The Ultimate Remote?

Tommy B

Tommy B

Tommy B

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Having upgraded to Sky HD, I now have Sky+ in a different room with the signal going to a bedroom upstairs. Obviously, I now need a new Sky+ remote so I can operate it in two locations.

It then occured to me; do these fancy "everything in one" remotes support Sky+? I just realised the benefits of being able to control my DVD player, my new Sammy LCD TV (delivered tomorrow) and Sky+ from one unit. Does anyone know of a remote that can do this?

The Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Remote looks quite promising. Is it worth buying?
 
I've got a harmony 525, which controls all the functions of my Telewest TVDrive, so it should cope with Sky+. Its a slight pain setting it all up, but once done its worth the hassle to get rid of so many seperate controls.
 
Why on earth would anyone want to spend thousands on a remote?

£40-£50 is my budget I guess. It doesn't have to control a stealth bomber though, just my TV, DVD and Sky+
 
No idea, look at Crestons. They can communicate with inwall-panels, servers, in house security that sort of thing. Really expensive. The MX-500 is in your price range, but the pre-programmed database might lack your Sky commands, it is a learning device so can learn commands from your remotes if they're not in the database, however it might not learn those commands if they're toggle bit (Sky). The Harmony's are in that price range, but have a few niggles I don't like about them (must have net connection to configure) and cannot save profile to your HD (it's stored on Harmony server)
 
Harmony 525 worked my SKY+ without issue. A good thing about them is the setup is online and the database is constantly updated so new devices are added every week.
 
Tommy B said:
Why on earth would anyone want to spend thousands on a remote?

£40-£50 is my budget I guess. It doesn't have to control a stealth bomber though, just my TV, DVD and Sky+
Click to expand...
Depends what you want to do with the remote.

Being able to alter the room temperature, lighting, see who is at the door, oh also change TV channel all from a remote is incredibly cool!

Philips Pronto are quite good. RC9800i. I'm not clued up on all the models tbh.
 
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Tesla said:
Depends what you want to do with the remote.

Being able to alter the room temperature, lighting, see who is at the door, oh also change TV channel all from a remote is incredibly cool!

Philips Pronto are quite good. RC9800i. I'm not clued up on all the models tbh.
Click to expand...

You can do all that with a harmony 525 and a few x10 boxes or a small cheap £400 PC with an infrared dongle. Still no reaosn to spend 10k.
 
pinkaardvark said:
A good thing about them is the setup is online and the database is constantly updated so new devices are added every week.
Click to expand...

That comment has convinced me to order the Logitech Harmony 525.

It better be good!
 
no its not illuminated all the time, you can change how long it stays on for, pretty good remote though. had mine a while. its pretty easy to set up etc.
 
kidloco said:
no its not illuminated all the time, you can change how long it stays on for, pretty good remote though. had mine a while. its pretty easy to set up etc.
Click to expand...

What happened did you end up lobbing it at the wall during setup?

I only hope the rainforest place don't stuff up delivery like they usually do!
 
to be honest its sat in a corner somewhere, spent hours setting everythng up, and it does work, I just find it quicker to pick up one of the 6 remotes and press the button rather then selecting the relevant unit on the harmony and then trying to work out which button is where. daft i know. maybe one day ill try and get used to the flaming thing.

Turned into a glowing blue toy, does look nice though :)
 
squiffy said:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=2127
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pinkaardvark said:
Do you mean the harmony. No it has a tilt sensor, so lights when you pick it up and then goes out after you have finished with it.
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just reading the review of the harmony above

but it says this

"Not surprisingly at this price there’s no motion sensor to activate it automatically when you pick it up."

different versions ? im confused
 
MrLOL said:
just reading the review of the harmony above

but it says this

"Not surprisingly at this price there’s no motion sensor to activate it automatically when you pick it up."

different versions ? im confused
Click to expand...

Dunno but mine lit up when picked up, tis all I can say.
 
kidloco said:
to be honest its sat in a corner somewhere, spent hours setting everythng up, and it does work, I just find it quicker to pick up one of the 6 remotes and press the button rather then selecting the relevant unit on the harmony and then trying to work out which button is where. daft i know. maybe one day ill try and get used to the flaming thing.
Click to expand...

Same here.

Sometimes I'm in a situation where I need to do three things and the Harmony is useless.
 
I gave up on the Harmony ages ago, they are almost good but take far too much setting up to perfect.

No macro modes and terrible to actualy use. The Sky HD has a better feel and weigh to it. I have a 885 (sent back as so poor) and the one before the 525 (forget the model, same setup just dif casing)

Pronto's are in a diff league and vastly better, obv they also cost far more. They are however a total replacement, with the Harmonys they can be good day to day remotes but no good to fully control devices - you still need to pull the originals out to really tweak an amp for example.

If you want to control sky, adjust the volume and do the basics on dvd players etc they are good. As a total remote replacement they are useless.
 
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