Logitech in Trouble, Looks to sell off Harmony Remote Division - Page 2

I'm sorry to read about Harmony's financial woes, as an owner of two of their products. I've experienced device functiionality problems coupled with their poor customer service to the point that it's been a better use of my time to use the multiple remote system.

OMG! I'm crushed to hear this news. I've owned every one handed Harmony remote since I discovered them, I didn't like the 1000 series. Too much like holding a tablet. As a tech guy, I understand how the mobile industry is changing how we work and play. But, have you every had to watch a movie with an iPad or Galaxy on your lap? Not enjoyable. Maybe the re-use of my old generation iPhone would be a better fit. Hopefully, someone will pickup the database and integrate it. Till then, I'm not letting go of my 4 Harmony remotes.

Sad news, it seems no company is safe these days. I hope they can pull through but they really should focus on better supporting the harmoney line vs. selling it off and maybe attract new customers/sales.

The Harmony One saved my marriage... Maybe not, but it has huge SAF. Switching to iPhone as remote is not a great idea for us.

But I understand the marketing problem: these remotes cost as much as a 7" tablet from Amazon. They seem far overpriced for their functionality in the current tech market.

here is a related thread in the Home Automation Forum:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1451387/how-many-years-out-are-we-from-a-single-standard-to-rule-them-all

we can only hope the division will continue to be supported

One other reason why I think sales are tanking is because new TV's come with pretty decent remotes where you might not need a universal. The cable box also does pretty well.

Next on the list is that devices made by the same manufacturer are highly interoperable. My default Samsung remote controls my Samsung blu-ray player and my Samsung sound bar.

To top it off more and more services are getting combined so you don't need multiple boxes for functionality. fewer devices means I need less remotes. My Samsung TV has Netflix and other apps built into it.

All of those reasons mean that the only people that really need a decent universal remote have tons of devices.

Same for me!

As a A/V technician I have installed and used a lot of remotes for home automation in high-fidelity home theater.
The Harmony remotes are known to be problematic with a lot of functionality failure and a poor possibility of programming.

RTI is the way to go. It is more open when it comes to programming macro, their stability is solid and it is well designed to link your tablets and your phones with their system.

Harmony remotes use to be for the average Joe. Bye Bye Harmony! It's about time!

I want to be able to use my phone and a remote, not just one of the other. I have a 900, one and a 650 and never had an issue with any of them. I've had a few dealings with logitech over PC stuff and the customer service was a good as it could have possibly been. My remotes make it easy for the wife to control things and thats the reason I have it in the first place. I do also use my phone but I'm not the type that HAS to have it with me everywhere I go in the house, I'm not a teenage girl.....
IMO their sales are down because they are to freaking expensive. I got lucky and just got a 900 a week ago for $140! I have no plans on returning it as I can't see them just shutting down the website. there are too many people that have the remotes, I'm sure it will remain and people are over reacting.

Not surprise at all I've owned several harmony which always seem to be a little on the finicky side.The CS sucked as well, wish they're data base would have evolved a little or something..

I'm getting an Ipad and some software remote, pretty impress what my ipod does with my Denon Avr, I wouldn't mind going that route in the future.


Djoel

As an A/V technician, you have vested interest in gear like RTI and URC being the de-facto universal remotes because consumers are restricted to your service to set up or even update remotes. It's a model that allows for techs such as yourself to create profit, and I understand a business needs ways to continue making money. Limiting the consumer to re-visits and continual payments for updating equipment, however, is not a way to make new customers. I would absolutely love to use an RTI or URC remote if the software was freely available. For such an expensive product, it's not a financially efficient method of future-proofing when I could easily just purchase a Harmony remote that allows me to do exactly what I'd use the restricted remotes for, at a lesser price and with no further financial commitment.

all right chicken littles, worse case here is they ultimatiely stop selling the product. at some point there, long after your harmonys have died and or been replaced, the web service shuts off, I doubt you'll wake up tomorrow and find that you can no longer configure the remote, it will take weeks, if not months to complete a sell, !

