Need help on selecting a good universal remote

[DanD]

does anyone have the 890? I plan on getting that, because I plan on hiding all of my equipment and just have my TV showing.

 

[OttoMatic]

does anyone have the 890? I plan on getting that, because I plan on hiding all of my equipment and just have my TV showing.

Hi Dan,

Yeah, I have the 890. It works very well for us, never had a problem. I do believe that the web-based user interface leaves some things to be desired. It's somewhat slow and it asks a lot of newbie-type questions during setup. However, once you get it up and running, it's generally rather flexible.

We use the remote throughout the house, as we have a "zone 2" that's implemented in the family room as well as the patio. The remote works just fine outside (guess it's 30 or 40 feet from the receiver at that point).

It's also very effective for my wife. She's able to run pretty much everything throught the 890.

Highly recommended.

Good luck!

 

[cmusic]

I just bought an 880 last week and while I hated it the first night I got it I like it now that I have had a few days with it. My previous remote was a huge Sony RM-AV3000. Things that I did not like about the 880:

1. I entered my SA 8300HD STB in as a PVR when I first set it up and it would not control all of its functions. I later deleted it as a PVR and re-entered it as a STB and it worked fine except I had to program in the A,B,C, and live buttons into the 880.

2. I like to leave my STB and TV on while I use my DVD player to play CDs. The 880 wants to turn my STB off when I choose "play a CD".

3. (My biggest peeve) I use my Denon 3805 to do my video switching and the 880 expects me to use the video inputs on the TV to do my video switching. So I have to enter the same TV video input for all "activities" so the 880 changes to the same TV input all the time. I have not figured out a way to bypass the TV video input selection on the 880 because (I guess) Harmony engineers figured all their users would use the TV video inputs to do all of their video switching. I e-mailed Harmony customer support about this a few days ago and have yet to hear back from them.

Otherwise I am satisfied with the 880. It is definitely not as customizable as my old Sony but it is not as big and is somewhat easier to program and use.

 

[NapaDRB]

cmusic,

I have the 880 and your problems #2 & #3 can definitely be corrected. I to like to leave my stb box on at all times and the harmony does this. It's been a year or two since I set mine up so I don't remember exactly how to do it but it can be done easily. I think for #2 it is in the power options, and number #3 can be addressed also, I think it is in the Q & A in the setup when you tell it how you use your gear. I would call Harmony's tech support, I have had very good luck with them fine tuning the behavior of the remote.

 

[bean59]

The logitech harmony is the way to go. It worked with my German satellite receiver, can't believe that. Also very sleek and nice blue illumination.

 

[project86]

I've been using the Harmony 520 for a while, I like it well enough. As often as people comment on the ease of set up for the Harmonys, I found that it does take a lot of time and effort. The main issue for me is how the preset buttons (the ones that show on the LCD when using a device) don't exactly match with the actual options the device has. For example: my basic Panasonic CRT doesn't have options for aspect ratio, PIP, or direct 1 button access to closed captions. But the Harmony LCD gives me a dozen pages full of options that my TV doesn't have. Similarly for my JVC receiver: the options are similar but have different names, so it was hard to find the ones that worked. Also I'd like it to be easier to change the order that the LCD buttons appear in.

On the other hand, the remote does eventually do everything I want it to do, so I shouldn't complain.

Oddly enough, I owned one of these
http://www.smarthome.com/59300.html
that I purchased brand new from Ebay for about $20. It was just as effective as the Harmony, and possibly easier to set up.

 

[Hi Ho]

I have had a Harmony 688 for about two years. I have been happy with it. Initial programming is very simple. This, of course, provides you with basic operation. If one wants to add more functionality and customization the programing process becomes much more involved and the simplicity of the programming process actually gets in the way. The initial setup of my Harmony probably took 10 minutes. Perfecting it took hours.

One thing that annoys me about the Harmony setup process is the redundancy. Say I want to add a step to an automatically created activity macro. The software forces me to go through the basic setup, click "It's working fine but I want more...", go through the same basic setup again, and finally add the step to the macro.

The only other thing that bugs me about my Harmony is the arrangement of the play/pause/FF/RW/stop/record buttons. They are not ergonomically placed and don't seem to be in any particular order. I always have to look.

Through work I have acquired a new remote. I am very impressed. The remote is a URC MX-900. I like the layout and feel of the buttons much more than the Harmony. It is much more customizable as well. The only real issue with it is that it has no "Smart State-like" technology so if any of your components (like my TV) do not have discrete on/off codes you are basically out of luck when it comes to programming macros for power on/off.

Unfortunately, not everyone can get an MX-900 and effectively program it. I had to register as an installer through my employer in order to get the software to program the remote.

 

[MDS]

Everything is a trade-off and Hi-Ho captured that in his post.

The Harmony's are billed as 'simple' and as such are promoted for ease of initial setup. That works great for the normal consumer that just wants things to work. It doesn't work so well for others who need or want more control or have special situations.

