logitech harmony 525 programmable remote comments

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mortonman

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#18548 14-Jan-2008 12:32

Bond and Bond are currently selling for $99. It looks to have an LCD screen etc. Do any geekzoners have one? I would be very interested in yor views

I have a SD panny plasma, PS3, Mysky and Sony DAV800 all hooked up via component except for the PS3 sound which is using a digital optical.t. I am sick of having to use 3 remotes to watch a movie or stream programmes through the PS3.

I have a PS3 remote which is but it would be great to get the PS3 functions on the same remote as the telly.

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#104772 14-Jan-2008 16:20

I don't know anything about this remote, but PS3 remote is bluetooth (I think?) so probably wouldn't be able to use the remote to control your PS3 (since I'm assuming the Logitech remote is IR only).

Incidentally, there's a couple of places that have the remote cheaper if you look around.

tonyhughes

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#104783 14-Jan-2008 17:12

Got a 525 from my loving partner for Xmas - its great!

Works the MySky really well. If you are used to the MySky button layout, it will take you a little while to get used to it, but everything is there, and works.

Tip for MySky + Harmony 525: To get to your list of recordings (and upcoming recordings) you press 'Guide' then scroll over to the planner. - Initially I thought I wasnt going to be able to access the planner with it, until I realised that Guide and Planner are just options in the same 'menu tree' on the MySky.

LOVING the activity based functions on the remote. I press 'Radio' and it turns the TV off, and puts my fave station on, even if someone had changed it. Press 'PVR' and TV and Amp come on, and all the settings I want are already done.

Recommended to anyone!

chiefie

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#104791 14-Jan-2008 17:42

Logitech Harmony 880 Review different model but just as similar features. Tip. try out the online Harmony setup first and put in as many devices as possible and See if the database has all your devices. you can use your trial login even after you've purchased the unit. That's how I got mine working.

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stocksp

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#104797 14-Jan-2008 18:07

tonyhughes: Got a 525 from my loving partner for Xmas - its great!

Works the MySky really well. If you are used to the MySky button layout, it will take you a little while to get used to it, but everything is there, and works.

Tip for MySky + Harmony 525: To get to your list of recordings (and upcoming recordings) you press 'Guide' then scroll over to the planner. - Initially I thought I wasnt going to be able to access the planner with it, until I realised that Guide and Planner are just options in the same 'menu tree' on the MySky.

LOVING the activity based functions on the remote. I press 'Radio' and it turns the TV off, and puts my fave station on, even if someone had changed it. Press 'PVR' and TV and Amp come on, and all the settings I want are already done.

Recommended to anyone!

Agree - I've had a harmony for 360 for over a year now - wouldn't be without it. I have my set up so a key takes me directly t MySkys planner (can't remember how I did it though - I have mine set up as a foxtel unit)

mortonman

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#104838 14-Jan-2008 20:46

thanks,

I think i will give the website a run through.

Its a pity you can't get an ir adaprter for the ps3

Got a birthday coming up so i think i will drop a few hints!!

stocksp

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#104841 14-Jan-2008 20:50

actually you can buy an IR adapter for the ps3 - at least in the UK. Try a search on avforums - I've seen discussion of it (and I bought a 60g Ps3 on trademe tonight, so I'll need to follow that up too

Heres the link http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=669225

pabloh

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#104848 14-Jan-2008 21:34

These Harmony remotes are excellent value. The fact that you can program them to do what most people want is far better than the cheap 4-in-1 and 7-in-1 type remotes. And $99 is nowhere near the cost of the high end Philips remotes (eg. The Pronto). I have the Harmony 520 which looks identical to the 525.

However, the PC app to configure the remote is rather resource hungry. I originally installed it on an older laptop running XP ... and it was good at grinding the laptop to a halt. Perhaps its improved. The thing is you generally spend a day or two setting up the remote with your PC and then never go near the PC again. But the way of programming it is quite clever. You just tell it what equipment you have (eg. model numbers) and it just goes through its online database and sets it up for you. Also if you rebuild your PC and reinstall the software, you just need to remember your login to the logitech site to get access to your config again. You can point remotes at it to get it to learn the raw remote codes from other remotes, but chances are you can find it in their online database.

The software isn't aimed at really geeky people. You tell it what equipment you have in the room, then configure activities; eg. to watch a DVD it has to turn the TV on, set it to HD/DVD1 input, then turn the surround amp on, and set it to the DVD input. You can't do macros with it. ie. I have a few tivos. There's a magic sequence of about 6 or so button presses to enable '30 second skip mode'. You can't tell the Harmony to spit out those 6 button presses in sequence.

Also the quality of the buttons is pretty poor on my 520.

Having said all that, its brilliant value for $99. We've been able to hide about 6 remotes thanks to this thing. Good for keeping the wife happy.

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chiefie

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#104863 14-Jan-2008 22:38

mortonman: thanks,

I think i will give the website a run through.

Its a pity you can't get an ir adaprter for the ps3

Got a birthday coming up so i think i will drop a few hints!!