Sure the tablet apps work great, but really for complete family usage, your telling me you'd use a $400 plus tablet as your only universal remote, I'd need two! makes no sesnse, I have two HTPC's and need a remote for both, and tablets are portable, and maybe used away from the home while some one is still at home trying to control the TV. Your going to need a remote, so I think your ok if you bought a harmony today. It's a good product, but I've always thought the price was a little high, there's another compeitive remote on the market, I'm drawing a blank on the brand, they were more price comptetive, but I went with the harmony namely becuae of the huge AVS user forum for the 650/700.

+1 on real buttons, but the best arrangment is a hybrid of real buttons and touch screen, IMO. Any function I'm using while I'm watching the TV I want to be keyed to a hard button so I don't have to look down at the remote. For me, thats Vol +/-, Channel +/-, d-pad, DVR list, DVR guide, Menu, Exit, RGBY, maybe the number buttons, etc. For one-time functions like switching sources or audio presets though, a touchscreen is preferable, because I can have a long list of options with custom names so I don't have to remember that the Appletv is programmed to the "DVR" source button, or which of the RGBY buttons I programmed to "7 channel stereo" or "sports surround sound".

I had a love/hate relationship with my harmony 650, and eventually went back to my trusty Sony RM-VLZ620, but not having the touchscreen for the tons of options on my receiver can be a big pain. I've heard very good things about the harmony touch though - it looks like the perfect balance for my needs, if only the price would drop a bit.

At Best Buy this weekend I was told that the Harmony One, Harmony Lnk, and Harmony 900 had been discontinued and that they can no longer order them. Stores are now limited to local supplies only. Looking at Logitech's website today shows that there are only 3 models being sold the Touch, 1100, and 650.

So if you want a Harmony One or 900 you better get one now.

This, I find it absurd to pay more to program a remote than I paid for the new device itself.
I've been using the URC R40 for almost a year now. Easy to program without using a computer and much better build quality than any Harmony remote I've seen.

very sad to see. Also had a love hate relationship with harmony. Build quality just sucks, but the remote was simply the best. Sure I could configure a cheap remote, but if it broke, I'de do it all over again.... and my configs run deep with an HTPC, so harmony has been a godsend. I've broke a third of my harmony remotes though, and really disappointed with the build quality, although the design was solid.

Amazon still has them it seems. Goofy that Logitech doesn't show a majority of the models though. Why would they encourage it looking like the line is dying pre-sale. Harmony was an independent company, no reason with most of the backend infrastructure setup it couldn't go back to being that way.

After enduring the Squeezebox discontinuation, I'm glad I got rid of my Harmony. Actually I'm glad anyway, I never liked it that much. I bought a $19 Philips remote that I like better, and I use my Kindle Fire to control my Squeezebox.

Well not exactly...

I have vested interest in remote like RTI because of the quality of the product that's all. It is a good way to do business and have a good daily job. But it is false to say that the consumer have to re-visit and do continual payments! Once everything is set up, the consumer don't have to change anything, it' done! The consumer will not change there setup each month. There is no update for equipment... The only reason to re-visit would be to change the remote macro if the customer add/change a part of there equipment (installed by me anyway). For a Hi-Fi setup I don't see what is wrong with that. Remember I'm talking about HI-FI audio/video setup, not a HTITB purchased at BestBuy.

My point was about quality equipment like RTI and Nevo. Even if you or someone else have had good experience with Harmony remotes, well it doesn't mean that the Harmony remotes are good top quality products. It's like comparing a Hyundai vs a Mercedes, both will do the job but the Hyundai will never have the quality built and/or the vast technical functionalities of the Mercedes. It's like I said, for the daily consumer Harmony is a good choice but for those who are ready to invest in quality equipment well Harmony is just a low end product.
Edited by CDBT - 1/28/13 at 5:23pm

I see what CDBT is saying,but I disagree on the car analogy.

