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Official Logitech Harmony Link Thread (Android & iOS Remote) - Page 2

post #31 of 146
9/20/11 at 5:20pm
^^^

good for you...
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post #32 of 146
9/21/11 at 6:34am
Sounds cool and practical. But (1)I don't have a tablet (2)I'm really comfortable with my Harmony 1100 (3) I don't have cable tv anymore, just netflix. So it would seem like overkill for me. If I had a tablet and no universal remote.....then i'd get this.
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post #33 of 146
9/21/11 at 1:32pm
I had a ONE, but at $99, and assume you had a ipad2 or an old ipad laying around, this could be a useful backup. My ONE is almost 3 years now, and the battery can't last for more than 1 day...
I do wish Logitech can improve on things like copy&paste activites... allow me to NOT pick a display device when I create a WatchTV (as I have dual display, and now I have to duplicate both), and of course allow us to easily input HEX code.
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post #34 of 146
9/21/11 at 2:31pm
fight4yu, have you looked for a replacement battery? I'm fairly certain they are available for some models as I know the mini novo keyboard battery is available, you might check ebay and also google around for them.
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post #35 of 146
9/21/11 at 2:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by fight4yu View Post

I had a ONE, but at $99, and assume you had a ipad2 or an old ipad laying around, this could be a useful backup. My ONE is almost 3 years now, and the battery can't last for more than 1 day...
I do wish Logitech can improve on things like copy&paste activites... allow me to NOT pick a display device when I create a WatchTV (as I have dual display, and now I have to duplicate both), and of course allow us to easily input HEX code.

If the Link only uses myharmony.com for setup you won't have to worry about copy and paste or not picking a display device... you'll have much more annoying limitations to deal with.
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post #36 of 146
9/21/11 at 3:55pm
To Keith: Thanks! Yes, ebay should have some batteries. Once it gets to half a day, I think I am going to replace it. Also, some buttons are getting "sticky" now
To Bryansj: That would suck...Since I am going to have my ipad2 next week, I am trying to look for alternative. I was originally looking at irule (still am), but just saw the news on Harmony link. If what you said is true, then I might have to go back to irule...
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post #37 of 146
9/25/11 at 9:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Mickunas View Post

Well I got a few questions I need to have answered before I decide to buy this:
  1. Does it do IP control?
  2. Will there be hard-button remotes that work with it?
  3. What about integration with the Revue?

I'm guessing no to all the above and it ticks me off. I haven't checked on the Revue in a while, but it's only $100, and it does some of this, but as I recall it only supports set-top boxes, receivers and TVs.

What gets me is that if they are putting these devices on the network then they have easy access to IP control, which is becoming more common. That's the killer app right there. I'd pay good money for something that handles IR and IP based control, without requiring line-of-sight from the remote, could use hard-button remotes as well as touchscreens/android/iphone device and had the easy setup of a Harmony.

Im waiting for the same!

This looks promising-
http://www.procontrol.com/pro24z.html#processor

though Im begining to wonder if its vaprware...
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post #38 of 146
9/25/11 at 10:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by shamus View Post

Im waiting for the same!

This looks promising-
http://www.procontrol.com/pro24z.html#processor

though Im begining to wonder if its vaprware...

Looks like the Holy Grail. I haven't heard of that one before, but from the looks of the site there's not much to it yet. Kind of like the Andi One, which was announced last April and nothing has happened yet with it. That one is a universal remote which is basically an ipod touch like device running Android and having an IR port.

I dug around on procontrol's site a bit, looks like it's meant for professional installers. No indication if it'll be available directly to consumers.
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post #39 of 146
9/26/11 at 7:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Mickunas View Post

Looks like the Holy Grail. I haven't heard of that one before, but from the looks of the site there's not much to it yet. Kind of like the Andi One, which was announced last April and nothing has happened yet with it. That one is a universal remote which is basically an ipod touch like device running Android and having an IR port.

I dug around on procontrol's site a bit, looks like it's meant for professional installers. No indication if it'll be available directly to consumers.

Youre right... I just called them and it will be dealer installed only.
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post #40 of 146
9/28/11 at 3:33am
The Android part looks like an afterthought. And it will not handle TV listings.
Also for Europe users, TV listings are off limits. But I suppose this is not a problem of Logitech..
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post #41 of 146
9/28/11 at 9:29pm
FWIW, y'all, I found a Harmony Link at Best Buy this evening, bought it, and set it up.

Luckily, the iOS app just went live on the App Store a couple hours ago -- it wasn't live when I bought the unit, so I wasn't sure how long I'd have to wait. :-)

In any case, the setup was quick and easy, and the unit works great. It controls all my devices* without a problem, which is more than I could say for my ONE, which had some directional sensitivity this orb doesn't have with its close-quarters positioning.

