Anyone use the Logitech remote

R

RainMan

Junior Audioholic
Hi all , sorry if this has been discussed before, but I seen a rather cool looking remote at our local store .
i can't seem to find it as I think it's been replace but the one they have is called the harmony 900 . I wouldn't mind getting opinions before I pay the big bucks for this .
I am using a marrantz av7005 processor and marrantz cd changer , BR player ,shaw gateway and a Panasonic flat screen .
It has an LCD or oled screen which I thought was kinda nice
 
fuzz092888

fuzz092888

Audioholic Warlord
Hi all , sorry if this has been discussed before, but I seen a rather cool looking remote at our local store .
i can't seem to find it as I think it's been replace but the one they have is called the harmony 900 . I wouldn't mind getting opinions before I pay the big bucks for this .
I am using a marrantz av7005 processor and marrantz cd changer , BR player ,shaw gateway and a Panasonic flat screen .
It has an LCD or oled screen which I thought was kinda nice
I have a Harmony One, which is basically the one you were looking at except, the Harmony 900 comes with the RF kit. How much were they charging for it?

It's a very capable remote and should work fine based on the the equipment you listed. You won't be able to make some of the more complicated macros you can with other remotes, but it's simple to use and if you've never had a universal remote it will be darn cool.
 
R

RainMan

Junior Audioholic
350 bucks! But they may give me a little break . There hurting as another store is taking a lot of there business , so I don't haggle much.
I wasn't aware they were the same aside from the rf part . Good to known, thanks .
 
B

Boerd

Full Audioholic
I am using a "Harmony One" and it's very good. Easy to setup too. Love it.
 
fuzz092888

fuzz092888

Audioholic Warlord
350 bucks! But they may give me a little break . There hurting as another store is taking a lot of there business , so I don't haggle much.
I wasn't aware they were the same aside from the rf part . Good to known, thanks .
Sounds high. Depending on where you live you can get one from Amazon for about $250 not including tax and free shipping. I haven't looked but you may be able to find it cheaper than that as well.
 
sholling

sholling

Audioholic Ninja
I'm another Harmony One guy. A quick search shows Harmony 900s selling for as "little" as ~$250 new from reputable dealers and $170 for refurbished - those are US prices.
 
R

RainMan

Junior Audioholic
Ya I did see them on amazon for $250 . It's getting tougher and tougher all the time to shop locally . I love amazon as there's usually free shipping and the shipping is quick as well
 
ParadigmDawg

ParadigmDawg

Audioholic Overlord
I use the Harmony One, great little remote if you just need IR.

I have gotten where I use my Android phone, as the remote, for listening to all my music since it works all zones and doesn't need line of sight.
 
Cliff_is

Cliff_is

Audioholics Content Manager
If you watch BestBuy.com the price will drop to about $240. Just keep checking back.

Best Buy has two different websites. A national version that is priced to be competitive with other retailers, and an internal version (accessed within a BestBuy) that is priced more closely with in-store prices. Make sure that you check their website from your home, or if you do it while at a BestBuy you must ask the employee to select "BestBuy.con National" from ETK "Employee Tool Kit", in order to get the lowest price possible.

The harmony 900 is a phenomenal remote and I would highly recommend it over similarly priced offerings from other companies. My only complaint is that it can be a little sluggish, but it's only a pain when using the remote to navigate an on-screen keyboard.
 
R

RainMan

Junior Audioholic
Ok I was told by the salesman you require a computer ? I only have an iPad for now ,so I didn't buy the 900 today .
I would have thought for the most part I could have programmed it without a computer
 
F

FirstReflection

AV Rant Co-Host
Ok I was told by the salesman you require a computer ? I only have an iPad for now ,so I didn't buy the 900 today .
I would have thought for the most part I could have programmed it without a computer
Definitely not. You 100% need a computer to program the Harmony remotes. You cannot do anything with them all by themselves, except for the new Harmony Touch, which allows for some setup right on the remote itself, but you still need a computer to access the Harmony database of codes.

So much for living in the "post PC world", eh? :p

With Logitech now selling off the Harmony brand name, I'm hopeful that a new owner will actually do something to advance the Harmony brand. Logitech has let it flounder for years now, despite STILL having the largest and most complete database of codes, and I'm assuming a patent on the "Activities" method of grouping macros and button layouts - since that remains the best scheme for controlling multiple devices, and yet other remote makers have failed to copy it!

The Harmony Remotes, even with their ancient setup software, janky interface for setup, and total lack of two-way communication, somehow are still the best of a pretty sad situation in many ways. It's amazing, really, that other remotes are still stuck in the Pronto design era, with switching between devices and manually configuring macros. I HATE the way downloadable tablet/smartphone remote apps are being used. Having to switch between apps to control different devices is ridiculous! So for all their shortcomings - and there are many - somehow, the Harmony Remotes are still the only ones to get it right, by having hard buttons that you do not have to look at to use or "wake" the device with a button push, or worse, launch an app to use, and by using Activities that reconfigure the button commands based on what you are DOING, rather than what you are controlling individually, and having the macros automatically programmed based on those Activities.

Furthermore, it's an utter pain in the rear to use, but at least the Harmony software does allow you to "deep dive" into the device and truly control almost everything.

@Cliff_is if you're finding some of the button presses "sluggish", you can change that. Every command has an associated delay. The default for most of them is 250ms. You can change that manually and decrease the delay between button presses.


