One remote to rule them all...

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#754282 1-Feb-2013 10:17

I am about to shelf my harmony one away because I could not bear to charge the remote every two weeks. Seeing that I haven't replaced the remote battery since the day I bought the TV, it is unacceptable. I can't believe they would pass acceptance testing going into production with this. Sure it has a LCD screen but so are plenty of other devices that go on for longer.

However, once all your devices are set up, there is very little maintenance (other than the frequent trips to the docking station to charge)

TechSol

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#754283 1-Feb-2013 10:21

robjg63:
Talkiet: Counterpoint.

I have a Harmony One, and have had 2 others before that (525 and 785)

Their software is galactically awful. They haven't and won't update it to acknowledge that Bluray players exist (You can control them, but they are called DVDs).

They haven't updated their icons for 5+ years (except for the newest remote) and show no signs of adding new icons to match Bluray players, ATVs etc.

I have to agree- I have a 525 - their setup software is terrible!
Their database of devices is huge though.

I have driven myself nuts though trying to get activities to work properly.
I have a G10 panny plasma. The standard TV remote has a power toggle button. The device on the logitech setup now shows that they have a discrete on/off code - and in fact this does what it says. ie press 'power on' on the logitech remote when the TV is on just leaves it on. 'Power off' turns it off - nice.

Do you think I can get the 'watch DVD' activity to send the 'power on' to the TV? - NOPE! - it always seems to do the equivalent of the power toggle - so half the time the TV turns OFF. I have spent quite some time mucking about with it but have given up (for now).

Other than that - they are also an awesomely powerful remote - they must blast out about 4 or 5 times more infrared signal than a standard remote - none of this taking aim at the device to get the remote to work. You can often wave it around the room while you are using it and it will work.

I have a feeling your TV set doesn't have discrete On/Off codes at all... so despite what the harmony says, you can't blame it for a lack of functionality within the TV....

timmmay

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#754286 1-Feb-2013 10:25

khull: I am about to shelf my harmony one away because I could not bear to charge the remote every two weeks. Seeing that I haven't replaced the remote battery since the day I bought the TV, it is unacceptable. I can't believe they would pass acceptance testing going into production with this. Sure it has a LCD screen but so are plenty of other devices that go on for longer.

However, once all your devices are set up, there is very little maintenance (other than the frequent trips to the docking station to charge)

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying two weeks battery life is unacceptable?

The remotes are provided with a cradle, at least mine was. When I want to use the remote I pick it up out of the cradle, use it for the day (sometimes for a few days), then put it back in the cradle to charge. I don't find it burdensome, and I always know where to find the remote.

jonathan18

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#754293 1-Feb-2013 10:39

timmmay:
khull: I am about to shelf my harmony one away because I could not bear to charge the remote every two weeks. Seeing that I haven't replaced the remote battery since the day I bought the TV, it is unacceptable. I can't believe they would pass acceptance testing going into production with this. Sure it has a LCD screen but so are plenty of other devices that go on for longer.

However, once all your devices are set up, there is very little maintenance (other than the frequent trips to the docking station to charge)

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying two weeks battery life is unacceptable?

The remotes are provided with a cradle, at least mine was. When I want to use the remote I pick it up out of the cradle, use it for the day (sometimes for a few days), then put it back in the cradle to charge. I don't find it burdensome, and I always know where to find the remote.

So true!

We keep our Harmony One on the charging stand whenever it's not in use - it means it never goes missing (unlike earlier remotes we've had) plus of course never goes flat... Don't let battery life be a reason not to get this remote.

Totally agree re software, though - it's a complete dog. That said, once it's set up there's little reason to use it bar when adding a new component.

In terms of WAF, it's just terrific - my wife loves it, as does my five-year-old who uses it without issues; indeed, I've bought a second one for the HT we're building at the moment.

I initially was worried when I saw the new Harmony Touch remote, which initially looks great (see here), but then realised it stuffs up two of the excellent features of the One - namely having key buttons immediately to hand (check out where buttons such as "play" are on the Touch) and simply the lack of enough physical buttons (and therefore increased reliance on the screen. While the One does have a lot of buttons, I find the layout excellent and easy to find all important buttons solely by touch.

So, in summary - I doubt you can get a better remote under $200, as long as you're ok about spending some time in setting it up. I see the One can be got for $171 from Ascent including delivery. And it's def. worth spending a bit more to get the One over the cheaper ones...

timmmay

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#754299 1-Feb-2013 10:50

I'd much rather have real buttons than just a touch screen.

Jaxson

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#754308 1-Feb-2013 10:56

Wow that's cheap compared to what it used to be:
http://pconlineshop.co.nz/pcshop/product_info.php?products_id=363957

So basically, I'd highly recommend getting one of these if you are going down the harmony route with a PS3. It provides full control and is cheap enough to be a no brainer now.

jonathan18

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#754310 1-Feb-2013 11:00

timmmay: I'd much rather have real buttons than just a touch screen.

Quite right (though I hope my original wording didn't mislead you - the Touch does have some buttons, just not that many and way fewer than the One - check out the link).

The first "universal" remote we had was one of those DSE ones which was all touch screen with hard-to-read text; virtually impossible to use without looking carefully at the screen.

The One gets the balance between screen and buttons about right. I would have been most happy with a revised One, which just improved the quality of the screen - both in resolution and ability to create/import images and symbols. But it seems the Touch is another classic Logitech move (a la the death of the Squeezebox) to offer "improved" products that are actually a backwards step.

