Harmony 665 remotes

Overview

Logitech Harmony remotes let you use the same commands (almost!) to run each A/V system (bedroom / playroom / family room / Arnold). The remotes are fully programmable: if something doesn't work as you expect, it's not your fault, so report your problem to your local technician.

Glossary

Some terminology relevant to the remote might not be obvious:

• AirPlay: media streaming technology for playing A/V content from a computer
• A/V: audio/visual
• BD: Blu-ray Disc, essentially a higher quality DVD
• STB: Set-Top-Box [the Comcast box that tunes/records live TV]
• TV+: TV with higher quality audio, i.e., playing sound through external speakers rather than TV speakers [Steve's term, not standard terminology]

Basics

The remote lets you perform various activities, including:

• Watch TV [live TV]
• Watch TV+ [live TV with better audio]
• Watch DVD
• Watch Netflix
• Watch VCR
• Listen AirPlay [streaming audio from computer]
• Listen CD
• Listen iPod [when Steve's iPod is connected]
• Listen LP [remember records?]
• Listen SiriusXM
• Apps [more smart TV apps, e.g., YouTube]

The remote knows about the devices in each A/V system, so generally you don't need to know the gory details. But it also lets you control devices directly if you need to. Not immediately obvious but important:

• Use the Harmony remote only, not other remotes or physical on/off switches. [Why? Because some devices have state, e.g., on/off, and the remote could get confused if you change state externally.]
• Keep the remote pointed at the equipment for a while, especially when you change activities. [Why? Because it might send commands to several devices, possibly including time delays.]
• If you switch from controlling an activity to controlling a device (via button under screen), switch back to the activity (via button under screen again) when you're done. [Why? You might have changed the effect of some of the remote's buttons.]

Remote layout

The Harmony 665 remote has three zones: the six buttons above the screen (activity zone), the screen and the seven buttons left/right/under it (screen zone), and the many buttons below (remote zone).

Above the screen:

• Top left: all off.
• Three primary activities: Watch TV, Watch a movie, Listen to music. Each primary activity button can be assigned to any activity. For now, Watch a movie means Watch Netflix and Listen to music means Listen SiriusXM.
• Help!
• More activities (i.e., activities other than the three primary activities), selected via the screen as described below.

Around the screen:

• The screen is NOT a touch screen! The screen displays choices, and you use the four buttons left/right of the screen to select your choice.
• The top line of the display describes what the screen displays. For example, "Watch TV 1/5" says that you're looking at page 1 of 5 pages specifying Watch TV activity options. Use the left/right arrow buttons under the screen to move to other pages.
• The center button under the screen lets you change what the screen displays. For example, the bottom of the "Watch TV 1/5" screen displays "Devices" above the center button, so pushing the center button changes the screen to the Devices menu.

Below the screen:

• The many buttons below the others should do what you expect (volume, channel up/down, select channel by number, etc.) for the currently selected activity or device. If they don't, report to your technician.

Caveats

The world ain't perfect, and electronic devices are complicated. As of 2/08/19, the Netflix / SiriusXM / Apps activites on the family room system don't always work right. Hit Apps in the screen menu, then navigate to the desired app and hit OK.