Harmony 890 first impressions - Page 2

I'm running the 890 on a pre-Intel Mac without any problems. Software loaded without a hitch and all updates have worked fine.

the 1000 is Mac compatible. the person who said it isn't doesn't know what he's talking about.

Just got a Harmony 890 for my living room to control my Sony 60" XBR2, Denon AV receiver, Motorola HD DVR, and DVD player. It's fantastic! My 7-year-old can now control everything. Even my wife can use it !

Here's a question I have: I like this remote so much, I would like to have a second one for controlling my basement home theater (Sanyo Z5, another Denon AV receiver, Motorola HD DVR). Can I use two Harmony RF remotes in the same house? When I program a remote and an RF Wireless extender, are they smart enough to only with with each other, or if I have a second set, will both Denon receivers and Motorola DVRs receive the same commands at the same time?

Can anyone comment on the RF range of the 890? I currently use a URC 9910 IR/RF remote instead of keypads for my system's remote zones. The advertised distance is "up to a 100ft" when in reality it's more like 25ft. When I'm out on the deck it's hit or miss as to whether it'll work. Quite frustrating when only half of your macro gets executed thus leaving the system in a screwed up state. Does the 890 do any better?

Does this mean that you used the "RF network tools" menu on the remote and chose "remove RF extender"? I had exactly the same experience as you - got the remote all set up, it was working beautifully, but then the extender crashed at some point while changing activities from "watch tv" to "watch dvd"

I figured I need to reboot or resync the extender/remote, but have been unable to do so. I am supposed to be getting a call from Tier 2 support in the next 24 hours...

I understand this remote is controlled by activities. But can you include your lights in these options? For example when you hit play DVD your lights will dim?

The folks at Logitech suggested satlogo; I found it much easier to grab logos from Wikipedia! The logos were almost always the right size and even most of my local affiliate stations had logos on wikipedia. Hope that helps other frustrated Harmony users.

Have tried this 3 times on my own. Finally got fed up and called level 2 support. Spent 45 min on hold, 35 minutes on with a tech guy. Still could not pair the remote and the extender. He thinks it's a bug and asked me to call back tomorrow before 5pm. I'm giving these guys one more hour of my time and then I'm returning the remote to Ultimate Electronics. This has been the most frustrating, appalling, and stupid waste of time ever. Would rather pound sand.

applehead, i had basically the same scenario an eventually harmony decided I have a defective unit and is shipping me another one.... we will see if this does it. good luck,chris

wagsgt,

Yes, you can manage lighting control with the H890. I use the H890 to control an IR543 X10 remote which, in turn, controls 4 X10 Lamp Modules that control table lamps around my media room. As a matter of fact, when I hit my BIG SCREEN MOVIE activity button, X-10 Universal Modules signal my screen controllers to open the trapdoor to my drop down screen and lower the screen; X10 Lamp Modules dim the lights; an X10 activated 110VAC outlet turns on the power to my ceiling mounted front projector that is plugged into it; turns on the projector; selects "My Movies" in my Media Center HTPC menu (where my ripped movies are stored; turns on my AVR and selects the correct input and audio type (e.g. DTS); and selects the correct input on my DVI switch which feeds the projector. When I'm finished watching the movie, I hit the 'off' button on the H890 remote and it undoes all the above and inserts 100 seconds of delay in the turn-off of the power outlet that powers my projector so that it can cool itself down before turning itself off. I am able to do all of this with 100% RF commands since Logitech has worked out bugs that plagued the remote until recently. I have another 8 activities that perform equally well.

Logitech also claims to be able to control Z-wave devices that might also solve your lighting challenge.

Dan, Thanks for the info! I plan on using a Grafik Eye to control the lighting in my room, so it seems that will be able to perform the the same functions as your system. Corret? Minus the power outlets.

Wagsgt,

I am not familiar with the Grafik Eye product line: but, I checked the setup info on the H890 programming web site and the Grafik Eye brand is not listed as a supported device. So, you MAY be able to use the H890 to control the Grafik Eye but you would have to teach it the correct commands using the remote that works with the Grafik Eye products. I suggest you contact the Harmony tech support folk to determine if your chosen product can be programmed into the Harmony H890. They may do it for you; if not maybe they can give you advice on whether it can be done or not. Sorry I can't be more help.

Can anyone tell me if the 890 will work with the DirecTV HD HR20 native RF mode?

It seems I tried this in the process of setting it up and it didn't fly. It works fine tho in an enclosed cabinet with just the blaster and no IR wires.

I did have to reset the DirecTv box to IR, of course.

Everything went perfectly in setting the 890 up. I just followed the directions and everything worked like magic. A rare occurance for me.

Bill

I had the harmony 880 and had a little bit of problems with the IR and the DirecTV HD HR-20. That's why I returned it, and now I want to pick up the 890 because I found that my HR-20 has RF built-in.

We'll see how it works. I just bought the remote from Amazon, it should be here in a couple of days. I will let you know the results.

I got an 890 a few days ago. I also have had a 659 for a couple years that I love.

Different story with the 890. I got some basic stuff set up on it, but now as I try to tweak and customize it I'm constantly getting the error "Unable to display content". Tech support, even level 2, couldn't do anything. They just said it's a problem with their software/database and that they are working on it. What a joke. I can't even complete the setup of the remote due to the screwed up database software. The remote is pretty useless if I can't program it!