Funny enough, I can't seem to find the Harmony configuration "trial" website, it exists in the past and it was how you use to configure Harmony remotes. Anyway, even download the software and give it a try to find all the devices from the database should give you a bit of idea how it works.

Also, be aware that Harmony One is coming out very soon, it has colour touch screen.

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Nety

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#104883 15-Jan-2008 08:10

pabloh: The software isn't aimed at really geeky people. You tell it what equipment you have in the room, then configure activities; eg. to watch a DVD it has to turn the TV on, set it to HD/DVD1 input, then turn the surround amp on, and set it to the DVD input. You can't do macros with it. ie. I have a few tivos. There's a magic sequence of about 6 or so button presses to enable '30 second skip mode'. You can't tell the Harmony to spit out those 6 button presses in sequence.

Well either the software has changed or my Harmony (680) can do things that yours can't because 1 can do exactly what you discribe with mine. The only thing I found you could not do is tell it to send a command for a lenth of time. ie. I wanted to send a sound down for serveral seconds as part of one of my activities but cannot.

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timbosan

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#104898 15-Jan-2008 09:05

'chiefie' - I just reviewed the Harmony One for Tone magazine (to appear in the next issue) and before that reviewed the 785, both of which are excellant remotes. The Harmony One's touch screen is brilliant, it is capacitive so you only need a slight touch, and the colors and resolution are very good. It is a bit more expensive (RRP is $450), but I think worth it if you have more than a few devices. And it is true, you can get an IR adapter for the PS3 which would make a great setup for a Harmony.

The software is a bit slow and you need an active Internet connection to run it (as it retrieves all the device information from the web and stores all your configuration settings online against your account. If you get a new remote, like moving from the 785 I reviewed to the One, it will load all your new settings into the new remote., but after playing with it for a while I find it covers off everything I needed. One note - I have a Loewe CRT TV which takes a few seconds to power one and I had to play with the timings to make sure that delay between power on and chaning the input was long enough.

I am going to blog about it latter today, any questions just ask and I will do my best. I have not used 525 but all the Harmony remotes are pretty much the same.

jpwise

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#104972 15-Jan-2008 13:35

Yeah, they're definitely well worth the money. The only difference AFAIK between the Harmony 520 & 525 is the 525 has the 4 colored teletext buttons at the bottom.

That said, expect it to take a while to get your head around the software interface. It's been dumbed down to the point it could almost cause an aneurism until you get your head around it. Also some of the programmed entries in the database may not be 100% requiring you to learn a few commands to get full use. ie: old Motorola/Zenith DTH-310A, and DSE 5.1 DVD player. Most of the basic commands are fine, but some of them are either wrong, or not programmed. ie: channel up doesn't work in the DTH-310A database entry (from memory).

Either way, once you get them programmed their great. I've got the 525 btw. Controlling Wii input, DVD, Sky & Radio Activities. Also seem pretty good on the batteries even with the backlighting. I haven't changed the batteries in mine since I bought it and that's probably about 8 months ago now.

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steve98

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#105012 15-Jan-2008 16:35

pabloh: There's a magic sequence of about 6 or so button presses to enable '30 second skip mode'. You can't tell the Harmony to spit out those 6 button presses in sequence.

Pabloh I have the Harmony 525. (It is awesome - even my father-in-law can run my complicated setup now!!). You can definitely do what you are describing with the 525, but it took me a while to find it in the software so perhaps you might want to try this out.

I am doing this from memory as I am at work so this may not be 100% correct, but here goes. Login to your account and get to the screen that has all your 'Activities' (watch TV, watch DVD etc) tiled on the screen. Click on the 'customize buttons' button, and then on the tab that lets you edit the commands on the LCD screen. You should see towards the bottom of the screen a button that says 'add sequence' I believe. Click that and the rest is history.

Steve

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#105187 16-Jan-2008 12:51

stocksp: actually you can buy an IR adapter for the ps3 - at least in the UK. Try a search on avforums - I've seen discussion of it (and I bought a 60g Ps3 on trademe tonight, so I'll need to follow that up too

Heres the link http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=669225

I picked up the Nyko Blue Wave IR remote adapter for the PS3 when on a US trip. Cost me US$19. Works pretty well. It integrates into the Harmony (I use a 880 but the Nyko was in the Logitech database so any of the Harmony models would work) and now the only things I cannot do with the remote are turn the PS3 on and off. Of course while it has all the keys and buttos of a BT controller mapped, it's rather difficult to play a game with the remote :)

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pabloh

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#105367 17-Jan-2008 12:41

Re: Nety and steve98, I'll have to have another good look at the Harmony software to find the 'add sequence' bit. Apologies for the misinformation. I hadn't used the software for a while when I wrote that post.

Nety

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#105375 17-Jan-2008 13:07

pabloh: Re: Nety and steve98, I'll have to have another good look at the Harmony software to find the 'add sequence' bit. Apologies for the misinformation. I hadn't used the software for a while when I wrote that post.

That’s fine. It is worth keeping the software and firmware on the remote current. The last firmware upgrade I put on my remote improved the efficiency of the macros quite a bit.

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