[drealit]

Relevant Equipment:

• Sony Bravia KDL40Z4100 40 inch HDTV
• Onkyo HT-S894 HTIB (I honestly thought I'd be replacing this next...)
• Home Brewed HTPC - Moneual 312B enclosure (VL Systems IR receiver with M-Play software) w/Windows 7 Pro x64 and the latest SVN MediaPortal frontend
• Harmony One Remote

So yes the time has finally come for me to turn my back on the Harmony's. I can no longer stand the slow delay issues(specifically with the Harmony One and the endless tweaking that still results in lackluster results). I just replaced my HTPC enclosure from an Antec Fusion/iMon MCE receiver for a nice new Moneual 312B which uses some kind of VL Systems IR Receiver along with their M-Play software. Well the delay was poor with the MCE receiver... enough so that I was annoyed with it but coping. But with the new VL receiver... delays are abysmal and I've tried many combinations of new delay settings to no avail. I've basically given up on it and feel I'd be better off selling the remote now while I can still get a decent chunk of change for it. It really turned off my friends to the remote (they were turned off when I had the original MCE receiver too) and I'm glad they did instead of wasting the $150+ on it only to be disappointed with poor performance in terms of speed.


The comparison to the original remote that came with the new IR receiver is not even close. The original remote is ridiculously responsive and it's almost as responsive as me using the keyboard directly.


The question is... what is my next remote? I'm a very tech saavy person so I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty or learning something new. I was annoyed by Logitech's bulky Harmony software where I couldn't just go to where I wanted first... I'd weed through several menu's before I got to what I wanted.


The shape of the One was nearly spot on... my only wish is that it had a few more buttons (I originally was a DirecTV customer [now i'm soley HTPC and OTA] and the lack of the colored buttons was a real downer on the One).


My primary concerns are that I want a remote with almost no delay... and that it will have a large enough (not to mention expanding) database to support my equipment now and in the future. If I can get $100-150 for my One... I'd be willing to spend between $150-300 on a replacement. I don't need a touch screen, RF is interesting and I might want to explore that, it must be comfortable and only require 1 handed use the majority of the time. The Harmony One was my first true universal remote and I bought an 880 for my parents. Other than those 2, normal stock universals were all I used. I not afraid of macro's and would be willing to learn them if need be.


So with all this information AVS... what should I be looking at?

 

[bryansj]

A URC MX-880 might be a decent option in your price range. You can later add a RF extender such as the MRF-260 if needed.

 

[mdavej]

Sounds to me like you need an MCE receiver that plays nice with universal remotes. I don't think the grass will be any greener on the other side. If the MCE learns don't work well with harmony, chances are they won't work much better with anybody else. Also keep in mind that raw learns can give you repeats that you can't adjust out. Try normal learns first. If that fails, then get a different remote from someone with a good return policy.


I find the cheapest and most flexible remotes to program are JP1, but that's just me. With those, you can analyze your MCE signals and even write your own protocol if you have to, so the signals will be absolutely perfect.

 

[drealit]

No no, I don't believe the receivers to be at fault. The original remotes both worked excellent with both enclosures. I also had (for a period of time) the default MCE receiver ( http://geektechnique.org/images/1151.jpg ) which still had a delay with the One but only a minor delay with the 880. There's a long running issue with the Harmony's and being slow with HTPC's and other devices etc. and now I've just about given up on them and am looking for a reliable quality replacement.


Also the Moneual enclosure's IR receiver doesn't use MCE commands... it has its own system from VL Systems ( http://www.vlsys.co.kr/ ). The only software I could get to run with it (excluding diving into the event ghost world etc.) was its own M-Play software.

 

[drealit]

No other suggestions?

 

[mdavej]



Quote:
Originally Posted by drealit /forum/post/18103607


No no, I don't believe the receivers to be at fault.

I understand. I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with them. I'm just saying they apparently don't work well with harmony. Since harmony works pretty much like other universals (same IR frequencies, etc.), I don't expect another universal to work any better. My harmony has never been slow with any device, including my HTPC (I use THIS MCE IR interface that works perfectly with harmony). So I think the problem lies in the kinds of signals your device uses. If they're borderline outside of normal CIR frequency, then you'll have issues. But I don't know any details about VL, so I can't say for sure. All you can do is try a different remote and see.


Good luck

 

[drealit]

Thanks for the additional response. I'll need to do some experimenting of my own then. First step would be to hook up my parents 880 I think since that's readily available right now...