After googling this problem I see that there have been numerous reports of it off and on dating back several months. They need to hire some compentent programming geniuses or something. It is totally unacceptable to have those problems. Those problems are fatal flaws. The product REQUIRES that the software work in order to be able to function.

I've gone from 100% loving Harmony remotes to 95 % hating them.

The DirectTV boxes seem to work on a stronger frequency then the Speakercraft IR repeating systems we use. We called Speakercraft about the issues we were having and they suggested we put a piece of scotch tape between the sat box and the emitter to somewhat decrease the strength of the signal being sent. That seems to work without a problem now. I suggest trying that if you have this problem, it may not be just a Speakercraft issue. I believe the model we were having a problem with when we called was the HR-20 too.

As for the Harmony issues, I absolutely hate harmony now. As a dealer who installed them on a regular basis, it was pretty simple, until the software was updated. Now it is nothing but problems. Last week, just to make a couple quick changes on a customers remote, I had a problem downloading to the remote. I had to call the Harmony Dealer Tech line and wait for almost 45 minutes for a rep to pick up, to do a quick change in the account to allow it to download. I also installed a 890 this past Friday, the first one I have installed. I found the process of setting up the RF to be a pain, as the software I was using had no mention of RF anywhere, I had to stumble around to find what was needed to make it work. Once that was done, I was incredibly annoyed to find out that I had to unplug the RF base to update it. . We were there from 8 in the morning installing this system, it was now going on 7pm and I had to dismantle part of the system to get to the power to unplug the damn RF base? NOT HAPPY. It then of course takes about 5-10 minutes to update each (the remote and the base). OF course when I went through the remote and realized there was no DVR button on it, I had to do another update. I informed the higher ups that I am no longer touching ANY harmony products. If they want to sell them, they can go program them, I will only be touching URC from now on.

I ordered a Harmony 890, but I might just return it after I get it from all that I am reading.

If you perfer to install URC remotes, what one would you recommend for a home theater?

Satelite HR-20
DVD Sony
Receiver Sony ST-800
Tivo Series 2
CD Sony
Projector Optoma

I want something that will be easy for my wife to use.

Well it depends on if you want IR or RF, if you want just IR learning or if you want to program on the computer. Personally, I really like the MX-700 (IR) and the MX-850 (IR and RF). You would have to get the RF modular, the MRF300 with it to use the rf functions. They are both similar in style, really just different colors and the center select button is a lot easier to press on the 850. They are also both computer programmable and once you learn the software, they are very easy to program.

Harmony 890 Battery Charge Problem

I have been using my Harmony 890 since November 2006. I am now getting a message on the LCD screen that the battery is low and to reset it on the cradle. Well, I do that and it seems to be connected well. I cleaned the contacts. The message persists and the unit does not work.

Anyone have an idea on what need to be done to get the 890 functioning again?

Thanks

Trying to control my HTPC with my 895 (same as 890). Have the RF extender plugged into USB. Is this all I need to control my XP PC or do I need additional hardware?

Have downloaded Girder and will try it out tomorrow but wonder if I need an USB-IRT instead of the standard Logitech RF-extender module for this.

Anyone?

I don't understand this but I hooked up my 890 to run my HR20. I thought it was not responding very well. I have it in my basement about 50' away. I then read about the HR20 remote doing RF. I changed it over and it works great. Is this working with my Harmony extender or is it working by itself? Whatever the case is I like it much better than the harmony remote.

I am having exactly the same issue, and am waiting for a call from Level 2 tech support. Will post when the issue is resolved (wishful thinking!).

NO, the HD DVR HR-20 has RF built in and so does the remote. I actually switched to RF because I was having so many problems with the Niles IR repeater and the HR-20. Then someone on AVSFORUM.com told me that the IR repeaters are VERY strong and therefore the HR-20 will reject or ignore most of the IR commands. I moved the blaster off of the sensor and now I have it connected to the shelf in front of the HR20 pointing straight up. I works like a champ. It has been a week, never a missed command and is always quick to respond.

I now have a MX-3000 remote using only IR with the Niles repeater and it works everytime.

The HR20 does have problems with ir repeaters like you said. We have had issues with the speakercraft repeating systems. We have found that if we put a small strip of scotch tape between the emitter and the sattelite box, that it "tones down" the signal enough that it works flawlessly.

Same problem - recently developed. Place on charge cradle after low battery warning and the LCD screen goes through three screens ("Harmony Testing"; Missing License", and "Battery ADC Not Calibrated") and then locks up - totally nonfunctional - and even fails connectivity check from Logitech website so I can't reload the firmware. Tech support seems stumped - and level 2 support doesn't work on weekends.

I have a second unit that continues to work flawlessly - just like this one did prior to the crash and burn.

Anyone with any updates or fixes yet - short of returning unit for replacement?
When it works, I really like the product.

That's depressing to hear. I love my 890 so far, but who knows when the time bomb will go off. It's only been a week, but so far no issues with the wireless extender.

I also came in AFTER Logitech removed the ability to assign macros to a button, so I've never experienced that glorious level of customization. I'm joining the write-in effort to get them to restore it.

OK, so we have finally resolved our non-charging 890. Spoke to someone in Level 2 support. He said the battery was malfuntioning, and they would send out a replacement. I was very sceptical, but sure enough it resolved the problem, and it is working and charging just fine now.

Hope that helps!

It sounds like you think the computer might be controlled by the RF extender back through the USB connection. This is not the case as far as I know. People use the USB-IRT to control a PC like you mention.