oldenough Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Posted this in Home Theatre, but seems no-one goes there. Anyhoo...I'm looking to buy a remote for my H/t system, been looking at Harmony, anybody want to pass on their experiences, or recommend models?? Or are there alternatives to Harmony??....Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennie Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Good to see you OE! I use a Home Theater Master MX 800 and I have had it for a number of years. It is more complicated than the Harmony's, but does everything I want it to do and more. But, I bought a Harmony ( I can't remember the Model number) 670, I think, for a "older" friend and it was less expensive, easy to program and she has been using it for about 2 years and loves it. She is not Tech. friendly and if it was complicated at all, I would know about it and she has not complained once. So, if I had to recommend one, it would be the Harmony line. Which one? I think that is up to you, as they have many to fit most needs. I hope that helps, Dennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Posted this in Home Theatre, but seems no-one goes there. Anyhoo...I'm looking to buy a remote for my H/t system, been looking at Harmony, anybody want to pass on their experiences, or recommend models?? Or are there alternatives to Harmony??....Thanks I got the cheapest Harmony remote on sale for something like $30 because my Sony BR plater remore failed. It was dead simple to program using their web software and the remore plugged into the computer via USB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Good to see you OE! I use a Home Theater Master MX 800 and I have had it for a number of years. It is more complicated than the Harmony's, but does everything I want it to do and more. But, I bought a Harmony ( I can't remember the Model number) 670, I think, for a "older" friend and it was less expensive, easy to program and she has been using it for about 2 years and loves it. She is not Tech. friendly and if it was complicated at all, I would know about it and she has not complained once. So, if I had to recommend one, it would be the Harmony line. Which one? I think that is up to you, as they have many to fit most needs. I hope that helps, Dennie Hi Dennie, Yeah seems the Harmony remotes are real popular, so I guess thats the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Posted this in Home Theatre, but seems no-one goes there. Anyhoo...I'm looking to buy a remote for my H/t system, been looking at Harmony, anybody want to pass on their experiences, or recommend models?? Or are there alternatives to Harmony??....Thanks I got the cheapest Harmony remote on sale for something like $30 because my Sony BR plater remore failed. It was dead simple to program using their web software and the remore plugged into the computer via USB. Thanks psg, glad it was no hassle to set-up, that was one of my concerns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runninshine Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I wish one of those new fancy remotes would work the volume on my vintage Mac gear. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 I wish one of those new fancy remotes would work the volume on my vintage Mac gear. Aren't you married??...[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nat Denkin Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I wish one of those new fancy remotes would work the volume on my vintage Mac gear. I programmed a Harmony 700 to operate the Jan Didden 6-channel volume control mod on a DCX2496 and also my Onkyo CD player. Now, if I could only use it to operate itunes... nat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 O.E., tell me a little more about your requirements. Do you have line of sight to all equipment? Is all the equipment IR (infrared) control or is some (PS3 for instance) Bluetooth. For all IR, line of sight stuff I find my Harmony 880 is wonderful and easily programmed. I recently purchased a more complex remote (URC 980) and while I can get it to work, it is giving me fits trying to customize it. Not the remote's fault, it is for 'professionals' which I am not. One word of caution on the 880; there is an issue with the remote making proper contact with the charging cradle. This is a well known issue but I found a work around since my batttery lasts a couple of weeks between charges. I use one of my daughter's hair band slipped over the base and then around the remote. Gives it just enough additional tension to charge correctly. I just make sure the hair band is not depressing any of the buttons while charging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 O.E., tell me a little more about your requirements. Do you have line of sight to all equipment? Is all the equipment IR (infrared) control or is some (PS3 for instance) Bluetooth. For all IR, line of sight stuff I find my Harmony 880 is wonderful and easily programmed. I recently purchased a more complex remote (URC 980) and while I can get it to work, it is giving me fits trying to customize it. Not the remote's fault, it is for 'professionals' which I am not. One word of caution on the 880; there is an issue with the remote making proper contact with the charging cradle. This is a well known issue but I found a work around since my batttery lasts a couple of weeks between charges. I use one of my daughter's hair band slipped over the base and then around the remote. Gives it just enough additional tension to charge correctly. I just make sure the hair band is not depressing any of the buttons while charging. Hi USNRET, Yeah "line of site" to everything, not worried about the PS3, I will probably buy a remote that can support it with an add-on later. I seem to be leaning toward the Harmony One. