in the menu is not intuitive, and has rendered the remote useless for days at a time, until we stumble back to the correct menu, usually by chance.
The most annoying thing about this unit, though, is that if the batteries go dead, it has to be reprogrammed. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a programmable remote. The first week we had it we put in all kinds of cool shortcuts, like "Take me to Seinfeld." I don't even bother anymore, because I know what a pain it is to hook the thing up to a computer and do that all over again.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ideagirl
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Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 2 members
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