It's time to get a universal remote & I was thinking about the Harmony 550. But reading through this Remote Forum it seems the URC-8910 and Sony RM-VL600 can do pretty much the same, and for a lot less money.

I have a Sony TV, Onkyo receiver, 2-Panasonic DVD recorders and a Mitsubishi S-VHS recorder.

A concern is operating the similar DVD recorders separately. They do use the same codes & either remote will operate either recorder. However you can select one of three different codes for each remote/recorder pair, thereby restricting which remote controls which machine. Can a similar function be programmed into either the URC-8910 or the Sony RM-VL600?

Thanks in advance for any comments and suggestions.

It's time to get a universal remote & I was thinking about the Harmony 550. But reading through this Remote Forum it seems the URC-8910 and Sony RM-VL600 can do pretty much the same, and for a lot less money. ...
I wouldn't go as far as to say you "can do pretty much the same" with a RM-VL600 as a 550. The 550 is a much better remote, and much easier to use. The RM-VL600 is an excellent starter remote because of its learning capabilities and macro buttons but it will never have the same WAF as a 550 nor do as much. It also does not have any backlighting. I use it and love it, especially for $15 refurbished direct from Sony and would never buy any other universal without IR learning and macros, but the 550 is a vast improvement on the 600.

I understand that you can get the 8910 to do pretty much anything, but again, the WAF (and other users) is likely to be not nearly as high as for the 550, especially because of Smart State Management and as many full text custom labels on the four soft buttons next to the LCD as you need. It sounds like an excellent budget option, and I might even try it out myslelf just for the heck of a fun project, but if you can afford the $85 (or whatever the current pricing is on amazon.com) I would still buy the Harmony.

Check the Harmony Xbox 360 too (even if you don't have an Xbox): it is frequently cheaper than the 550, has extra buttons (always useful), and the LCD display color may be easier to read than the 550 display.

I wouldn't go as far as to say you "can do pretty much the same" with a RM-VL600 as a 550. The 550 is a much better remote, and much easier to use. The RM-VL600 is an excellent starter remote because of its learning capabilities and macro buttons but it will never have the same WAF as a 550 nor do as much. It also does not have any backlighting. I use it and love it, especially for $15 refurbished direct from Sony and would never buy any other universal without IR learning and macros, but the 550 is a vast improvement on the 600.

I understand that you can get the 8910 to do pretty much anything, but again, the WAF (and other users) is likely to be not nearly as high as for the 550, especially because of Smart State Management and as many full text custom labels on the four soft buttons next to the LCD as you need. It sounds like an excellent budget option, and I might even try it out myslelf just for the heck of a fun project, but if you can afford the $85 (or whatever the current pricing is on amazon.com) I would still buy the Harmony.

Check the Harmony Xbox 360 too (even if you don't have an Xbox): it is frequently cheaper than the 550, has extra buttons (always useful), and the LCD display color may be easier to read than the 550 display.


Thanks for the reply. I know someone with the Harmony 550. They like it, but said it did take some time to setup. I was going to buy one, but thought I'd first check out this forum area. I was surprised that people were happy with such an inexpensive remotes. So it made me think if I could "get by" with less power or features than the 550.

You mention these cheaper remotes will never have the same WAF as the 550. Is there a specific major reason or problem why?

... You mention these cheaper remotes will never have the same WAF as the 550. Is there a specific major reason or problem why?
Mostly because a Harmony, when setup correctly (and it's not that difficult) will do everything correctly. If anything goes wrong in the sequence (because the dog blocked the IR signal for example, before it was completed) you just press the "help" button and the remote figures out what went wrong. Mostly though, you just press "Watch TV" or "Watch DVD" and everything that needs to be gets turned on and set to the correct inputs or outputs, including such niceties as the surround sound settings for Dolby Digital, or DTS for instance, if appropriate. Apart from functions mapped to the usual hard buttons such as "guide", "menu" and so forth, the soft buttons allow you to correctly label custom text that says exactly what it should such as "surround settings" or "picture zoom". There is no guessing what button does what. Your old remotes can be put away in a drawer, without the batteries even: you are not likely to need them.

