Looking for a Remote....

" I was looking at the harmony remotes" - You were looking at the right thing...

+1 for Harmony remotes.

You may need to get a WMC remote or an IR receiver to plug into a USB port on your HTPC. Then you can teach all the codes to the Harmony program.

You need an RC6 receiver (USB) plugged into your computer. I use a Philips Prestigo that I like and was cheaper than similar Harmony.

I got a Harmony 650, works a treat!

Ditto!

If you're looking for the remote, check in the sofa cushions.

If you're looking for a remote, Harmony is probably the way to go. I got a 900 when they were on sale at logitech's website during December for $160 shipped. I like the remote but there's things about the 880 it replaced that I miss. I'm getting used to it, though.

The IR dongle for Hauppauge Tuner cards works with the Harmony remotes, BTW.

Logitech just announced a couple weeks ago that they'd be refreshing the whole line of Harmony remotes sometime in 2012. Not that I'm suggesting waiting for 6 months, but I wouldn't break the bank for any of their high end models right now. You can grab a refurbished 650 or 700 to hold you in the meantime until the new stuff comes out.

I just got a Harmony 650 on sale. It is OK but I guess I was expecting it to work much better and to have more powerful config/customization. The activities get a bit confused sometimes, especially if someone uses a different remote or uses the built in controls on the various devices. This causes the Harmony to not know what state that all of the components are in and (for example) since the 650 sends a power toggle command to my receiver instead of the discrete on/off it can be a little inconvenient. Also, since I never turn off my HTPC it would be nice to configure the remote to not send it a power off command when executing activities.

The solution is probably to hide the other remotes and never press a built in button on any device.

I wish you could beat that into my wife and kids thick skulls. But that is never going to happen so I've just abandoned using activities.

Personally I'm a fan of the URC line of universal remotes. Harmony remotes have never really done much for me.

http://www.universalremote.com/

-Suntan

I just got an R40 last week, about the same price as the Harmony One, bought it on Amazon. Much better build quality than Harmony. It's programmed using the remote itself, walks you through most of it. Was very easy to set up, including some macros. It's IR only, not sure if any of their consumer remotes do RF.
Their pro line is programmed with a PC, but the software is only available to installers. Some have had luck getting an installer to give them the software but there's no guarantee.

Could you please provide a link to that article? Thank you.

One thing you can be sure of with a Harmony remote is to not worry about the new ones having more more features than the old ones. Buy now and get more features.

Or that the new one will be better quality or offer longer support.

You can't configure this with the Harmony s/w? I did for both my 880 and my 900.


My wife loves not having 6 remotes laying around the family room. Now it is down to the Harmony and an RF minikeyboard.


I understand what you are saying but sure hope it isn't true as they are going to ruin their brand image only to allow another brand to take over their top spot.

I have a H1.

Fought the temptation for a while and finally gave in during a good sale about 6 months ago. Great remote for HTPC.

+1 for the Harmony One. I've had a lot of quality universal remotes over the years and the Harmony One is by far the best I've ever owned. I used to have a Harmony 880, which uses the same software and activity protocol as the One. I like the One better because it's not as cluttered and the buttons are easier to use.

I've also owned Home Theater master remotes, URC remotes, Marantz remotes, and the list goes on. The Harmony One offers the most in flexibility, ease of use, and memory for command storage.

Get an HP IR receiver for use with any Harmony. You can pick one up on ebay for anywhere from $5 to about $15. It's got jacks on the rear for connecting IR repeaters to control other components located out of sight.

I do like the keyboard layout on the 900 (similar to One) better than the 880. I don't like the use of icons on the softkeys in stead of the use of text that the 880 used. I can't remember what most of the icons I set up are now!

Actually the old ones had longer tech support. They shortened it two or three years ago. I wouldn't have high hopes for improved build quality. They also seem to be moving their new remotes to use the limited myharmony.com website for programming (see the 200, 300, and Link as examples).

I was being sarcastic. Newer=worse

When you set up the remote, go to the device preferences and select "always on".

Thanks I will check that out.



Fingers crossed that they include bluetooth and add compatibility for bluetooth controlled devices.

For those that have it this is the wonderful thing about the Vizio VIA remote. The TV+Remote talk over bluetooth so they are always in sync. That way if anything changes on the TV it notifies the remote and the remote automatically changes functions. For example if you are watching TV and insert a Blu-ray into the blu-ray player, the player powers up and sends a HDMI/CEC command to the TV to change the input. The TV then sends a bluetooth command to the remote notifying the remote to enter Blu-ray mode. All auto-magically.

This is Logitech you are talking about. Not going to happen. Just be glad if they keep IR instead of dropping it due to support costs...

another in favor for a Harmony...I use the 1100 and I am happy with it..

I'm doing exactly that: AVR, PJ, HTPC and CirecTV using a refurbished Harmony 300i (I'd paid under $20). It's cheap and works just like the original remote - YES you'll have to have a IR receiver on the PC but we're assuming you already have a working MCE remote!

The 300 is basic... no fancy screen, only one "macro" but a few of its buttons can be assigned functions and ALL of them can be reassigned to suit your taste inside their on-line programming application. I set the WatchTV macro to switch on the AVR to HDMI1, ON the PJ to HDMI2, ON the HTPC (which I'd reprogrammed the PowerON key for the HTPC device to Win-1 which fires off MediaPortal which is "pinned" to the taskbar). Sure, I could change it to PowerON the AVR and HDMI2 then do nothing on the Satellite receiver since it's ON all the time anyway, and be ready to watch satellite!