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennie Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I wish one of those new fancy remotes would work the volume on my vintage Mac gear. Aren't you married??... That's Funny! [Y] Dennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrod Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 I seem to be leaning toward the Harmony One. I love mine. Seems like I read a thousand reviews online before I bought it, 95% were positive. I've never had any other fancy remotes so my scope is a little limited. It controls everything (except the PS3) like it was made specifically for that item. I was worried about the interaction b/w the Harmony and my DirecTV box...it's seamless. I haven't even scratched what it can do. Something very minor, but VERY cool (IMHO), is being able to download the tv channel's icons onto the H1 screen. You just hit the icon on the touchscreen and don't have to worry about the channel number (I can never remember those damn numbers). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldmako Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 I picked up a Harmony 668 on CL for 30 bucks. Took me about 15 mins online to program it. It works like a champ!! It even has a built in self help function which is very clever. If something isnt't configured correctly you hit "help". It then goes through a check function until it gets it right. Slick. That being said, I am unable to get it to config my system for watching a Netflix vid streamed from my laptop. Its a minor issue, and its probably operator error in both programing and use than the gizmo itself. One thing I like it that this unit does not have an internal battery and a charging stand. It just takes regular old batts. I prefer that because eventually that fancy internal batt is going to crap out and then you're out of luck. I'd rather have the simplicity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Thanks for the input, seems everyone who has a Harmony is reasonably happy with them...I guess I will go shopping today...Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motorcitym3 Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Give the Harmony 1100 a try. I used to have an 880 but preferred the larger touch screen of the 1100. Logictech was letting these go for $229 now...killer deal! http://www.logitech.com/en-us/promotional-items/devices/7744?WT.ac=psE|7744||Image Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wipster Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 O.E., tell me a little more about your requirements. Do you have line of sight to all equipment? Is all the equipment IR (infrared) control or is some (PS3 for instance) Bluetooth. For all IR, line of sight stuff I find my Harmony 880 is wonderful and easily programmed. I recently purchased a more complex remote (URC 980) and while I can get it to work, it is giving me fits trying to customize it. Not the remote's fault, it is for 'professionals' which I am not. One word of caution on the 880; there is an issue with the remote making proper contact with the charging cradle. This is a well known issue but I found a work around since my batttery lasts a couple of weeks between charges. I use one of my daughter's hair band slipped over the base and then around the remote. Gives it just enough additional tension to charge correctly. I just make sure the hair band is not depressing any of the buttons while charging. OE, I own two Harmony 880's, one for the great room and one for the bedroom, have had them for at about five years, and I have yet to find a piece of equipment with a remote that it will not operate/emulate. I do agree with everything that USENET says above, especially the line of sight issue (because of IR) and the charging cradle issue (I have a slightly different workaround, but it's easy to fix, plus the batteries last a least a week without needing a recharge). However I do use one of them in conjunction with a remote control extender (have to be able to change channels while in the bathroom you know... LOL) and that takes care of the line of sight issue. FYI, I just looked on eBay and there are a bunch of 880's on there for an average price of $60. I absolutely love the macro concept, plus the fact that all of the codes exist on the Logitech website, so when you buy new equipment, chances are the codes will be available for download... it handles all of my equipment and it's quite varied, including the remotes for Windows Media Center. That's