I think the unit has great promise -- the iPad app is quite polished, if not totally feature-complete:

- the guide info for TV is nice, but needs a classical "grid" view in addition to the randomly-featured shows.
- there needs to be a "Devices" panel in addition to "Activities" so I can directly access certain functions without starting an activity
- there REALLY needs to be the ability to mark certain device commands as favorites, and to assign these favorites to buttons on the activity remote panels in custom positions.
- there needs to be native support for macros (though I suppose I could train simple macros from my ONE as single commands on the Link.

In all, I'm rather pleased so far, but anxiously awaiting some feature updates to the iPad app. Let me know if anyone has any questions. I seem to be one of the first to have one (?)...

*Epson 8350, Yamaha RX-v667, Dish ViP-722, Samsung BD-C6900, Apple TV, Xbox 360, and Lutron MIR-600 lighting.
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post #42 of 146
9/29/11 at 1:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by aerocowboy View Post

FWIW, y'all, I found a Harmony Link at Best Buy this evening, bought it, and set it up.

Luckily, the iOS app just went live on the App Store a couple hours ago -- it wasn't live when I bought the unit, so I wasn't sure how long I'd have to wait. :-)

In any case, the setup was quick and easy, and the unit works great. It controls all my devices* without a problem, which is more than I could say for my ONE, which had some directional sensitivity this orb doesn't have with its close-quarters positioning.

I think the unit has great promise -- the iPad app is quite polished, if not totally feature-complete:

- the guide info for TV is nice, but needs a classical "grid" view in addition to the randomly-featured shows.
- there needs to be a "Devices" panel in addition to "Activities" so I can directly access certain functions without starting an activity
- there REALLY needs to be the ability to mark certain device commands as favorites, and to assign these favorites to buttons on the activity remote panels in custom positions.
- there needs to be native support for macros (though I suppose I could train simple macros from my ONE as single commands on the Link.

In all, I'm rather pleased so far, but anxiously awaiting some feature updates to the iPad app. Let me know if anyone has any questions. I seem to be one of the first to have one (?)...

*Epson 8350, Yamaha RX-v667, Dish ViP-722, Samsung BD-C6900, Apple TV, Xbox 360, and Lutron MIR-600 lighting.

Great! How did you do programming? Web interface, or the PC apps like we used to do in ONE? Also, how do you "learn"?
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post #43 of 146
9/29/11 at 5:28am
Programming is done through the myharmony.com website. Initial programming requires the device be connected to the computer, but it seems changes thereafter can be propagated to the remote via the web and app. (Edit online, open app, sync changes to device on startup).

Learning is done through the website, I believe only when the device is connected. Haven't tried that yet.
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post #44 of 146
9/29/11 at 5:30am
^^^

darn.
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post #45 of 146
9/29/11 at 6:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by aerocowboy View Post

Programming is done through the myharmony.com website.

That sucks. Can Logitech ever release a new Harmony product that actually improves their product line instead of gimping it?
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post #46 of 146
9/29/11 at 6:42am
^^^

apparently not...

it does suck, i had some hopes for this product...
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post #47 of 146
9/29/11 at 10:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by aerocowboy View Post

FWIW, y'all, I found a Harmony Link at Best Buy this evening, bought it, and set it up.

Where are you located that you found one?

Best Buy's website still shows preorder only;
Amazon shows 2-4 weeks for availability with preorder only;
Logitech's website shows pre-order only
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post #48 of 146
9/29/11 at 10:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jet-X View Post


Where are you located that you found one?

Best Buy's website still shows preorder only;
Amazon shows 2-4 weeks for availability with preorder only;
Logitech's website shows pre-order only

College Station, TX. There were two on the shelf, but no SKU tag or pricing posted. From what I can tell here, on Twitter, and Logitech's own forums, I may have been the only one so far to have had such luck and posted about it.
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post #49 of 146
9/29/11 at 1:32pm
College Station, huh? Well, since you're helping us all out, I'll try and look past the recent transgressions of the Aggies in bailing on the Big 12 ...

Where do you have the unit placed in relation to all your equipment? I see you're also shooting at a Lutron IR dimmer. Does the unit shoot the signal straight-out or is it omnidirectional?

Also, did you wind up paying MSRP on the unit or did BB have it discounted at all?
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post #50 of 146
9/29/11 at 1:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by roknrol View Post

Where do you have the unit placed in relation to all your equipment? I see you're also shooting at a Lutron IR dimmer. Does the unit shoot the signal straight-out or is it omnidirectional?

Also, did you wind up paying MSRP on the unit or did BB have it discounted at all?

I have the unit on top of a TechCraft SF50 rack in the front right corner of my room next to my screen. The smoked-glass door is closed, and equipment on all levels of the rack see the signal just fine, save for my Xbox 360 which has always been super sensitive anyway. Thankfully, the unit comes with a single wired mini IR blaster (and ports for two of them) which I will place inside in front of the Xbox.

