I would love one of these remotes, if it had more buttons. I almost purchased one during the beta period, but I looked at my setup and decided against it. There just aren't enough buttons to make it simple enough for some people for things like satellite and PVRs. I know that sounds backward, but the only remote I know of that has actually addressed this in a good way (other than customizable touchscreens) is the MX-500 with its 5-way pad surrounded by transport buttons.

Any chance they might work on a bigger version someday?

The insider poop is "maybe". The whole driving concept behind the Harmony at EasyZapper is ease-of-use with fewest-possible-buttons, but I think they have probably gotten enough feedback, indicating that Harmony with MORE buttons is what a lot of people want, that something could happen here. I know they wanted to concentrate on this first product before considering anything else, but they also definitely talked about new possibilities in future. -HH-

I agree, I would like to see it have more hard buttons, a keypad would be nice. Other than that the other features seem great.

With a theoretical setup, PVR's should be just as easy as any other recording device. Although there are times that a keypad would be nice, I think it owuld just add to the complexity without adding that much to the value of this "Simple" device.

I think that the PVR people with enough time and cooperation with harmony people should be able to bang something out.

I don't own a Harmony, so what i will say might not be relevant, but if in the future they might think of a small change (to make it more useful for button pushers) here is the idea I got

why not change the way the LCD works. From what I understand there is a wheel that you turn to go up and down the choices, you stop on a choice and click to pick it (I would guess a bit like a Blackberry). Here is my idea
use a 6 row LCD with on either side push buttons (a bit like the MX-500. and on to p and button of the screen one more button.

you add a total of twelve buttons, and you can get rid of the wheel. The two buttons would work as a scroll up and down of pages , the other PBs as choice selectors.

Why 6 rows
1) 12 is easily divisible (2,3,4,6,12) - yes buttons will not be used, but they can mimic themselvs (and you will have the possibility of bigger writting
2) 12= 10 for keypad plus two for possibly enter and 100 that is needed on some TVs
3) For the TV listings the two columns of buttons could be used for different things (Main TV, PIP, Record....)

This is just an idea I had on the bus this morning.

If it is a better remote of the same functions you are looking for, try http://www.guideremote.com.
It has a much larger screen with a number key pad and from what I have seen a better guide!

The guideremote ( looks like vaporware ) fails in the same way that most universal remote fail. They do not provide an interface that is geared twards activities. With half a dozend devices and three diffrent ways to watch TV a remote like this become too complex quickly.

It's the problem of needing menu control and transport control in the same activity. So the Harmony would have to be switched into different modes to accomplish this. That defeats its main benefit of activity-based use.

I'm still searching for the perfect remote...

If you put the directional pad and transport keys from the mx-500 on the harmony and possibly add additional buttons like menu, thumbs up and thumbs down. I personally think you would have the the perfect remote. I posted something similar on the yahoo harmony forum.... even spent the time to draw a picture (it's also there.) I own both the harmony and the mx-500 (just had to try them both out.) and like them both. I think a mix of the two would solve almost everyone's needs.

-Jason

Eric: I can tell you that the GuideRemote is not vaporware. It's out there, and it works. ... Mike