Anywho, remotes NEED to get better. What I really want is to use my tablet and my smartphone. I want to be able to control my system from anywhere with an internet connection. I want to be able to control my entire system all at once from within ONE app! AND I want a hard-button companion that I can use when I'm physically sitting in my theatre with no desire to turn on a tablet or smartphone screen! So if someone can buy the Harmony brand from Logitech, perhaps they can take that awesome database of codes, expand it even further, use whatever patents Harmony must have, and create a REAL "universal remote" app for tablets and smartphones that also has a hard-button companion! I want IR to die. I want two-way communication between remotes and devices using IP so that my remote app works wherever there is internet access. Oh, and I want that same app to allow for security system and audio/video transmission from security cameras as well! I want to be able to control my entire home from anywhere - home automation, security systems, home theatre - ALL of it. And it's entirely possible. Someone just needs to put the work in. And having the Harmony name and resources would be the fastest way to get there, IMO.
 
R

RainMan

Junior Audioholic
^^^ You make some great points . I tried using my ipad to control my marrantz proc only to find it was a pain to switch apps to control the Apple TV .
Ive got a desktop comp but its in the garage dedicated to a laser engraver / cutter , and its way below freezing in there lol. Guess its time to buy another laptop :/
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
love my harmony one, cant you find a pc of someones to borrow to do the setup, It took me about 15 minutes, but if you write down all your model numbers you can do it faster..
 
R

RainMan

Junior Audioholic
love my harmony one, cant you find a pc of someones to borrow to do the setup, It took me about 15 minutes, but if you write down all your model numbers you can do it faster..
Yes no issue there . I looked at a super light and thin asus notebook today because I also want a RTA, only to see it has windows 8 . I have hard time even saying 8 now without a little vomit coming out of the back of my throat .
 
F

Falker11

Audiophyte
Have had the harmony 900 for a couple weeks now. As others have said you can find it for under $250 as I did.
I have my first real home theater system and my wife walked in one morning, saw 5 remotes on the couch and was none to happy. Harmony 900 saved my marriage ;)

There seemed to be a lot of people having issues running the software on mac OSX 10.8, but no issues at all for me.
 
Cliff_is

Cliff_is

Audioholics Content Manager
Definitely not. You 100% need a computer to program the Harmony remotes. You cannot do anything with them all by themselves, except for the new Harmony Touch, which allows for some setup right on the remote itself, but you still need a computer to access the Harmony database of codes.

So much for living in the "post PC world", eh? :p

With Logitech now selling off the Harmony brand name, I'm hopeful that a new owner will actually do something to advance the Harmony brand. Logitech has let it flounder for years now, despite STILL having the largest and most complete database of codes, and I'm assuming a patent on the "Activities" method of grouping macros and button layouts - since that remains the best scheme for controlling multiple devices, and yet other remote makers have failed to copy it!

The Harmony Remotes, even with their ancient setup software, janky interface for setup, and total lack of two-way communication, somehow are still the best of a pretty sad situation in many ways. It's amazing, really, that other remotes are still stuck in the Pronto design era, with switching between devices and manually configuring macros. I HATE the way downloadable tablet/smartphone remote apps are being used. Having to switch between apps to control different devices is ridiculous! So for all their shortcomings - and there are many - somehow, the Harmony Remotes are still the only ones to get it right, by having hard buttons that you do not have to look at to use or "wake" the device with a button push, or worse, launch an app to use, and by using Activities that reconfigure the button commands based on what you are DOING, rather than what you are controlling individually, and having the macros automatically programmed based on those Activities.

Furthermore, it's an utter pain in the rear to use, but at least the Harmony software does allow you to "deep dive" into the device and truly control almost everything.

@Cliff_is if you're finding some of the button presses "sluggish", you can change that. Every command has an associated delay. The default for most of them is 250ms. You can change that manually and decrease the delay between button presses.


Anywho, remotes NEED to get better. What I really want is to use my tablet and my smartphone. I want to be able to control my system from anywhere with an internet connection. I want to be able to control my entire system all at once from within ONE app! AND I want a hard-button companion that I can use when I'm physically sitting in my theatre with no desire to turn on a tablet or smartphone screen! So if someone can buy the Harmony brand from Logitech, perhaps they can take that awesome database of codes, expand it even further, use whatever patents Harmony must have, and create a REAL "universal remote" app for tablets and smartphones that also has a hard-button companion! I want IR to die. I want two-way communication between remotes and devices using IP so that my remote app works wherever there is internet access. Oh, and I want that same app to allow for security system and audio/video transmission from security cameras as well! I want to be able to control my entire home from anywhere - home automation, security systems, home theatre - ALL of it. And it's entirely possible. Someone just needs to put the work in. And having the Harmony name and resources would be the fastest way to get there, IMO.
It's the RF functionality that adds the delay. Even compared to the ONE and 650 models, the 900 is a little less responsive.

I agree that IP control still has a ways to go. Logitech made the Harmony Link, which allowed you to use your phone/tablet as a funny functioning remote, but it was still based off of IR codes (used IR blasters connected a base station).

"With Logitech now selling off the Harmony brand name, I'm hopeful that a new owner will actually do something to advance the Harmony brand."

Agreed! Logitech was going the wrong way IMO. They were trying to switch everyone from a software setup to a dumbed-down web based setup. That's a fine move, but the web setup took away a lot of functionality that the software had. It needs to be easy to setup but still allow things like custom macros (available on some harmony remotes).
 
R

RainMan

Junior Audioholic
Ok bought the 900 today only to find its not compatible with windows 8 !
updated logitechs software from 7.6.0 to 7.7.0 and still no success. Windows is telling me the software is not compatible .
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
I have the Harmony one and use it just fine with Windows 8. It is supported

Support + Downloads: Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote - Logitech


My suggestion however would be to run Internet Explorer in Desktop Mode
- To Clarify
1. On the internet explorer tile (Launch Screen)
2. Right click on IE Tile
3. At the bottom, select (Pin to Desktop)
4. Click on the Desktop Tile
5. At the bottom left you should the IE icon, just like you would if you were using windows 7 or Vista
6. It should work from there
 

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