The Lutron wall unit is on the opposite corner of the room (14'x15'-ish), and responds to the Harmony Link waaay better than it does to my ONE from my typical seating position. If its not a completely omnidirectional emission, it's at least +/- 45 degrees or more.

I paid MSRP - $99.

Sorry about our SECession! ;-)
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post #51 of 146
9/29/11 at 3:05pm
Hi, hopefully you can answer some of these questions.

1. Does the tv guide in the app identify which shows are new and which are reruns, and is there a search engine allowing your search for specific shows or movies?

2. How is the DVR functionality? For instance when you select a show on the guide does it give you the option of either watching it or recording the show for later?

3. I've been using Apple's native ATV remote app, particularly since I can type on the iPad qwerty keyboard when searching for movie titles. Does the harmony app have some kind of qwerty keyboard that I can use when searching for movie titles on the ATV?



Thanks
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post #52 of 146
9/29/11 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by remush View Post

1. Does the tv guide in the app identify which shows are new and which are reruns, and is there a search engine allowing your search for specific shows or movies?

Quote:
Originally Posted by remush View Post

2. How is the DVR functionality? For instance when you select a show on the guide does it give you the option of either watching it or recording the show for later?

I would call the guide/TV functionality promising, but currently pretty poor. You can filter by type (movie, news, sports, etc) but no matter how you filter it, you're always looking at promo-style "featured" shows, not a comprehensive grid guide. And there's no text search, only filters.

It does show you whether shows are new, and shows you whether or not they're in HD. If the show is on, there is a "Watch Now" button. While watching, you're free to hit the record button. But if a show in the guide isn't currently showing, the watch button is greyed out and there is NOT a record button. I wouldn't have expected this functionality for an IR remote, though - that'd require some pretty serious IR macro functions to happen behind the scenes. Too hard to implement one-click future scheduling without direct access to the DVR's Internet-based scheduling controls.

Quote:
Originally Posted by remush View Post

3. I've been using Apple's native ATV remote app, particularly since I can type on the iPad qwerty keyboard when searching for movie titles. Does the harmony app have some kind of qwerty keyboard that I can use when searching for movie titles on the ATV?

Again, no. The Link may connect via WiFi, but it is still limited to the utility of a device's infrared remote functionality only. It would have been awesome if Logitech could have reverse engineered Apple's WiFi touch/qwerty control protocol to create the ultimate Apple TV universal remote, but thats unfortunately not what this is.

I can post more screens when I get home.
LL
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post #53 of 146
9/29/11 at 4:14pm
That said, of course, you can always multitask app-switch between Apple's remote and Logitech's. It's not too bad doing this, especially in iOS 5 where you can swipe the screen with 4 or 5 fingers to switch between apps without any button presses or taps. I'm using the beta, and this works great.
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post #54 of 146
9/29/11 at 4:35pm
Thanks again, I appreciate it.

I went ahead an preordered the device. I was hoping I could have used just one app for my tv/movie watching. Right now I'm using one app to control my DVR, the zap 2 it app to search for shows and the apple remote app to control the ATV. I actually never heard about the swipe functionality in ios5 until you mentioned it, that sounds like it would be really useful.
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post #55 of 146
9/29/11 at 4:44pm
I have an iPad2 (as does my wife) and will probably use it, but I wonder if the new Amazon "Fire" Kindle/tablet will be a good fit for this once it comes out? Has anyone compared the IOS app to the Android version?
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post #56 of 146
10/2/11 at 2:04pm
Version 1.1 of the app just came out - it adds search to the TV guide info, and improves the Help function for power & input problems, giving you a single panel of all relevant power and input buttons in addition to the auto-fix function common to other Harmony remotes.
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post #57 of 146
10/2/11 at 7:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jayworth View Post

Last thing to do is get in bed with Logitech again after all their shoddy Harmony remotes. 8 device limit? lolwut? The usual IR-only Logitech stuff that doesn't let you see or change anything without calling Support and hoping they can work some kind of magic on their server...


I was heavily considering getting an iTach myself and then I saw this. However, I feel your comments above are spot on. Decisions, decisions.
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post #58 of 146
10/3/11 at 9:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by aerocowboy View Post

Version 1.1 of the app just came out

That was fast ... didn't 1.0 just come out last week?

I'm looking for an Android solution as I have an Asus Transformer I'd like to press into service. I haven't checked the Market to see whether the Android version of the Link app is available yet. Didn't sound from the marketing material that it would be tablet-ready anyway.

Originally, I was thinking iTach, too, along with iRule for Android (whenever/if it materializes), but this Harmony has me interested.
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post #59 of 146
10/3/11 at 2:37pm
subscribing
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post #60 of 146
10/4/11 at 6:19am
Has anyone seen any information if it works with the Harmony RF extender? I have components in two places and a projector, so the blaster/extender would be a nice combination.
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