I give up on Harmony remotes. What are my other options?

I've had a very similar experience with the Harmony 900. I just ordered an MX-980 and RF base station to replace it. I'm tired of the build quality and problems.

In an case, hoping this one will provide me with a better experience.

URC remotes are intended to be programmed by a pro installer. But some are able to obtain the software from their dealer or from other sources. If you want to program your own pro level remote, you'll have to find a way to get the software.

I had my 890 die on me as well...slowly the thing fell apart. i simply cant afford to replace harmony remotes. I have since replaced my harmony with a Philips Prestigo SRU 6006. It is awesome. You can macro easily...add timers... its great. I learned all of the PS3 IR commands from my old logitech remote, so that I can use my Logitech PS3 IR unit without any issues.

Only drawback I found was that you cant macro the OFF sequence. But i tinkered a bit and made things work for me. Biggest reason this was annoying is denon has separate on and off buttons...which there is no way to "explain" that to the remote. BUT i found that this issue was NOTHING compared to the hoops the harmony software had me jump thru in the past.

I now use a wired extender instead of the wireless RF extender from logitech. I Love wired compared to wireless. There is no lag... it works instantly. I wish i would have gone wired in the first place.

The prestigo is NOT a high end remote...nor will it do everything... BUT I honestly feel it is MUCH more programmable and usable then my Harmony 890. The presitgo is also built like a tank compared to my old logitech.

I will never buy a logitech remote again... i am hooked on the philips remote and will be purchasing a 2nd one this weekend.


I paid 25 bucks for a NEW philips sru6006 remote from a guy in town... and 35 for the IR extender on ebay... and 8 bucks for a 50 foot extension cable for the IR extender on monoprice.

2 years ago I paid 380 bucks for the logitech harmony 890 ... poor mistake.

One more point... it took me nearly 2 hours to program my harmony remote ... I had the philips remote programmed in under 15 min.

Have you considered iRule? Really I'm just curious because I'm upgrading my home theater and I'm trying to decide if using my Harmony 900 is the way to go or not. It's the first time I will have a remote AV rack and I'm not sure how I want to control the projector together with the rack? Feels like I would need some combination of HDMI (redmere from monoprice or maybe over Cat6 with IR port) and RS232 over Cat6. The wireless option saves wall fish for the remote but I still have to do either HDMI or Cat6 anyway.

This setup seems to have issues with the IR based on the comments:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10425&cs_id=1042501&p_id=8008&seq=1&format=2

I'm about to start reading the IRule thread to see what it's all about but the wireless option and control over IP has me at least somewhat intrigued.

Edit: Never realized I could control a device straight from the remote via IR. That solves the projector problem. Guess I should understand my equipment a little better before posting!
Edited by jkasanic - 11/23/12 at 2:35pm

I gave up on the Harmony remotes because their web site was messed up for days at a time and I couldn't get it programmed. I got one of these:

http://www.acoustic-research.com/universal-remotes/?sku=ARRX18G

and haven't looked back. Works great.

I'm using some Acoustic Research Xsight remotes right now. I have yet to come across something that it hasn't allowed me to program (delays, activities, remapping buttons, custom buttons, etc.). The only thing I don't like about it is that it isn't as polished as a Harmony when it comes to the technologically impaired. I'll be getting rid of mine next month if it happens to catch your eye (moving the to Harmony 650 actually ).

My opinion is iRule is the best however it isn't a remote. I like having a dedicated remote. I still use the Harmony one and my ipad with iRule but when I don't have the iPad the kids use the One. The problem with the One for me is that the battery's expand and swell and are no good. I buy about 3 or 4 (I Have 5 One's in my home so they are useful) from ebay for about $10 and they last about 6 months or so. This solved my problem. You have to use a screw drive to pry the battery out but at that point I believe your harmony one will work again. My kids beat up that remote fierce and it still works. For it to just die seems awfully strange to me.

Neil

I've been a die hard Logitech guy I went from the 890 with rf to ir. to the 1000 to the 1100 which I own two one in my living room one in my theater. I've since switched to the roomie remote on my ipad and it's awesome. I have it installed on my iphone as well. i'm doing my bedroom this week I got a new switch and some cat5 cables to plug in my dtv box and my Samsung tv. i'm using a iptoir converter to do the apple tv as well. all in all I've done my theater and my living room and bedroom for around 600 dollars with serial converters and ir. this to me is a bargain considering I paid almost 500 for the 1100 with the rf module. I tried irule and although i'm pretty tech savy the learning curve was a little much for my schedule. good luck!