Logitech discontinue Harmony remotes

Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
Sad to see that the Logitech Harmony remotes are discontinued:


I've had my current Harmony remote for over nine years and works fine except for a couple of sticky buttons. In any case, I bought a new Harmony Elite in case my old remote should fail due to age.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I spoke with the head of their digital device group a couple of months ago after I left a message for him as soon as I started to see rumors and he explained why this happened- COVID. Logitech owns Harmony and they have been selling so many video conferencing devices that they needed to use all of their manufacturing capacity for those, which caused supply problems for the remotes. He said they have been selling more video conferencing equipment for people to communicate with their families, friends and for businesses that it became necessary to decide what should be done and since they hadn't received any offers for Harmony, they decided to shut it down. They're selling more conferencing devices in a month that Harmony was selling in a year and there's almost no support needed for those.

He did make it clear that the remotes will be supported WRT the warranty periods (the 2400 and Elite Pro have a longer warranties than the others) and the database will continue to be operated and codes added.

If someone like C4 or URC buys Harmony just for the database and shuts it down, I hope someone sues their brains out. URC used to make jokes about Harmony because they (URC) act like they invented the universal remote control but their database isn't as complete, nor do some of their tech support people care to do their job. I found it interesting that when I went to URC training last year, they made no jokes and URC has actually added a Help button to some models.

I started using and installing Harmony remotes in 2003.
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
Too much to hope that Logitech start producing remotes again, I guess.
 
Teetertotter?

Teetertotter?

Senior Audioholic
Buy a back up Harmony just in case, while still some are available. I have their 650 for eight years.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
I just got three as backups. We'll see how long their online stuff remains, but they supported squeezebox MUCH longer than I would have thought they would.
 
Mikado463

Mikado463

Audioholic Spartan
Bummer, so what is the logical replacement for them ?
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
I've received my new Harmony Elite to replace my ageing Harmony 900, actually, I bought two of them speculating that Logitech will keep their promise to maintain their servers for a long time. For the rest of the family I need something like a Harmony with RF to make my home theatre easy to use, besides I like ease of use for myself as well.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Just recently I picked up a Sofabaton remote partially as it seemed Logitech choices were just not there, plus it can handle a bluetooth like my Fire Stick without much issue. Programming is a bit drawn out and lack of documentation a bit annoying, but for the price works well.

Then I pulled out my most problematic Harmony 650 and my recently arrived CaiKote 44 repair kit....and now all the buttons are restored....next 650 up soon.
 
B

Bill Willems

Audiophyte
It’s sad, as I’ve got the 700 cheapo and it’s been amazing for nearly decades. Nobody high end offers a cheaper model like this and the lower level isn’t even worthy of discussion. I may go buy a couple at Best Buy tomorrow just to get me through the rest of my life


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
That sucks donkey balls!!! There is no viable alternative out there that is as easy to setup. I just ordered 3 off of ebay open box.
 
DigitalDawn

DigitalDawn

Senior Audioholic
I sold one Harmony almost 15 years ago and I don't remember very much, except that I wasn't a huge fan. Anyway, I seem to remember that you needed to program the remote online. Is there also a learn function where you can capture IR codes?
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
That sucks donkey balls!!! There is no viable alternative out there that is as easy to setup. I just ordered 3 off of ebay open box.
Just FYI Best Buy still has the elite and a few others
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
I sold one Harmony almost 15 years ago and I don't remember very much, except that I wasn't a huge fan. Anyway, I seem to remember that you needed to program the remote online. Is there also a learn function where you can capture IR codes?
There is still a learn function to capture IR codes.

Online servers are still needed for configuration, though there are more options for configuration/setup like Android/iOS apps and on the remote for my new Elite (not sure about other remotes). For my decade old Harmony 900 remote I used a desktop program that still works.

What is uncertain is how long Logitech will maintain their Harmony servers as without them the current configuration would be unchangeable.

Logitech discontinued Squeezebox a decade ago but are still maintaining the online servers for the product, so that gives my some hope that I'll get at least a few more years of Harmony use.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I sold one Harmony almost 15 years ago and I don't remember very much, except that I wasn't a huge fan. Anyway, I seem to remember that you needed to program the remote online. Is there also a learn function where you can capture IR codes?
IIRC, you were one of the people at RC who didn't like the fact that you couldn't write your own macros- amazing, how people at RC came around on that one.

Programming it online is for convenience and it serves as a way for them to collect code or to check commands if they prove to be problematic. All of the others require that the command/file be sent in to check it, although I have posted several times about URC's tech support agent saying "I don't know what good that would do" after I asked if I should send a non-functioning file to them.

Harmony remotes have always had a window on the remote for learning commands, even on the earliest models.
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
IIRC, you were one of the people at RC who didn't like the fact that you couldn't write your own macros- amazing, how people at RC came around on that one.
I don't know what he wrote on RC (Remote Central?) but my decade old Harmony 900 had the macros removed and I certainly can understand why some would want it. For myself I worked around that with the Denon AVR having QuickSelect buttons that stores a number of settings and I've a different QuickSelect for each activity.

Now that I just bought the Elite I see that it have macros, but have not used them yet.

