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Harmony 880/890 deserves its bad rep? - Page 2

post #31 of 52
9/6/07 at 3:19am
this may be in the wrong thread, but i don't see a dedicated one for the 890, so . . .


i know and understand why the 880 doesn't control the PS3 (without the nyko add-on, that is) but my question is for the 890 owners in the house. does IT run the ps3 properly, or am i better off just buying the 880 & nyko ps3 dongle for less than the 890?

cuz i'm getting itchy to lose the SEVEN F#¢KING REMOTES that are laying around my living room right now . . .
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post #32 of 52
9/6/07 at 7:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobynLiquorstorz View Post

...
i know and understand why the 880 doesn't control the PS3 (without the nyko add-on, that is) but my question is for the 890 owners in the house. does IT run the ps3 properly, or am i better off just buying the 880 & nyko ps3 dongle for less than the 890?

cuz i'm getting itchy to lose the SEVEN F#¢KING REMOTES that are laying around my living room right now . . .

The 890 cannot do anything the 880 cannot do. It just uses RF to operate an RF base so that devices can be hidden or out of line of sight. That's all. The PS3 is bluetooth, not RF or IR. There are no bluetooth remotes (try pointing your cell at it and see what happens!). So you should probably stick with the 880, 670 (cheaper), 550 (different style) or 720 (different style, available at Costco for $120 if its in stock). Just choose your prefered button layout (or get the 890 for RF). Pricing for all of those ranges from about $75-$150 (check amazon.com, avoid Best Buy and Circuit City unless they have a special discount and/or you want to help them pay the rent and/or have shares in either one).

I do encourage you to "lose the SEVEN F#¢KING REMOTES"! It is a truly liberating experience ... and you won't break OEM remotes that cost $150 to replace (when you can even find them).
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post #33 of 52
9/6/07 at 7:42am
I would like to offer a suggestion to anyone who was never able to get the upgraded recharger base. For me I was out of warranty by the time I realized that I had a problem and that Logitech was offering a solution. I had to open up the base and add some folded paper underneath the contacts inside the base. When I did this I eliminated ALL my recharging woes. There are 4 screws underneath 4 rubber pads. Then just use a thin screwdriver to pry the sides off of their locking tabs. Fold some paper and stick it under the contacts, reassemble and enjoy a great remote!
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post #34 of 52
9/6/07 at 10:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kex View Post

The 890 cannot do anything the 880 cannot do. It just uses RF to operate an RF base so that devices can be hidden or out of line of sight. That's all. The PS3 is bluetooth, not RF or IR. There are no bluetooth remotes (try pointing your cell at it and see what happens!). So you should probably stick with the 880,


kex, that's what i thought, but couldn't find the right info anywhere.
danke . . .
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post #35 of 52
9/6/07 at 1:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobynLiquorstorz View Post

kex, that's what i thought, but couldn't find the right info anywhere.
danke . . .

The 890 does do Z-wave which the 880 doesn't do, but that's it other than the 890 being silver and the 880 being black.
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post #36 of 52
9/7/07 at 12:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kex View Post

The 890 cannot do anything the 880 cannot do. It just uses RF to operate an RF base so that devices can be hidden or out of line of sight.

With the 890, do I need a logitech RF base or will any RF base setup work?
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post #37 of 52
9/7/07 at 4:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmhughes View Post

With the 890, do I need a logitech RF base or will any RF base setup work?

The Logitech base. Pretty much any RF remote needs its same brand of RF base.
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post #38 of 52
9/7/07 at 10:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maverickster2 View Post

O.K., true, but I read his question differently. I thought he was asking if you could assign macros to buttons (and used the power on/off as an unfortunate serial example -- since it's true for the example but not for the larger question). So, in the interest of full disclosure, he should know that, at this time, the ONLY single-button multi-device response he's going to get is when he selects an activity or shuts the system down. Other than that, he, and the myriad other Harmony 890 owners (like me) are fubared unless or until a software/firmware update is released that re-enables the feature.

--Mav

Actually as of the latest software you can do limited macros ("Sequences") in the customize buttons area of the Activity setup...

--Galvin
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post #39 of 52
9/12/07 at 5:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by galvin View Post

Actually as of the latest software you can do limited macros ("Sequences") in the customize buttons area of the Activity setup...

--Galvin

True, but as of the date of my post, that was not true. Fortunately, the day after that, Logitech finally came through.

--Mav
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post #40 of 52
9/12/07 at 6:58am
Hello:

Just to throw in my $0.02.

