Universal remotes - Lowda vs Logitech

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mailmarshall

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#11610 2-Feb-2007 08:43

Hi

Thinking of getting a universal remote. I really like the Logitech ones (880 or 785) or a Lowda one.

Anyone got these and make a recomendation??

The Logitech 880 looks the most stylish I think.

chiefie

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#59567 2-Feb-2007 09:39

I recommend Harmony 880 or if you got money to burn Harmony 1000 :-) If you don't need the colour LCD then the Harmony remote for Xbox 360 or Harmony 525 (if you can find it) or even 785 is sufficient.

Read my review on Harmony 880, many other people who reviewed it agreed and give good rating on 880.

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#59589 2-Feb-2007 12:37

I just got the Logitec 670 while I was in the states. I do have to say that setup can be a bit of a mission if your hardware does not work correctly off the bat as my Sony TV did not. However once I finally admitted defeat and called the support number the guy I talked to had it sorted in a couple of minutes flat.

I am still playing with it though.. making little improvements here and there. It is very cool what you can do although I have found one thing that you would think was not too difficult but does not seem to be possible.
When we watch DVD's we play the sound through our AV for surround sound. I wanted to get the remote to turn the sound down to 0 on the TV and after bring it back up. Can't do it as you cannot tell the remote to send "volume down" command for a set amount of time. However that is the only thing that I have found that it could not do.

I love it and my wife loves it so a worth while purchase.

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lchiu7

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#59598 2-Feb-2007 15:25

I have the 880 also. Love it and it has great WAF. I now don't have to be involved when my wife wants to turn on the TV, switch to the PVR, look for the programmes recorded and play them! A bit expensive but I got it in the US on a Dell deal and was able to get warranty service locally! Plus tech support is a free call (was to the US when I first got it, now to OZ)

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OrangeDrink

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#59603 2-Feb-2007 16:20

Can you get Pronto remotes over here?

Jazsaxman

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#59657 2-Feb-2007 22:42

Gidday,

I have a Harmony 880 which I bought 2nd hand off Trademe last year. Got to say its the best investment I have made in my audio/home theater kit for a long time. Took a while to set it up so that everything worked the way I wanted it to, but cause its all reprogrammable you can fine tune to your hearts content. Its so good to literally press 1 button and have EVERYTHING turn on and off and get itself to the right settings... ahhh joy. And its got a very high WAF (wife acceptance factor) in this house.

Havent tried a Lowda but if they are the same as what I have seen on the Tv ads I think I prefer the styling and colour screen of the Harmony more.

Cheers Steve

steve98

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#59778 5-Feb-2007 10:44

Hi there - I too am considering buying a Harmony but I'm unsure about how complex you can make the setup. For example, on my TV when it first switches on I need to press a 'Centre Speaker' button twice to use my TV speakers as the centre speaker of my home theatre amp. Can the Harmony be programmed to do that as it switches on the TV?

Also, I have a DVD recorder which has two 'stop' buttons - one is the regular stop that you would use to stop a DVD or recorded programme, the other is a 'stop recording' button. Would the harmony handle that, too?

New World

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chiefie

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#59779 5-Feb-2007 10:50

goto harmony, trial site and register and put all your devices in as it you're setting it up. And if you see all your devices are listed and added. Then it's pretty safe to you gota good set up. Next get yourself an Harmony, and use your trial account to continue your remote setup.

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#59786 5-Feb-2007 11:53

Steve98

Just to confirm. Providing your hardware is supported (and even if it is not but you have the original remote) then the processes you are talking about is why the activity buttons are so cool. You can do many (I am not sure what the limit is but it is a LOT) of actions by pressing the one activity button. To give you some idea this is what pressing "Watch a movie" button does on my set-up.

Turn on TV (if not already on)
Turn on AV (if not already on)
Turn on HDD/DVD recorder (if not already on)
Switch TV to HD/DVD1 input
Switch AV to DVD input
Switch DVD to Tuner
Switch DVD Tuner to channel 7 (digital TV input)
Switch Source to DVD (it has HDD source as well)
Open DVD tray on DVD player

If there is a remote command to do something then you can program it. As I said in an earlier post to only thing you cannot do is press a button for a period of time i.e. hold the "volume down" button for 10 seconds.

As for your two stop buttons you can change what any button does also if there is not a button that you want to use you can set one of the multi function butttons around the display to do what you want.

DMC

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#60580 12-Feb-2007 22:19

I have had hamony remotes for a number of years now.

Originally had a 670 for the living room, then bought an 880 for the home theatre.
I then bought a 785 for the lounge.

Couple of weeks ago the 670 died (smashed by the kids) and I bought a 785

Why did i go for the 785 - because I loved the dedicated multicoloured buttons - soft code them to match the sky box - much more intuitive then labelling a soft button on the lcd screen

for those who have not upgraded your software the new application based software is much more robust then the old web browser based system