I would say-
Harmony is the cadillac/BMW/mercedes/rolls royce of the car world,
RTI/NEVO etc are like Nascar cars

To the average consumer.. even DIY home enthusiasts, it's hard to beat the Harmony and it's usability much like it's hard to beat the Caddy/BMW/Mercedes/Rolls Royce for vehicle features and usability for the average user.. BUT an RTI/NEVO system may be better built/work better for truly high end experiences much like these Nascar cars are built/work better for truly high end experiences. Nascar and RTI/NEVO are EXCELLENT.. BUT the average DIY home enthusiast is unable to easily use them... I would NOT call Harmony low-end.. It is not the best by any means, and can certainly be frustrating at times BUT it really is one of the best options for the average DUY home enthusiast... Readily available, programmable via DIY, good customer service (in my experience), and I have had no build/quality issues thus far.. Coming from a DIY guy, I'd sure miss the harmony line.

That's URC R40 looks pretty nice with the layout.. but how does it stack up against a harmony 650?

Well said!

Well, I am in the tablet/harmony camp.... I use my ipad mini, my wife uses her ipad2 , both with link to control our home entertainment. No wifi drop issues, or anything. Love the hi res screen the iPads offer over the crap res I had on the harmony 1100. I hope the support for additional components continues...

Well if Logitech didnt do such a **** job on the Harmony Link and supported Tablets far sooner then they did maybe they would have been better off on that side of the market ~_~

I have the Harmony One and LOVE IT but maybe I will be able to find the new Harmony Touch for the cheap, heres hoping ^_^

I used to like URC until they locked end consumers out. They had really strong macro capability and quick 'tweakability'.

I can program any remote to control any amount of gear in any way I want.

I suspect a significant slice of the HT enthusiast population can do the same. Afterall its a remote...not an HTPC. And i've had an HTPC since before they called them HTPCs.



Thats why its infuriating for manufacturers to try to slave end consumers to a 'custom' installer who, quite frankly, just can't do as near a good job as I can. I know exactly how I want my remote to work today. But I can change my mind about it tomorrow and tweak it myself.

So to have a 'good' remote, the only choice would be to pay someone who is going to do a lesser job and then pay again for tweaks and gear changes too!? Funny stuff! Not in this lifetime.


While Logitech does have a frustrating programming interface to people who can actually program, at least its 'open' to end consumers.

If Harmony goes belly up, it will be bad news for consumers. At that point I'd be forced into a junky touchscreen...or some cracked software.

The only thing I missed going from a Harmony was the help button. I can figure out how to switch sources, but my wife can't. I need to program more macros to take care of that, but the problem is that the URC doesn't remember the state a device is in, so if you don't have discrete on/off codes, it gets complicated.

I don't know how this thought will be received around here, but I'd like to see what Apple could do with the Harmony property.

It's pretty clear that Wall Street is looking for bold new innovations from Apple - and a truly excellent universal remote could be just the ticket. In fact, adding IR/RF, a unified "remote control app platform" (and ideally, a couple of hard buttons) to the iPad Mini would accomplish that feat - while truly differentiating that product and giving it a reason to exist. They could also create an "iRemote", using a standard candy-bar remote format.

I don't know that Apple really *needs* to buy Harmony to make this happen - they could probably do it on their own - but the purchase would definitely make a splash and announce their intentions to enter the remote-control market, and could include some useful patents. Succeeding in the universal remote market would finally get Apple into the living room, and would drive AppleTV and iTunes sales.

Here's a post I wrote about this a few days ago.

Apple wouldn't want Harmony, or any other universal remote as they currently exist. Using macros is still not a guaranteed experience. My grandmother still screws up the only macro her remote can do - ALL ON - flips the cable box off and the tv on. Then she presses it again and it flips to tv off and the cable box on.

^^^

I sometimes wonder why integrators bother with turning set top boxes on or off: they draw about the same power either way: and there is a lot of programming needed to determine state of stb, set up flags, et al

me I leave the stb on all the time

Lets face it, they stopped developing at the"659". The "Touch" is an attempt to return to the tactile single-handed remote, but CorpoRat greed got the better part there too.
Edited by bobpaule - 1/31/13 at 7:54pm

So what other options are out there if you wanted to avoid a Harmony today? Mine died today. Loved it and everything but I can move on if something else is out there.