Hi Folks, perhaps some here will be interested in this quickie "report." (Right now I own the Home Theater Master MX500 remote. Great remote, but the gadget freak in me keeps hunting for something even more wife-friendly and intuitive).

I've been very interested in the new Harmony SST-768 remote. The first Easy Zapper intrigued me, but I held off due to the lack of transport buttons etc.
Like many of you, I've been waiting to get my hands on one of the new SST-768 remotes.

Seeing as I'm only a half hour drive from Intrigue Technologies, I dropped in to have a look-see at an almost-ready-for-prime-time SST-768. The only thing I can really report on, of course, is the general look/feel/ergonomics.

A fellow named Peter graciously showed me a few iterations of the SST-768...they are still making the very last decisions on a few of the buttons (I believe he said they will be swapping the location of the transport "stop" button and the whatever-it-is button just below the "pause" button on the 768 pictures).
He also said there will is some work being done on some of the "activities" graphics pages on the LCD.
PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THESE WERE NOT COMPLETELY FINISHED PRODUCTS!

Aside from that, the remote was good to go.

Impressions: Given the amount of buttons it now offers, the 768 is surprisingly tiny. It's really not much bigger than the Easy Zapper; still in the cell-phone-like range of size. The new form factor is terrific. It is indeed very ergonomically sculpted and weighted. The slight tapering of the sides is friendly to hold. The back of the remote curves gently and perfectly into the palm of your hand (at least my hand - I'm average size). I'd say it is easily the most comfortable remote control I've held of any type, including the original Easy Zapper (which was good, but just a bit clunky in shape). The construction also feels solid all 'round - no feeling of "seams" anywhere. Very smooth finish, although Peter said they were still putting final touches on that area too.

The buttons were very much like the "gem-stone: buttons now found on the newest Home Theater Master MX500 remotes: polished, smooth, and nice to the touch. Button pressure was nice, being fairly firm. Peter said they were thinking of making the action firmer still on the buttons. Some may prefer that, but I'd actually prefer a bit softer. That's because these are hard buttons, as opposed to the softer rubbery buttons found on some other remotes (like the old Home Theater Master MX500). When hard buttons get this small they can start to feel a little uncomfortable to press over and over. The 768 was NOT uncomfortable in this regard, but too firm an action may push it in that direction for me at least.

Button layout seemed very good, considering the space they are working with. The shape puts your thumb up nicely by the dial on the side. The remote being as petite as it was, I found all buttons easy to reach, including the transport buttons at the top, which required just a slight "climb" of my hand up the remote to reach. Still an easy one-hand operation. The transport buttons are quite small, but I did not find them difficult to hit accurately. The channel number buttons on the bottom were easy to get around, and the volume up/down, channel up/down buttons were perfectly placed, and easy to hit without looking at the remote.

Weight was very nice - not too heavy, not too light. To a degree. I'm a sucker for a smoothly polished metal-cased remote (as I find with some nice high-end audio gear). I love the weight and feeling of quality found in wielding such remotes. On that count, I often find myself a little disappointed to continually encounter very expensive items like the Harmony, on up to the Marantz/Pronto remotes that "look" like they have substantial machined metal construction in pictures, but which turn out to be light, molded plastic instead. Oh well, can't fault the Harmony on that point, all things considered.

The LCD screen is terrific. It's among the most readable I've ever seen in terms of contrast. No squinting required. The scroll wheel worked well too, with the LCD menu being quite responsive.

The one thing that struck me is that navigating via the scroll wheel/LCD screen was a little less simple than I thought it might be. For instance, if I choose "Watch TV" the LCD screen ends up showing the TV guide. This makes sense, of course. But it also means that to choose another activity one must work through the "modes" with the mode button to find the activities page, and then switch to the wheel again to select the next activity. While this doesn't seem like much at, it amounts to just those few extra steps that I didn't realize would be involved.
I guess I'd always thought the "select activity" option would always be immediately accessible, making it a no-brainer for the baby-sitter to get from one activity to another. Right now with the MX500 I'm trying to work around the extra step of having to choose the "main" page before selecting the next device. At this point, I'm not sure the Harmony will be *that* much more intuitive than the MX500 for the remote-challenged. However, I was very sleep deprived when I visited Intrigue Technologies (new father!), and it's very possible I just didn't have my thinking cap on right when navigating the remote. It seems the buttons on the 768 are more configurable than those of the MX500, which could make the 768 surpass the functionality of the MX500, as far as combining the funtions of various devices on to the hard buttons.

Anyway, there you have it. I know we are all waiting for more tidbits about the 768, and I hope this has helped someone.

(REMEMBER: THE REMOTES I HELD WERE *ALMOST* FINAL PRODUCTION PRODUCTS...THEY ARE STILL WORKING ON THE FINAL DETAILS)

Rich H.

Very nice review, Rich. Sounds pretty close to the models they displayed at CEDIA in September. I felt that the new model had much more of a "quality" look and feel to it than the 745. Looking forward to trying one out myself vs. my MX-700. Congrats on the new baby!

Mike
www.surfremotecontrol.com

Big H, thanks a lot, it was very informative.

P.S. you cannot make the activity pop up immediately, (at least I don't think) but you do have a lot of flexibility in the software that might make it easier (get rid of modes you don't want...)

Nice review!
Did they say anything about WHEN they are planning to release it? It's still November, but soon December :-)

JI

I would be curious how long their upgrade program will be in effect. Would like to hear at least some first hand experiences before upgrading, but would not want to miss the upgrade discount offer. Thoughts?
Regards,
Bill

Intrigue had originally told me (before my visit) that the units were to begin shipping end of November.

I think they are now aiming for December - especially given that they are still doing some tweaking to the design (could be wrong).

Rich.

Hi Rich,

Thank you for your thorough review of our new SST-768. In future, please do not be shy about telling us that you are reviewing, we will be glad to give you as much information as you need.

In response to your point about activity changing, I (Peter) may not have explained fully but we will be releasing the “Icon Activity Change” feature for faster and easier changes between all of your Activities. This new feature will be available for both the SST-768 and the current SST-745 Harmony Remotes. With one button press and a scroll you will be able to change your Activity by selecting from icons.

To Use Icon Activity Change:
1. From within any mode or menu of any Activity, press the Activity/Power* button once and the screen will prompt you to “Press the Power Button again to switch off, or scroll for more options…”
2. Use the scroll wheel to browse Activity Icons and select another Activity, or press the Power button again to turn off your entertainment system.

* At Harmony Remote we think of the Power button as the Activity change button. With Smart State Technology and Activity based control, the need to know which devices to power on and off is unnecessary, just choose your Activity and the Harmony Remote will do the rest for you!

Keep your eyes on this forum to get more information about this and other great new features for your Harmony Remote!

Peter,

Thanks again for the look at the SST-768.

Actually, my motives in visiting Intrigue were purely selfish; I'm interested in the SST-768 for use in my system. My post on this forum was an afterthought. I figured I would share what I'd seen with other interested people who cannot get to Intrigue themselves.

The new info on the SST-768 "Activity" operation sounds intriguing. Good stuff!

Rich.