A lot of gamers are lazy.  It’s a stereotype I’m going to roll with for this article, so if you take offense to it… know it’s just a gag.  I’m so lazy, I wrote LPS3HRA instead of Logitech PS3 Harmony Remote Adapter.  That’s a mouthful!  Basically, in a nutshell, this little unit reads infrared remote signals from your Harmony brand universal remote and translates them into the Bluetooth remote codes the PS3 expects.

Read on to find out how well it works and what I think after using it a few days…

First off, I should mention that I didn’t even know this thing was in stores yet.  Sure, I saw the Engadget write up of it a few weeks ago, but I hadn’t seen much else out on teh interwebs.  While at Best Buy trying to position myself in front of a FragFX V2 controller so I’d be forced to impulse purchase one I ran across the Harmony Remote Adapter.  After looking everywhere, I finally realized Best Buy only sold the FragFX V2 online, not in stores.  But that box… that dark green and white Logitech box.  It called me.  Mentally prepared to drop $80 on the FragFX, I didn’t flinch at the $60 the Harmony Remote Adapter cost me.

I should stop right here and point out that this currently ONLY works if you have a Harmony brand universal remote control.  I’m sure there are enterprising folks out there with their fancy-shmancy remotes that can trick the system, but if you want out-of-the-box compatibility… use a Harmony.  Besides… the Harmony remotes rock!  I’ve been using an 880 for a couple years and love it.

Opening the box was a little surprising.  The unit is about the size of a deck of cards and it comes with a power-strip friendly wall-wart (the sideways kind often seen on cell phone chargers.)  There is but a single button on the whole thing… labeled “Connect.”  Okay, there’s a hole with a Reset button hidden inside it too, but that doesn’t really count.

I pushed Connect and as expected, the single LED started flashing.  I went to the PS3 setup to register a new Bluetooth Device and… nothing.  I figured maybe it was my timing, so I tried again.  Nothing.  Somewhat disgruntled, I picked up the manual roadmap-sized multi-language instruction chart.  That’s when I realized that (get this) you registered this thing as the Bluetooth Remote.  Duh!

A fun fact for you…  once you register your Logitech PS3 Harmony Remote Adapter you can not only toss your Sony Bluetooth remote in the drawer, you can likely toss it out… because as long as the Harmony adapter is paired, you Sony remote is not.  I was somewhat caught off guard by this but shrugged it off after a couple minutes.

Once in the Logitech software, it was simple to add the PS3 as a device and create activities.  This works just like adding any other device or activities.  Once I added the device, I chose the “Play PS3″ activity and heard the familiar “Beep!” as my PS3 turned on.  I sneered at my Sony Bluetooth remote.  A couple tweaks of button locations and updating the remote and I’m happy to say the device works exactly as expected.  There’s no noticeable lag (which I was fearing) and movie playback works great.  All the familiar buttons do what you’d expect.  I took some time to peruse the button layout in the Logitech software to see what functions were mapped to some of the lesser used buttons (and this is all user-configurable) but I am full on impressed.

One thing you do need to watch out for (and this isn’t unique to the PS3) is you might want to consider defining your devices to “Always powered on.”  Now you don’t need to leave them powered on, but this tells the remote not to manage the power state.  If you’re playing inFAMOUS and are curious if any real lightning is due, a quick click to Activities then Watch TV would show you the weather channel… right as your PS3 powered down!  Changing your consoles to always on means you have to manually power them on/off, but that’s as easy as simply using the PS button on the PS3 or assigning a button to power on your 360.

My guess is that if you already own a Harmony Remote and a PS3, you’re going to be inclined to pick one of these things up.  It shouldn’t disappoint.  You know the price going in ($60) and you can expect it to work as if it were somehow now controlled by an IR remote.  It Just Works™.