Caavo Control Center challenges Harmony to master your TV

If you have an entertainment system with a beautiful TV and many connected objects, such as a digital video recorder, game console, streaming device, and AV receiver, you probably have a universal remote. And chances are, this remote is a Logitech Harmony.

Harmony has held hegemony in the salon for over a decade. Its clickers are my best recommendation to eliminate this fearsome coffee table filled with remotes. the Harmony Companion is my current choice of editor, and I still consider it "the best universal remote maintenance experience at a reasonable price, making your home entertainment center easier to use than ever".

I wrote these words over four years ago and they still apply today. No remote control available since can question the utility and ease of use of Harmony. But that could change soon, thanks to Caavo.

The Caavo Control Center, available today for $ 99, is labeled "Harmony Killer". It's actually the second system of Caavo, a young company from Silicon Valley. The first who was released in February and cost $ 400, was promising but inevitably flawed because it was not compatible with high dynamic range video (HDR), which offers the best picture quality to mid-range and high-end TVs. It did not work with Dolby Atmos l & # 39; audio.

The new control center is not only affordable, but also HDR and Atmos compatible. The catch? You will be charged a $ 2 monthly service fee to use the Control Center. You can get a small discount if you pay in advance for a year, which costs $ 20, but there is no option "for life" at the TiVo.

Here are the basics of the material:

• The Control Center is a two-part system: you get the remote control itself and a small box with 4 HDMI inputs and an output.
• You can connect up to four sources to the system. For example, a cable box, a game console, a 4K Blu-ray player, and a streaming device.
• It plays on your TV or (if you have one) via your AV receiver on your TV. It can also work with sound bars.
• The inputs are HDMI 2.0 compatible. They work with 4K video, HDR10 and Dolby Vision (the latest via a next firmware update) and surround sound audio up to Dolby Atmos.
• It controls virtually all devices using the same controls as their included remote controls, whether it's infrared, Wi-Fi, IP or Bluetooth.
• The remote does not need line of sight, so you can store the entire system in a cabinet or closet, for example. Two additional infrared emitters are included for hard-to-reach equipment.
• A remote viewfinder, accessed through a box button or voice command, forces the remote to sound so you can find it among the sofa cushions.

A new TV home page

This input area, which Harmony does not offer, is what separates the Harmony system. Caavo allows you to overlay the screen of your TV to its own menu system, opening up new features.

In my initial comment, the Caavo home page made it extremely simple to select devices to control. You can also directly access applications such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. without having to remember which device they are on. Caavo actually has its own built-in search, which looks for TV shows and movies on all devices, with the ability to speak on the remote.

You understand correctly: unlike all Harmony selectors, Caavo supports voice commands. Saying "Watch Ozark," for example, turns on the system, changes the inputs appropriately, starts Netflix on your favorite device, and starts playing the show. It also works with Alexa and Google Home speakers (a capacity offered by Harmony) for hands-free remote control. Take that, Amazon Fire TV Cube.

The final tour of Caavo is Watchlists. From my original opinion:

The most unique and powerful aspect of the Caavo interface is Watchlists. It includes all recently viewed shows and movies in most of the apps you've connected to, and also lists the contents of compatible DVRs. You can quickly resume and watch recent shows, and even access different profiles (for example, "kids" on Netflix). If you select one, the app is launched on your favorite device and immediately starts playing.

Since my review, Caavo has refined Watchlists by adding "Crowd Surfing". In a phone call with CNET, company co-founders Andrew Einaudi and Ashish Aggarwal compared them to Spotify playlists. You can create and edit lists, share them publicly or privately with friends or family, and browse Caavo-selected lists, including those created by "influencers" hired by the company.

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Is Caavo the latest high-end universal remote?

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Physically, the control center is much less sophisticated than the original (shown in the video above). It lacks the beautiful wood grain finish, innovative HDMI correction stakes and volume buttons of the main unit, and is less than half the size.

Another downgrade in the number of HDMI inputs, which went from eight to four – a potential stumbling block for guys with huge systems. I asked if Caavo was supporting external HDMI switches to expand this number. Aggarwal said you could certainly add one, but you had to manage the change manually. He added that the company was planning to create its own expansion device that would cleanly integrate more entrances into the control center, but was not more precise with regard to timing and price.

Aggarwal said the control center is actually faster and more responsive than the original, thanks to new changes to silicon and software. Its remote uses AA batteries (the original was rechargeable) that last four to six months.

Overall, Caavo costs more than the Harmony Companion, especially if you consider the monthly fee, but it can potentially alleviate two different problems: Control your system and find something to watch for. I will be back soon with a full review of CNET.