Remote options for me

Conan257

Conan257

Conan257

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I'm looking at buying a single remote to control as much as possible of my setup. Currently running:

Sky box, Xbox One, DVD/Blu-Ray, RasperryPi, XBMC box, TV

I think i'm probably looking at the Logitech Smart Control, plus an IR receiver for the Pi.

Anyone have a similar setup or input on whether the Logitech is the right way to go? It would be nice to have text input as well, but there doesn't seem to be many with a keyboard which would be family friendly...

Also, while i'm here, it would have to work overseas as I might be moving to Canada later this year.
 
Conan257 said:
Apart from significantly less battery life, what does the Harmony Touch give that the Smart Control doesn't?
Click to expand...

The included 'simple' remote for the Smart Control is a bit too basic, having no touch screen , you pretty much have to use your phone/tablet for a lot of normal stuff.

The Harmony Touch has that small touchscreen and hard buttons, so not only does the hard buttons make using it without having to look down as easy as the simple remote, the touch screen means you can have quick access to everything without needing to bust out the phone..

And it has a nice charging dock, and the battery lasts a long long time even if you leave it off the charger all week..

I have both, since the smart control is useful for kit that is hidden out the way, but for daily use, I have the harmony touch and a logitech dinovo mini for controlling Kodi.
 
The Logitech dinovo mini is great, forgot about that!!! Had mine for years and it's still going strong. Kinda a pain to actually type on cos it's tiny, but it's good for controlling media players - Plex in my case, browsing websites, Facebook posts, etc etc.

My Logitech Touch battery lasts 3-5 days ish without charge, but as said above has a nice charging dock that I put it in before I go bed so it's never ran out on me! It's much better than the non-touch versions simply because of the customisation of the touch screen. You can literally add any command, series of commands, etc.
 
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Demon said:
The included 'simple' remote for the Smart Control is a bit too basic, having no touch screen , you pretty much have to use your phone/tablet for a lot of normal stuff.
Click to expand...

Woah woah woah, I simply disagree here!

Give me an example of button that you regularly use that can't be found on the simpler remote?

I completely disagree that the touch is the better remote as NOT having to use a touchscreen is a bonus for me. In addition, not having to keep it on charge every day is another great bonus but being half the price also helps!

Every button on both controllers can be bound with two functions (short press and long hold) and I simply don't find that any day to day function requires anything beyond what is available on the simpler remote.

I've got 5 of Harmony Smart Control remote (non touch) and since purchase the only time I've had to bring out my phone is when adding a new device.

Using all these devices below I never feel out of buttons with the simpler remote and don't even make use of the "long hold" functionality.

4 TV's
One projector
3 AMPS
2 HDMI switchers
Virgin TiVo
Apple TV
4 x Amazon Fire TV
PS3
Xbox 360
Xbone One
Roku3
NowTV

However, the Harmony Smart Control only lets you add 8 devices - the touch lets you add up to 16 I think.

I DO concede that if you have more than 8 devices in any one room then, while you can technically work around the limitation, the touch is the easier option.

But if you're not reaching that limit I highly suggest that the Harmony Smart Control is the better remote.

EDIT: FYI, keep an eye out for the Harmony Smart Keyboard:
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/harmony-smart-keyboard

Can't recommend how best to use this yet or how well it will work but looks like a potentially nice bit of kit.
 
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With any of these, will I have to put up with random mapping? It cant have a hard key for everything, can I expect record to be the "2" button for example?
 
Conan257 said:
With any of these, will I have to put up with random mapping? It cant have a hard key for everything, can I expect record to be the "2" button for example?
Click to expand...

Not as random as that no as there is a dedicated record button, but take the Virgin Tivo for example there is no Clear button, no TV button etc, so I have My Shows on DVR, Last Channel on Previous, Home on Menu, Return on Exit etc.
 
pepp77 said:
Not as random as that no as there is a dedicated record button, but take the Virgin Tivo for example there is no Clear button, no TV button etc, so I have My Shows on DVR, Last Channel on Previous, Home on Menu, Return on Exit etc.
Click to expand...

Negative, you absolutely can map any button to any function.

You could make "1 = record" just as easily as you can make "record = stop" or "menu = home" (the last one being what I also use on my TiVo)

Any button, apart from the "off" and 3 "activity" buttons, can be bound to any function or sequence of functions.

FYI, the three activity buttons can have short and long hold presses so you get 6 activities with the simple remote. Another reason that the touch remote might suit you if you think you'll use more than this.

EDIT: oh, I see what you mean now with regards to "expecting random mappings". No, by default the mappings are always good. However I quite often find myself making them "better".

E.g. By default on my TiVo "record = record" and "info = home".

Record is perfect but I wanted to use "menu" rather than "info" to access "home" on the TiVo - so I changed it.
 
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Think for the price and battery life i'm leaning towards the smart rather than touch... Won't ever have more than 6 devices so that shouldn't be an issue...

I think a dinovo is on the cards as well!
 
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