what is so great about this, you easily set up the task you want to (e.g., Watch the HDTV) and it automatically turns on the appropriate equipment and sets it to the proper settings, with the remote functions like volume and channel set to operate the piece of gear used for that purpose. One other thing, the ergonomics of this remote were designed very well in that it fits perfectly in your hand... it can easily be used with a single hand and thumb, just like it was made for it, 'cause it was. I absolutely love mine (you can't tell can you?). Anyway, if I were in your shoes, I'd buy a good looking 880 off of eBay and see what you think. Your investment is minimal and it's an easy way to see if it fits your needs... if not, you can probably sell it for the price you paid for it. Happy hunting, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnatnoop Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Does tje 880 or other logitech remotes handle the unique remotes that come with dish or direct tv systems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Does tje 880 or other logitech remotes handle the unique remotes that come with dish or direct tv systems?My 880 works every DirecTv receiver and DVR I have had for the last 6-7 years (can't remember exaclty how long I have had the remote.... long time). I wanted a little more processing power to do the following, I found the 880 couldn't deal with the required lags during boot up of the items before a command was sent:Watch Netflix (with one button); in order to do this I needed: Oppo 93 On (wait to boot, my longest boot up time) Onkyo pre/pro ON (wait for it to boot) Vizio TV ON, wait to boot then switch to HDMI 3 as this is where I had direct video from Oppo 93 HDMI 2 out Onkyo pre/pro switch to Blue Ray input Oppo select "Home", cursor down 1, select Now control Netflix menu for movie selection and control pre/pro volume My dumb a@@ hasn't quite got the URC 980 programmed to get there yet so I am still using the 880. I need to break down and pay a programmer but I'd rather pay someone to teach me (I have the software) so I can modify as time goes by. I also bought two remote RF/IR modules for the URC so I could power down my kids' rooms remotely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wipster Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Does tje 880 or other logitech remotes handle the unique remotes that come with dish or direct tv systems? I found the 880 couldn't deal with the required lags during boot up of the items before a command was sent:Watch Netflix (with one button); in order to do this I needed: Oppo 93 On (wait to boot, my longest boot up time) Onkyo pre/pro ON (wait for it to boot) Vizio TV ON, wait to boot then switch to HDMI 3 as this is where I had direct video from Oppo 93 HDMI 2 out Onkyo pre/pro switch to Blue Ray input Oppo select "Home", cursor down 1, select Now control Netflix menu for movie selection and control pre/pro volume . I guess I'm lucky, 'cause I don't have to wait for my equipment to "boot" after I turn it on in order for the command sent by the 880 to be recognized... e.g., to watch a DVD, I have to turn on my Samsung 61S750 and set it to HDMI, turn on my Onkyo TX-SR805 and set it to HDMI 1, and turn on my Oppo BDP80... with the disc (BD or SACD) inserted, it pretty much figures out what's in there and the 880 is set to send the proper commands after that (play, pause,etc.). I will agree, my Oppo takes the longest time to come to life, but overall, the 880 is pretty much done with it's macro in 20 seconds or less after I press the "watch BluRay" function and everything works fine. I have never tried using the Oppo to play Netflix though and I can see where that might be a problem going straight to it because of the Oppo latency. I have a dedicated computer for watching Netflix, YouTube, listening to Rhapsody and all other things digital, and for that I have a really BIG remote, a wireless keyboard with a roller ball embedded... it works great! For evertything else though, I've never had to wait for the individual pieces of equipment to do anything but turn on and they always go to the setting I've specified in the macro. Thanks to a divorce, I've used one of my 880's through three different configurations of HDTV, Receiver, and BD/DVD player and it's always worked without a hitch. I can't speak for Direct or Dish as I go with Charter due to their superior internet speed. Good luck on the programming, that can be a beatch... you need to find a 12 year old, they'll figure it out in a heartbeat (while texting, listening to tunes, and surfing on their iPhone). Just thank goodness we're not in Japan right now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Well I ended-up buying the Harmony One, these things are great, works like a charm. I was going to buy the 880, but the store had a deal on an open box item. My wife could'nt understand why I needed to spend that much on a remote, she sure understands it now, she can now go and switch on everything without calling out for me.....[Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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