Official Logitech Harmony 300 thread

No LCD, no backlight and only four devices ... and only one activity.

The "Watch TV" button is the only one that is an activity; it turns on your cable box and TV and switches it to the right input. The four buttons we would normally associate with an "activity" on a Harmony remote ... the TV, DVD, Cable/Sat and VCR/aux buttons ... are "mode" buttons to switch the remote over to control that device.

So instead of pressing DVD to switch the TV input, turn off all other devices, turn on the DVD player and switch the remote to controlling the DVD player, you probably press TV, Input (however many times to get to the right input), DVD, Power and you're ready to go.

More is explained on the quick start guide in this PDF file.

I don't know if you can program macros to the "programmable buttons" or if they are simply one-code buttons like the rest of the buttons. Looks like they are "one code" buttons to me.

I'll probably get one; I can't get my family to use my "scary" 880. Even the 650 causes them to screw up their faces .... I think they are afraid of the LCD screen. Maybe there will be a 350 model with four activity based buttons.

This does have a few things going for it: it uses AA batteries (the entire remote is only $10 more than the last battery I bought for my 880). Without a display screen the batteries should last a year or more. The "mode" or device-based model of button pushing is more familiar, almost identical to our Dish Network remote, so the learning curve is a lot shorter.

I looked for one in Fry's and Best Buy today, but they aren't on the shelf yet near me. I may order one from Amazon.

I too went to Best Buy today, but it appears Amazon may be the only one that has this yet (I guess they only have to get product to one distribution center for Amazon to start selling it, but getting it to all the BB stores takes a little longer...).

For the most part I've loved my Harmony Remote for XBox 360. It's great and an the activity-based setup is an easy way for my wife and I to use my TV setup...when it works. However, when it misses a command, and the TV ends up on the wrong input...it is a real pain. When the input is wrong, it's not really easy to get it set up right. Even using the help mode (which on the surface seems like a brilliant idea) can be very frustrating. For example, my wife goes to turn on the TV and watch the DVR. She presses the right button, yet it gets the inputs wrong (it really seems to get messed up with our new Vizio TV switching between the four HDMI modes or the 2 Component modes). To "fix" that situation, when she presses help, she has to go through about 5-6 questions before it gets done with correcting the situation.

Our new TV allows on-screen labeling of the inputs, so I can put "TV/DVR" next to the HDMI 1 input. That plus having to go into help mode more with the new TV setup has leading me to longing for a remote that just had an "input" button. Last weekend I was wishing there was a more traditional Harmony remote, and lo and behold this comes out this week!

I'm really hopeful this will be the answer I'm looking for. I was never a big fan of the LCD-based buttons, and this looks to have 10+ additional buttons than my current remote, and even has a dedicated "List" and "Live" button! It appears this remote may also be a way for Logitech to overhaul their outdated and cumbersome software used on the earlier remotes...this remote uses myharmony.com for the setup. Right now the site only works with the 300, and it has a more modern UI for setting up the remote. My guess is that they are using the 300 to beta test the rewrite of their software.

Unfortunately, I fear this will suffer from essentially being a "version 1" device. even though the Harmony line is pretty long in the tooth, this remote works quite differently, and has a completely new setup website...both scenarios are ripe for bugs. I just read one of the 3 reviews on Amazon (this morning there was only 1) and it said there was an issue where you could not specify which of your devices mapped to each of the four buttons...even when the software incorrectly mapped the TV to the VCR/AUX button! It's early to know if this is a widespread issue or not, but it does worry me slightly.

I was hoping to be able to find one of these locally to try it out, instead of ordering from Amazon and potentially having to return it, but I may have to go that route.

If anyone has tried this remote, I would love to hear what the experience was like.

A lot of online resellers have picked up this remote now. Too bad BestBuy still is not selling and wondering if they ever will. Too cheap maybe and they don't make enough markup on it?
I have a BB gift card and would like to spend it on that, but I guess I can't.

I've had mine now for a while. Harmony is the only remote that I can get to switch inputs on my Samsung TV (the discrete codes for each input is in their database). And the buttons are very similar to the Dish Network buttons that my family is used to, so they like it.

I put the discrete input code for each device on the programmable "1" button. So if you want to watch cable TV, press "TV" mode and then the "1" button. Want to watch Dish Network, press "Cable / Sat" and press the "1" button. Same for the DVD player and my WDTV-Live (AUX). Press the mode button, then press "1".