I have 2 890's, 1 1000 and 1 880. I love them all but the 890's are my favorites (they won the top spots of the HT Room and the Family room). The 1000 was relegated to the master bedroom and the poor 880 is in one of the other bedrooms.

The initial programming can be a PITA because it takes a little while and having to update the RF extenders every time can be a pain when you have then installed and tucked away.

However, once they are are set up and running they are great. I even bought them as gifts for some family members (and I am sure at least one is wasting away somewhere unused).

I have not experienced any charging issues with any of the models. My only issue was a cracked screen cover on the 880 because it got dropped.

Splotto
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post #41 of 52
9/18/07 at 8:16pm
I have both an 880 and an 890. Both work very well.

My 880 is used with a fairly simple setup: Monitor, AVR, Sat HD DVR, DVD, CD, VCR (aka dust collector). I have not had any real issues with the remote in the past 2 years. It does occasionally become difficult to get the remote to charge in the base. However, I can easily fix this by cleaning the contacts with rubbing alcohol. I have to do this about every 6 months..... not a big deal.

My 890 is used in a complex set up: 4 identical HD Receivers, 1 HD DVR, 1 main plasma, 4 LCDS, AVR, CD, BR DVD. The RF extended is very useful for this setup because I can control the identical HD receivers independently. I have used this set up for about 1 month and has worked great.

I would not hesitate to buy either remote again.
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post #42 of 52
9/18/07 at 9:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RHildebrand View Post

...
My 890 is used in a complex set up: 4 identical HD Receivers, 1 HD DVR, 1 main plasma, 4 LCDS, AVR, CD, BR DVD. ...

Holy cr@p! ... dare I ask ... what is a BR DVD?! And ... do you have at least one eye for each screen ... and which planet/galaxy/universe do you hail from anyway (here on Earth, most people only have two eyes, or ocular visual data input devices, in case you hadn't noticed)?
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post #43 of 52
9/19/07 at 1:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kex View Post

Holy cr@p! ... dare I ask ... what is a BR DVD?!

I'm guessing he's refering to Blu-Ray, which is one of the 2 high definition DVD formats.
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post #44 of 52
9/20/07 at 6:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kex View Post

Holy cr@p! ... dare I ask ... what is a BR DVD?! And ... do you have at least one eye for each screen ... and which planet/galaxy/universe do you hail from anyway (here on Earth, most people only have two eyes, or ocular visual data input devices, in case you hadn't noticed)?

By BR I did mean Blu-Ray, as opposed to HD DVD.

I use the the other 4 TV's mainly when watching sports, especially football on Sunday's (NFL Sunday ticket). Most sports have a lot of down time. So it is fairly simple to keep track of multiple games, especially big plays, at one time. My wife and I are both big football fans.

With the 890, I can't control the 4 LCD's indepently since I am using the RF assignments for the 4 HD receivers. This is not a big deal for me as the LCD's are normally either all on or all off. The IR beam is wide enough that I can use the 890 power all 4 LCD's on or off at the same time. I would go to a URC remote if I wanted to operate both the 4 HD receivers and each of the associated TV's indepently. The 890 does the job as costs about 1/3 the price.
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post #45 of 52
9/28/07 at 6:30pm
Sorry if this is the wrong thread but I couldn' t find this answer via a search anywhere.

I am building a HT which will have a MidAtlantic rack system for my AV equip (for anyone who may not know, those are open racks with no door at all in the front).

I bought the 890 because my rack will be located on a side wall and there will be a bar to the rear and left of the room. I need to control the equipment from anywhere in the room even though I will have almost no direct line of sight.

I personally dislike using the stick on emitters in an open rack so I am thinking of building a small shelf which will overhang the front/top of the rack onto which I will mount the RF receiver upside down. (Okay, long winded set up)

Here's my question: How far should the shelf overhang the top of the rack in order for the RF receiver to be able to "hit" all of my components? The rack is a total of 29" tall and it will have various components throughout that height. In a related question, do the IR emissions emanate from the tip of the receiver? the side? the top?, other?

Last question, I didn't know until I perused this forum that there is an 890 Pro. Can anyone confirm that the standard 890 uses Zwave signals? I bought some dimmers assuming this remote would control them natively but now I am not sure.

Any help you can give from your experiences is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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post #46 of 52
9/28/07 at 11:26pm
I have an mx-500 and i was able to get an 880 and while it was easy to program it was the worst remote I ever owend, So I sold it for more than i paid for it and got an mx-850 and I never looked back.
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post #47 of 52
9/29/07 at 6:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KeylessChuck View Post

Sorry if this is the wrong thread but I couldn' t find this answer via a search anywhere.

