dewdman: The Harmony doesn't use Macros in the way we are used to thinking of them. It takes the information about your Devices, and creates Activities for you, based on that input. It knows, for example, that if you have a DVD player, you will want to watch it and probably have your amp on at the same time. So it creates an item called "Watch DVD", which appears as a Menu selection on the LCD screen. You don't have to tell it what inputs to switch to; it already knows that based on your initial setup.

You do NOT have to know XML; that is the underlying language of the device, which makes it eminently programmable and tweakable... but that's just the beauty of XML as a standardized language. You won't see that unless you want to get into it; everything is done via the Wizards on the EasyZapper website.

The big advantage of the Screen and the Menuing system is that everything is available with a push or two, and everything is labelled correctly. You might have a hard-button labelled DVD on your other remote, but it can only do one or two things; on the Harmony, everything has its own label. This makes it a no-brainer when looking for an option, and certainly makes it easier for others in your family who haven't spent hours creating their ultimate remote setup. ... Mike