It's time to get a universal remote & I was thinking about the Harmony 550. But reading through this Remote Forum it seems the URC-8910 and Sony RM-VL600 can do pretty much the same, and for a lot less money.

I have a Sony TV, Onkyo receiver, 2-Panasonic DVD recorders and a Mitsubishi S-VHS recorder.

A concern is operating the similar DVD recorders separately. They do use the same codes & either remote will operate either recorder. However you can select one of three different codes for each remote/recorder pair, thereby restricting which remote controls which machine. Can a similar function be programmed into either the URC-8910 or the Sony RM-VL600?

In order to really make full use of URC-8910, you should get a JP1 cable (http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1009). The cable will allow you to connect the remote to a computer, and you can do all the key assignments and macro programming on the computer to upload to the remote. It also allow you to add new devices that the remote can control that is not built in to the remote originally. For example, the stock URC-8910 only has the protocol to control the Panasonic DVD player in DVD1, but not in DVD2 nor DVD3 built in, but instructions on adding that is documented within this upgrade file (http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload.php?action=file&file_id=4752) (You need Remotemaster application to read that file). Sony, Onkyo, and Mitsubishi are all fairly consistant with their ir codes, so you will likely find a built in code that will work. However, you will likely want to add additional functions that might not be in by default, like discrete input selection on the TV.
I understand that you can get the 8910 to do pretty much anything, but again, the WAF (and other users) is likely to be not nearly as high as for the 550, especially because of Smart State Management and as many full text custom labels on the four soft buttons next to the LCD as you need. It sounds like an excellent budget option, and I might even try it out myslelf just for the heck of a fun project, but if you can afford the $85 (or whatever the current pricing is on amazon.com) I would still buy the Harmony.
While there is the added cost of the JP1 cable (it's around $15 if you bought the premade parallel port version (http://www.diygadget.com/store/jp1/jp1-x-for-remote-controls/jp1-simple-cable/prod_7.html), and practically nothing if you can make it yourself (http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload.php?action=category&cat_id=39), and depending on what parts you might have around), it's hardly close to $85. The great thing about the URC-8910 (and some other ones made by UEI), is that it was originally intended to be in the range of Sony RM-VL600 and other learning, code based universal remote, but taking advantage of the upgradeable design, it can do much more than what it was originally intended for. Amazon lists the URC-8910 for about $26, and the URC-9910, which comes with an RF base, and transmits both RF and IR so it can be use with or without the RF base, for about $32 (others have complained about the performance of the RF part, but I haven't had problems with it). Even with the cable, it would be $41 for a pc programmable remote.

While it does not have programmable soft keys with customizable LCD labels, and programming is not as simple as Harmony's wizard type interface, macros can be used to create something similar to activities, and there is a way to do state variables with a special protocol uploaded to the remote. Plus, you will be able to add hidden commands like discrete codes (similar to adding hex codes on Pronto, and there's a way to convert almost any Pronto hex codes to codes that 8910 can understand. I believe Harmony can do that if it is already not in the database by sending the hex code to Logitech to add to your account), and you will be able to control almost any ir devices beyond what's built in the remote by creating and uploading upgrade files to the remote.

For extra cost, simpler programming and custom labeling that Harmony offers might be worth it to some people (in fact, like Kex, on the flip side, I'm looking to get a Harmony to play around with it). On the other hand, it's difficult to beat the value of a $40 (including cable) pc programmable remote with some features found in more expensive remotes.

Thanks for the info! I have a URC-8910 and was wondering if I should get a Harmony for the WAF... I think I'll work on programming it to be more intuitive and hopefully the wife will get used to things... If not then I suppose that $85 is a relatively small price to pay for (marital) harmony... :)