Simple, and it works. I couldn't get other remotes, even learning remotes, to duplicate the command from my original Samsung remote.

I have a Harmony 880, but I'm the only one who will use it. It has "too many buttons", and is too confusing when the macro fails due to a device being in the wrong state at start up, etc. The mode paradigm just works better for my family members because that's the way they have been doing it for 15 years.

Harmony sells convenience, and none of their remotes are "worth it" from a purely financial point of view. There are plenty of alternatives that are much cheaper. But Harmony is much easier to set up and use, and that's what makes them appropriate for mixed use (i.e., wives as well as tech geeks).

My question is 'How did you do this?' When I want to program the Cable / Sat device, I dont know how to put the correct input code on button '1' because I cannot choose correct input code? I only get al the possible options for my Cable/saat device and not the options for my Samsung TV!

Actually, I taught the remote the codes from my Harmony 880 remote. The database for the "activity based remotes" have the discrete codes for the Samsung inputs (at least for my TV), and I used the learning function to assign the discrete code to button 1.

I picked one up yesterday at BEST BUY and have to say this remote is fine if you only have a tv, cable box and dvd. I have an additional sound bar and I have to constantly change from cable to aux for channel and volume. What a shame, it looked so promising and has turned into a bust for me. I will be returning it for a 650 tomorrow if I cant figure out how to enable the remote to use the sound bar for volume.

Angel

I had a similar issue with my HTPC and sound volume on my AV receiver. I wanted to be able to use either TV sound or the AV receiver sound. The five "channel favorites" buttons can be programmed for any function, so I used "4" for volume up and "5" for volume down on the AV receiver. It works OK for that purpose.

I picked up another Harmony 300 for the bedroom TV ... an old Daewoo tube set that none of the universal remotes I tried would control (I tried a cheap three function RCA and then a four function GE). The Daewoo codes are incorrect, and scanning never found the right codes. The Harmony database had the TV, so I was able to get it to work.

I just got this thing also under the understanding that it will turn all 3 of my devices on and off with the watch tv, it doesn't turn off my dvd/home theater box. I was also under the impression that if I wanted to control my volume with the dvd/home theater box instead of the tv that I could do that also. I can't figure out how to do this either since when I click on a drop down box it doesn't give me any other of my 2 devices to choose from.

If it can't do this I will be taking it back. Anyone have a suggestion on a remote that can do these basic functions without have to constantly choose the dvd button to control the volume and then having to choose tv to change channels and that will turn all 3 devices off and on at the same time without having to choose again that doesn't cost a lot.

Thanks

I just recently got the remote as well and was having the same issues. All you have to do though is go into customize the buttons and make the changes there. To change what gets powered on/off you just have to click on the Watch TV button to select the devices the get powered and the volume is done the same way. Just click on the volume button in the customize section and it will give you options for what device controls the volume.

So I'm looking for a remote that will work well with Verizon FiOS cable boxes (QIP25500-3) and Samsung C5500 Blu-ray players. Want to ensure that that the Allshare functionality functions well..... obviously TV as well but assuming all remotes will support basic functions on Samsung/Sony TV's.

Don't need any complicated activity routines and would like cheap as I need maybe up to 5 of them.

Will the Harmoney 300 be up to the job?

Any others to consider?

Great - its worth a try for just a few $'s

Where do I get a JP1 cable - searched Radio Shack and didn't get a hit.

I assume you cannot load the updated code without one thou right?

Yes - its a Motorola box. its basic SD box but noticed I gave wrong model - correct is QIP2500-3.

I'll head out to the shack and pick one up to play with.

Thanks for all your help...... possibly saved me a few hundred $

My local RS didn't have them - only 15-302 or 15-303 are they OK for this?

[EDIT] Although I noticed they did not have the Y/B/R/G buttons which I need.

Any alternatives?

Managed to get a RCA RCRP05B from BB ($21).... Do you know what the 4-digit codes are for:

FiOS Motorola QIP2500-3
FiOS Motorola QIP6416-2
Samsung BD-C5500
Samsung HT-C5500

I tried the RCA Remote Code Finder but was not returning any useful results.

I also tried the Codes link in you signiture but was returning a lot of codes - do I just go thru each one till it works?

Great - Thanks.

Will check out tomorrow.

Was able to configure FiOS and all functions appear to work fine.

For the HT most work but not the color buttons (tried all 3 codes) - do I need to use the Learning capability for this?