Mobile phone as universal remote

tom_nieto · 31 Aug 2018 at 10:43

I absolutely love my Harmony Hub. It plays well with Alexa too which is the main reason I've got it. It's not perfect (but which universal remote ever is?) but it's been very reliable. You don't even need a remote control once you've got your activities set up, you just shout at Alexa to do it! It does volume and changes channel via voice which is cool. The Apple TV remote app for iphone is so much better than the physical remote too.

Get with the times people!!

As for the OP's question - get a Harmony Hub and use the phone app on your phone. If that doesn't appeal buy a second hand android tablet and use that.

hornetstinger · 31 Aug 2018 at 10:55

tom_nieto said:
I absolutely love my Harmony Hub. It plays well with Alexa too which is the main reason I've got it. It's not perfect (but which universal remote ever is?) but it's been very reliable. You don't even need a remote control once you've got your activities set up, you just shout at Alexa to do it! It does volume and changes channel via voice which is cool. The Apple TV remote app for iphone is so much better than the physical remote too.

Get with the times people!!

As for the OP's question - get a Harmony Hub and use the phone app on your phone. If that doesn't appeal buy a second hand android tablet and use that.

Does saying "turn the volume from a deafening 120db to 85db" work?

james.miller · 31 Aug 2018 at 11:22

jpaul said:
Aren't there two roles for the 'remote'
- selecting media [music-streaming(curating spotify/tidal) /films /live-tv] for which, if you have a tablet/large-phone(purposed solely for that task) you can autocratically review/schedule/select them, consult imdb even, answer questions on the actors.
- modifying config on the device , volume, pause, ...

the former is what you mostly do in an evening ... Does a harmony help ? you can get the original remote out if you need some specific device option (switching your tv from day to night calibration ?)

Yes, you can control devices directly by selecting them from a list on the remote, or you can add direct devices commands to any activities. In your example, you could have two Watch TV activities, one for day time and one for night, and if the tv allows you to set the calibration directly without wading menus then that can be added as a command when you start the night activity. You could also add a macro that will open the menu and select the right settings on the TV, although i try to avoid macros wherever possible....flaky. But yes, you dont need the original remotes if you set up a harmony correctly. I've not used the remote for my amp for years

tom_neito said:
I absolutely love my Harmony Hub. It plays well with Alexa too which is the main reason I've got it. It's not perfect (but which universal remote ever is?) but it's been very reliable. You don't even need a remote control once you've got your activities set up, you just shout at Alexa to do it! It does volume and changes channel via voice which is cool. The Apple TV remote app for iphone is so much better than the physical remote too.

It's a shame the google assistant integration isn't quite as good. It does work for me, occasionally, but it's got a long way to go lol.

jpaul · 31 Aug 2018 at 11:23

tom_nieto said:
As for the OP's question - get a Harmony Hub and use the phone app on your phone

that seems a good option (don't have an ir blaster in my phone) £60 , again ? next black friday

[

hornetstinger said:
Does saying "turn the volume from a deafening 120db to 85db" work?

"Alexa, louder." Turns the volume up one step.
"Alexa, softer." Turns the volume down one step.
"Alexa, set volume to 6." Sets the volume to (0 - 10).
"Alexa, mute." Mutes the sound.
"Alexa, unmute." Unmutes the sound.
]

hornetstinger · 31 Aug 2018 at 11:24

Somehow I don't think that will work.

james.miller · 31 Aug 2018 at 11:26

jpaul said:
that seems a good option (don't have an ir blaster in my phone) £60 , again ? next black friday

[

"Alexa, louder." Turns the volume up one step.

"Alexa, softer." Turns the volume down one step.

"Alexa, set volume to 6." Sets the volume to (0 - 10).

"Alexa, mute." Mutes the sound.

"Alexa, unmute." Unmutes the sound.
]

They would get boring quickly.. one step on my amp is 0.5db lol.

hornetstinger · 31 Aug 2018 at 11:31

Bloody stupid listening to music or watching a movie and have to talk over it. And once over a certain level it won't pick up your voice anyway.

Useless gimmick.

jpaul · 31 Aug 2018 at 12:13

james.miller said:
Yes, you can control devices directly by selecting them from a list on the remote, or you can add direct devices commands to any activities.

my point, a bit, the subset of remote device control functions you need regularly is small, compared to media selection.

[ ok - honest reply - I just get off the sofa and walk to the volume control, usually in anticipation .. some cardiac exercise & faster than finding/orientating remote.
if I were in a detached mansion and that was far away ... the neighbours would not need to be 'protected'
]

tom_nieto · 31 Aug 2018 at 13:39

hornetstinger said:
Bloody stupid listening to music or watching a movie and have to talk over it. And once over a certain level it won't pick up your voice anyway.

Useless gimmick.

Sure it's a gimmick, but being able to walk into the room and say "alexa turn on the television" and the TV, VM box and amplifier all power up and switch to the correct input is pretty good whilst you're holding your dinner/beer/child. Being able to change song/radio station by voice whilst cooking and your hands are covered in raw meat is also pretty cool.

It's not the perfect solution by any means, of course voice control won't work so well if you're listening to dialogue on the TV at high volume. I still have the remotes around when using Alexa, but I don't need the remotes out if I'm using the Harmony hub as that's all on my phone. Which proper human being actually has their phone on loud whilst watching the TV anyway? These notifications will be coming through whether you're using it as a remote control or not. Also, do you keep your remote in your hand constantly (apart from the 23:00 free preview)?

Media selection by voice is still very much a work in progress for these systems, but they're getting much better all the time.

Psycho Sonny · 31 Aug 2018 at 15:11

i've got a redmi note 5 ai dual camera. it's my main phone. the IR remote is handy because my mate had a tv in his garage / games room with no remote. we finally plugged it in and got it programmed thanks to my phone.

however i wouldn't buy it to use just as a remote. complete overkill when you can buy a dedicated multi remote.

hornetstinger · 31 Aug 2018 at 15:11

Ok I could see point of "play U2 rattle and hum album" being a great idea.

As for phoenix being loud, no the audio system will be loud so how voice control work?

Also I can do all what you said with one button press (turn on things)

jpaul · 31 Aug 2018 at 20:46

Psycho Sonny said:
i've got a redmi note 5 ai dual camera. ....complete overkill when you can buy a dedicated multi remote.

not sure if that's the same a samsung note 5 .. agree that is a £200 overkill ... but an hpstream 7" tablet for £65 - less so ?

A rotary volume control, on the a/v device is efficient/fast versus remotes i'm familiar with using up/down buttons , but maybe harmony has a rotary
- the wheel was a good design

tom_nieto · 1 Sep 2018 at 10:25

hornetstinger said:
Ok I could see point of "play U2 rattle and hum album" being a great idea.

As for phoenix being loud, no the audio system will be loud so how voice control work?

Also I can do all what you said with one button press (turn on things)

If you’re listening at deafening volumes then hailing Alexa becomes more challenging. However it’s pretty amazing how much background noise there can be for it to still work. Also if you’re using it as a source it will drop the volume temporarily to listen better. It works a lot better for our kitchen/diner setup for this reason. Volume control on the TV in the living room less so, as this is running from VM rather than Alexa - it’s still not bad all things considered.

The harmony remote means that I too can do all this with the press of a single (software emulated) button. Voice integration and universal remotes are not quite one and the same just yet... give it a couple of years!

What we’re really waiting for - and I think what will sell one manufacturer over another in the coming years - will be smart home integration with google assistant, Siri or Alexa built in. The same way that having Spotify connect on my AV amp just takes the fuss out of streaming completely. Once this tech is built in it’ll be much smother to use.