Programming it online is for convenience and it serves as a way for them to collect code or to check commands if they prove to be problematic. All of the others require that the command/file be sent in to check it, although I have posted several times about URC's tech support agent saying "I don't know what good that would do" after I asked if I should send a non-functioning file to them.

Harmony remotes have always had a window on the remote for learning commands, even on the earliest models.
The problem is that online is the only option to program a Harmony remote, so when the servers are down I'm toast.
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
There is still a learn function to capture IR codes.

Online servers are still needed for configuration, though there are more options for configuration/setup like Android/iOS apps and on the remote for my new Elite (not sure about other remotes). For my decade old Harmony 900 remote I used a desktop program that still works.

What is uncertain is how long Logitech will maintain their Harmony servers as without them the current configuration would be unchangeable.

Logitech discontinued Squeezebox a decade ago but are still maintaining the online servers for the product, so that gives my some hope that I'll get at least a few more years of Harmony use.
They have stated that they will continue to maintain servers and even provide hardware code updates, I don't have reason to doubt them, there is such a large use base, it would cause a loud uproar if they didn't.
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
They have stated that they will continue to maintain servers and even provide hardware code updates, I don't have reason to doubt them, there is such a large use base, it would cause a loud uproar if they didn't.
Agree, and they have shown earlier that their statements are not just empty words.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I don't know what he wrote on RC (Remote Central?) but my decade old Harmony 900 had the macros removed and I certainly can understand why some would want it. For myself I worked around that with the Denon AVR having QuickSelect buttons that stores a number of settings and I've a different QuickSelect for each activity.

Now that I just bought the Elite I see that it have macros, but have not used them yet.

The problem is that online is the only option to program a Harmony remote, so when the servers are down I'm toast.
They were never intended to be a professionally programmed remote but the activities could always be customized, even with the most basic one, from the beginning. Dealing with them was interesting, at the beginning- if someone called for tech support, it was likely that at some point, they would talk to the guy who built the first 5000 units. IIRC, they only had five people in the company at the time and it wasn't long before they made arrangements to switch to manufacturing in Asia at a much higher scale.

You should be able to add pages of additional commands, or reassign buttons that were automatically populated but aren't used- when the H1000 was introduced, I was told that I couldn't do some of what I wanted, but it turned out that I could- this included adding commands to the activity startup and end, adding buttons and renaming others. As long as an additional device is added to the remote's setup, its commands can be added to an activity in a 'sequence', which is what Harmony called it.

Harmony stopped production once before and I had decided that I needed to look into other options because my fear was that they would kill off any support, although there are some requirements for support when a company ends the life of some kinds of brand, device, etc. The first time I got the attention of someone who was farther up the food chain, it was at the beginning of the Elite life, when I wanted info about the hub's ability to drive more IR emitters, IR hubs, RF range, their use of 2.5mm jacks and plugs (we gave URC a really hard time when they used them, but apparently, Harmony didn't bother to look into it) and he contacted me about being in a conference call with him & others, including at least one of their engineers, to discuss ideas for their future devices.

This call came while I was programming an Elite for the same system where I had done some really weird things with the H1000 and its replacement, the H1100, which had more customizable buttons and abilities for its touch screen.

Even the one in the photos, which is one of the first Harmony remotes I ever programmed, could have commands added- the black part is what they called a 'jog wheel', which was rotated to find the command needed, then pressed to activate it. That was great if the wheel didn't rotate when it was being pressed, but that was easier said than done. The small off-white button has a C on it, but I don't remember what it did.
 

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Out-Of-Phase

Out-Of-Phase

Audioholic General
Does anyone have any experience with the Harmony 665?

I can still get one at Best Buy.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Agree, and they have shown earlier that their statements are not just empty words.
I think shutting it down would have resulted in a huge class-action lawsuit and it would have cost Logitech a lot- it's one thing to end the life of something when a company closes, but when the parent is still operating, it's another. It's good to see they operate with some degree of a conscience.

I think the Squeezebox is still supported and during the call I received from Harmony's former head of the Digital Devices Group, he used Squeezebox as his example of how they'll support the remotes. Squeezebox was disco'd in 2010, IIRC, although the level of support needed is nowhere that of Harmony since A) there are so many remotes out there, B) they tend to work for a long time without becoming totally obsolete and C) they had grown so much in recent years, taking market share from other brands.

COVID caused this- they had recently come out with a model (H2400) that had more functions, more IR out jacks, detachable antenna, POE (for remotely locating the hub in larger buildings), more IP and BT control capability and professionals had been using the Elite/Pro/2400 instead of the brands that had been dominant.

They had also created a dealer portal for keeping all of our customer accounts in one place for easy access and for the hub-based remotes, it's possible to make changes to the setup without us needing to go anywhere- it happens through the cloud and we can synch the hub in the process, so that if someone has a problem or changes their own equipment but doesn't want to/know how to program a remote, they can call and we can make the changes during the phone call so they can try it within minutes, rather than waiting for someone to drive there, read badly written notes when nobody is at the house (it's not always easy to define what's needed in terms that make sense to everyone) or when it's needed. Sometimes, a problem doesn't rear its ugly head until someone is having a party and wants the music to play.
 

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