[The Spectre]

I am sick of the tone of remotes and want to get ONE UNIVERSAL (I hope) remote that does not require all day and a Phd to program. Will be used with ;


Denon 3803 (soon to be 3805)

Denon 1600

XBox

Windows MCE 2004 (soon to be 2005) computer

JVC LCOS 52" (when Costco gets the damn thing back in stock)

Replay TV

Comcast Digital box

 

[Draven X. Byrne]

If you don't need RF capability you could simply use the MX-700 (Plus it's much cheaper). I have that and it's brilliant. I completely set it up in 2 hours and that was for 9 components. Of course you'll tweak for a couple days but that was maybe 30 minutes in total. We only use the one remote and all others are put away.


You have much more freedom to customize on the MX series. The strenght of the Harmonies is that they are simple to setup. You can customize some but not to the degree that HTM's allow you.


DXB

 

[gwsat]

Spectre -- You probably already know this but the Harmony 680 was designed to work with MS Media Center computers right out of the box. I admit that I have a Harmony bias -- I have been a happy user of a Harmony 768 for six months -- but the fact that the 680 is actually designed to work with Windows Media Center machines would be a powerful attraction to me anyway.

 

[ddahlstrom]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Spectre I am sick of the tone of remotes and want to get ONE UNIVERSAL (I hope) remote that does not require all day and a Phd to program.

I just purchased a Harmony 688 and really like it. It did require all day to program, but didn't require a PhD. Well, actually, it took ten minutes to get it into a basic configuration that worked ok for the essentials, but a lot, lot longer to tweak it just the way I wanted (and I'm still tweaking a few things).


The web-based programming for this thing is very simple, but it can also be fairly tedious. But the whole scheme does work, and works pretty well in the end--and Harmony/Logitech's support has a good reputation if you get stuck. Once the remote is programmed, it really is hard to beat how simple it is to control your system and how logically everything flows. The only gottcha is that YOU have to get it into that state since the defaults leave a lot to be desired.

 

[archiguy]

I'm pretty darn thrilled with my MX-800. Can't believe how powerful it is! And it's got RF capability which I need not because I've hidden my components behind doors, but because I have two devices from the same company that operate on the same remote code set. The MX-800's RF capability solved that problem for me.


I've got it programmed perfectly for a ridiculously complicated HT system with 12 components. It's macro capability is so powerful that I was even able to create a couple of "skip-ahead" buttons for my DVR and fine tune them down to the tenth of a second. Amazing device.

 

[iqwertyi]

MX-800 is very good. I'm probably bias since I have it. As well as an MX-500.


Programming is easy, and ability to macro any button is awesome. For instance, I have an IR controlled light in the room. Pressing the "pause", pauses my DVD, truns off my plasma and lights up the room all in one button.

 

[majormojo242]

Spectre, it's really going to depend on how good the default configs for your devices are and how much customization you want to do. The Harmony is fine if you like the default setups and don't want to customize much with macros and so on. I tried a Harmony (659) for a couple weeks and returned it. I think I'll get the MX 700 next. My issues were that the default Harmony setups for my equipment were awful IMO and customizing was a chore. Some things (like the ordering of certain labels on the LCD) you just can't edit. The Harmony remotes don't really do macros, though you can approximate them in the Power on/off sequences. But the method of doing so via the web config application is quite limited and very very tedious.


You can sample the programming options for both types before you buy. Download the MX-700/800 programming app and try the Harmony demo online.

 

[Chip E]

If you need RF, get the MX-800. If you don't, then go for the MX-700. I had an MX-700 until i sold my Ref50 a couple weeks ago (came with my pre/pro stock). It replaced 7 remotes in very little time. I'm looking to replace it like yesterday with another MX-700. I don't need RF capability so i don't need to spend the extra $ on the MX-800. The MX-700 is perfect for me.

Here's a smoke'n deal on an open box, never used MX-700 @ Bluedo.com


I will most likely buy this..

 

[MikeSRC]

While I agree with the MX-700/800 suggestions, the Harmony 680 may be a good fit for you since it is pre-configured for use with Media Center PCs. You have more flexibility with the MX-700/800 though, since you can have a macro on any button with them.