I am building a HT which will have a MidAtlantic rack system for my AV equip (for anyone who may not know, those are open racks with no door at all in the front).

I bought the 890 because my rack will be located on a side wall and there will be a bar to the rear and left of the room. I need to control the equipment from anywhere in the room even though I will have almost no direct line of sight.

I personally dislike using the stick on emitters in an open rack so I am thinking of building a small shelf which will overhang the front/top of the rack onto which I will mount the RF receiver upside down. (Okay, long winded set up)

Here's my question: How far should the shelf overhang the top of the rack in order for the RF receiver to be able to "hit" all of my components? The rack is a total of 29" tall and it will have various components throughout that height. In a related question, do the IR emissions emanate from the tip of the receiver? the side? the top?, other?

Last question, I didn't know until I perused this forum that there is an 890 Pro. Can anyone confirm that the standard 890 uses Zwave signals? I bought some dimmers assuming this remote would control them natively but now I am not sure.

Any help you can give from your experiences is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I think you might not be clear on how the RF extenders work.

The RF extenders are an RF receiver with IR emitters attached via a wire (4 connections, 2 emitters each, 8 devices).

You run the wires to the devices and the IR nodes stick to the device (via peel off sticky). You mount each emitter over the IR receiver on your device.

The RF extender converts the RF signal from your remote to IR codes issued by the nodes.

So you can mount the RF extender anywhere on your rack (I have a middle atlantic rack as well). I mounted mine up near the top in the rear. I ran the IR cables down the back and they emerge above/below the device it controls.

If your rack is tall and you have devices near the bottom, the IR cord might not reach. All my IR devices are middle to top of my 44 space rack so it wasn't an issue.

Also, set up your remote and make sure it's working for a few weeks before 'mounting' it for good. When you make changes to the remote you need to connect the RF extender to your PC to sync the changes so you will need access to it. One solution there is to have a USB hub on the rack and run the extenders USB cables to the hub (but only one could be attached when you sync). That way only the hub needs to be accessable.

Splotto
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post #48 of 52
9/29/07 at 7:02am
Thank you Splotto. Excellent tip on the USB hub.

But I thought that as an alternative to using the stick on emitters you could just place the RF receiver to the front of the components. I thought the receiver itself transmitted IR signals The (albeit very sparse) instructions seem to imply that.

If not, your setup will work fine for me. Thanks again.
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post #49 of 52
9/30/07 at 5:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KeylessChuck View Post

Thank you Splotto. Excellent tip on the USB hub.

But I thought that as an alternative to using the stick on emitters you could just place the RF receiver to the front of the components. I thought the receiver itself transmitted IR signals The (albeit very sparse) instructions seem to imply that.

If not, your setup will work fine for me. Thanks again.

Great. Good luck.

Splotto
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post #50 of 52
9/30/07 at 5:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KeylessChuck View Post

Thank you Splotto. Excellent tip on the USB hub.

But I thought that as an alternative to using the stick on emitters you could just place the RF receiver to the front of the components. I thought the receiver itself transmitted IR signals The (albeit very sparse) instructions seem to imply that.

If not, your setup will work fine for me. Thanks again.

The RF base unit IS an IR flasher. I have mine right under my TV's IR sensor and all the individual emitters to my other components. In the software you can assign your component to be on emitters 1-4 and/or the flasher.

Now I'm not sure where exactly it flashes from, but I have the rounded nose portion slightly protruding from the front plane of my TV and it seems to work. Your plan of a shelf may work. Worst case is that you have a new shelf and you end up running stick-on emitters.
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post #51 of 52
9/30/07 at 7:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bryansj View Post

The RF base unit IS an IR flasher. I have mine right under my TV's IR sensor and all the individual emitters to my other components. In the software you can assign your component to be on emitters 1-4 and/or the flasher.

Now I'm not sure where exactly it flashes from, but I have the rounded nose portion slightly protruding from the front plane of my TV and it seems to work. Your plan of a shelf may work. Worst case is that you have a new shelf and you end up running stick-on emitters.

Wow. I had no idea. I am going to have to play with mine now and see if it works better then the stick on.

Both my 890's control multiple devices so I may not be able to locate it in order to take advantage of it but I will check it out.

Thanks for the info.

Splotto
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post #52 of 52
9/30/07 at 9:06am
My plasma is located far from my components cabinet and I would rather not have a stick-on IR transmitter on my plasma.

Thanks.
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