I know you can get around it, but what I don't like about the Harmony is their idea of an 'activity'. If you want to watch DVD, it will turn on everything needed to watch a DVD and turn off everything else. But what if you want to have the cable box on at all times? You have to jump through hoops to eliminate the step to turn off the cable box because the cable box is not normally needed for 'Watch DVD'.

The HTM remotes require more manual intervention but are better suited for me. They can be programmed for activities, pure device mode, or a combinaton of the two (what I use). It does take more work initially but in the end I can set it up exactly how *I* want and to me that is valuable.

As far as 'smart state' for the Harmony goes: I can write the code for smart state in ten minutes. It is useful for a novice but it is NOT the valhalla that totally eliminates the headache of dealing with devices that do not offer discrete on/off commands. All it does is offer a helpful trouble shooting system that can be used by those that really don't have any idea how everything works. I personally don't need/want to answer questions about which device is on or off when I can tell at a glance that the problem is because the cable box missed the power on command that was part of the activity. For the babysitter, yes that is helpful. It all comes down to what you want out of the remote and what level of understanding you have about how everything works.

 

[Hi Ho]

As far as 'smart state' for the Harmony goes: I can write the code for smart state in ten minutes. It is useful for a novice but it is NOT the valhalla that totally eliminates the headache of dealing with devices that do not offer discrete on/off commands. All it does is offer a helpful trouble shooting system that can be used by those that really don't have any idea how everything works. I personally don't need/want to answer questions about which device is on or off when I can tell at a glance that the problem is because the cable box missed the power on command that was part of the activity. For the babysitter, yes that is helpful. It all comes down to what you want out of the remote and what level of understanding you have about how everything works.

It's not the help system that I miss on the MX-900. It's the fact that there is no way for the MX-900 to "remember" whether a component with no discrete on/off codes is on or off. No, it's certainly not a fool proof system, but it allows activity macros for components that have no discrete codes.

The new MX-810 is supposed to have this ability. However, I have downloaded and fiddled around with the 810 programming software and I must say that I really don't like it. It's wizard based like the Harmony remotes but It seems to be more limited. It may be because I don't know how to use it but it seems that this "proffesional" software is less flexible than the Harmony.

I would like to play around with an MSC-400 system controller. That eliminates the worry of having discrete power codes because it has sensors to detect whether a component is on or off so it always gets it right.

 

[MDS]

Yeah, the problem with 'smart state' is that there is no two-way communication. The remote cannot ask the component 'what is your power state'?

When you execute a macro that turns on a series of devices, all it does is change its internal state to indicate that each of those devices is 'on'. If the device missed the command and actually is not On then the internal state is wrong and the troubleshooting feature will ask which devices are on. When you indicate that no the cable box is not on, it will send the power on command to the cable box and then change the bit that represents the cable box power state from 0 to 1.

Again, it is useful but from a programmer's perspective it is not 'magic'. If there were true two-way communication things would be a lot easier. I don't mean to imply that I think the Harmony approach is wrong or trivial, just that it is not the magic bullet that makes everything foolproof.

 

[Hi Ho]

Nope, the magic bullet is the MSC-400 with it's video and voltage sensors which makes it virtually 100% fool proof.

I got around the problem of my TV having no discrete codes by simply leaving it out of the macros. It adds an extra button press but I have no problem with it.

When it comes to the DVD player (Toshiba HD-A2) it's a little more annoying. First, I don't see why the HD-A2 has not discrete on/off commands. Since it doesn't, I have no way of programming the remote to make sure that the DVD player goes off when I switch back to TV or another activity.

 

[mfabien]

...First, I don't see why the HD-A2 has not discrete on/off commands. Since it doesn't, I have no way of programming the remote to make sure that the DVD player goes off when I switch back to TV or another activity.

I have an HD-A1 and power on/off works the very same way. My unit powers off whenever I select a new Activity which does not involved the HD-A1.

You simply need to change how the HD-A2 powers on and off in the Harmony website. Easy think to do. And I would reset the Activity and see that you get a "all other devices are OFF" statement.

 

[sholling]

I know you can get around it, but what I don't like about the Harmony is their idea of an 'activity'. If you want to watch DVD, it will turn on everything needed to watch a DVD and turn off everything else. But what if you want to have the cable box on at all times? You have to jump through hoops to eliminate the step to turn off the cable box because the cable box is not normally needed for 'Watch DVD'.

That's a pretty simple hoop. It asks you during setup if you want unused devices to be powered off. Anwser "No" - hoop successfully jumped.

 

[Hi Ho]

I have an HD-A1 and power on/off works the very same way. My unit powers off whenever I select a new Activity which does not involved the HD-A1.

You simply need to change how the HD-A2 powers on and off in the Harmony website. Easy think to do. And I would reset the Activity and see that you get a "all other devices are OFF" statement.

My problem wasn't with the Harmony. It was with the MX-900.

It's no longer an issue as of last night. I decided to search for some codes and I was able to find discrete power off codes for both my Toshiba HD-A2 and my Panasonic DVD recorder. The only devices I now have without discrete power codes are my VCR and TV. I can live with that.