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jonathan18

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#754316 1-Feb-2013 11:06

Jaxson: Wow that's cheap compared to what it used to be:
http://pconlineshop.co.nz/pcshop/product_info.php?products_id=363957

So basically, I'd highly recommend getting one of these if you are going down the harmony route with a PS3. It provides full control and is cheap enough to be a no brainer now.

Plus the One is way cheaper than it was a while back (as it should be as it's now been around a while) - checking my old invoices I paid $240 for it in Feb 2011, and $175 for the second one in Oct 2012.

clevedon

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#754364 1-Feb-2013 12:38

khull: I am about to shelf my harmony one away because I could not bear to charge the remote every two weeks. Seeing that I haven't replaced the remote battery since the day I bought the TV, it is unacceptable. I can't believe they would pass acceptance testing going into production with this. Sure it has a LCD screen but so are plenty of other devices that go on for longer.

However, once all your devices are set up, there is very little maintenance (other than the frequent trips to the docking station to charge)

Cellphone charging must drive you absolutely nuts then

stuartmac

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#754376 1-Feb-2013 12:49

Even the low-end Harmony remotes have LCD screens now.

I bought a Logitech Harmony 650 from Ascent for under $80. I can recommend it.

Only restriction is the maximum number of devices is capped at 5.

sidefx

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#754378 1-Feb-2013 12:50

robjg63:
I have to agree- I have a 525 - their setup software is terrible!
Their database of devices is huge though.

I have driven myself nuts though trying to get activities to work properly.
I have a G10 panny plasma.

Glad I'm not the only one having issues with harmony and a panny!

Must admit I've not had much time to spend fiddling with it, and I'm sure with enough fidding theres a way to get it working, but the WAF on it has been terrible - I have the 2 simple buttons at the top "Watch TV" and "Watch Movies" setup for her which is about all she can handle.

But because of the power button behaviour your describe half the time trying one or the other of these buttons will either turn the TV off when it shouldn't or switch the TV from digital to analogue reception. It worked perfectly with old Sony TV and WAF was through the roof with that, but now with the panny even after updating from the logitech devices database it still doesn't behave right. Ah well, I guess when I have an hour or 2 to spare I'll try fix it...

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Jaxson

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#754379 1-Feb-2013 12:52

stuartmac: Even the low-end Harmony remotes have LCD screens now.

I bought a Logitech Harmony 650 from Ascent for under $80. I can recommend it.

Only restriction is the maximum number of devices is capped at 5.

The concern I had was the lack of flexibility around the activities. I haven't looked at specific models lately, but I saw a trend a while back for the cheaper options to:
- Be capped at the number of devices, and
- Be limited to physical Activity buttons, with no option for adding any additional activities or renaming the activity buttons themselves etc.

May be different now, just throwing it in the mix to look out for.
As mentioned above, the cheaper 525 I think it is had none of these restrictions and was very economical.

clevedon

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#754381 1-Feb-2013 12:57

sidefx:
robjg63:
I have to agree- I have a 525 - their setup software is terrible!
Their database of devices is huge though.

I have driven myself nuts though trying to get activities to work properly.
I have a G10 panny plasma.

Glad I'm not the only one having issues with harmony and a panny!

Must admit I've not had much time to spend fiddling with it, and I'm sure with enough fidding theres a way to get it working, but the WAF on it has been terrible - I have the 2 simple buttons at the top "Watch TV" and "Watch Movies" setup for her which is about all she can handle.

But because of the power button behaviour your describe half the time trying one or the other of these buttons will either turn the TV off when it shouldn't or switch the TV from digital to analogue reception. It worked perfectly with old Sony TV and WAF was through the roof with that, but now with the panny even after updating from the logitech devices database it still doesn't behave right. Ah well, I guess when I have an hour or 2 to spare I'll try fix it...

I've got a 785 and of the very few times I couldn't sort something fairly quickly ( controlling 14 devices in three separate rooms ) rung the 0800 number and they have always sorted it within a very short period of time, updated the remote and all's good.

I wouldn't muck around if you are having problems, just ring Logitech.

lchiu7

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#754402 1-Feb-2013 13:45

I had two 880's and replaced one with a Harmony One that I got from a US outlet site for US$99 which is a pretty good deal.

I love the Harmony remotes but the One with its combination screen/keyboard isn't as easy to use as the 880 because you have to look at the screen to press an activity and also for some extra functions not mapped to the keys. The 880 OTOH you could remember which of the hard buttons on the side of the screen would perform certain actions.

I also have the PS3 adapter whiich is essential if you have a PS3. And then I have a bunch of Logitech IR emitters so that one blast in the general direction of the cabinet re-transmits the pulses to all the kit that needs to receive them.

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LennonNZ

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#754406 1-Feb-2013 13:54

"I also have the PS3 adapter whiich is essential if you have a PS3."

Well not really sometimes.. I have an Onkyo NR-818 AMP and I can use the Onkyo Remote to control the PS3. If your PS3 (Slim Model Only) and your Pioneer AMP does CEC the AMP remote may be able to control it. Also if your TV has CEC you can usually use the AMP remote to control it.

I just wish everything had CEC. My XBOX360,AppleTV,Igloo which are also plugged also in to the AMP don't have CEC :-(

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