Universal Remotes
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Soldato
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As a former Pronto owner who moved to a Harmony Remote at Christmas, I would also have to recommend the Harmony. I've got a 555 and it's been great so far.
It's no where near as powerful as the Pronto but it can still do everything I want it to, and setting up the activities etc on it is so simple anyone could do it whereas programming the Pronto was somewhat of a labour of love!!
525 lights up blue... 555 lights up orange. Other than that, the 555 has two additional buttons, 'sound' and 'picture'. when pressed, they effectively take you to a new page of controls, so all of the buttons on the controller can be assigned commands relating to either sound of picture.
For example, Im my activity called Watch TV, the volume buttons control the tv volume, the channel buttons control my pvr etc etc. when I press the picture button, all the buttons are assigned to controls for the picture adjustment, so I can adjust the tvs brightness etc etc. and tinker with the outputs of the pvr etc.
For some of my activities using my amp, if I press the Sound button all the buttons are assigned for tinkering with my amps settings. Press the sound button again when I'm done and the controller is back to controlling the dvd player/amp volume etc etc.
Valve
It's no where near as powerful as the Pronto but it can still do everything I want it to, and setting up the activities etc on it is so simple anyone could do it whereas programming the Pronto was somewhat of a labour of love!!
525 lights up blue... 555 lights up orange. Other than that, the 555 has two additional buttons, 'sound' and 'picture'. when pressed, they effectively take you to a new page of controls, so all of the buttons on the controller can be assigned commands relating to either sound of picture.
For example, Im my activity called Watch TV, the volume buttons control the tv volume, the channel buttons control my pvr etc etc. when I press the picture button, all the buttons are assigned to controls for the picture adjustment, so I can adjust the tvs brightness etc etc. and tinker with the outputs of the pvr etc.
For some of my activities using my amp, if I press the Sound button all the buttons are assigned for tinkering with my amps settings. Press the sound button again when I'm done and the controller is back to controlling the dvd player/amp volume etc etc.
Valve
Soldato
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No worries.
I'm really impressed with mine. If you've just got normal devices it really is so simple to set up. Mine was a bit more fiddly because I use a fair bit of X10 home automation kit which required a little fiddling around but even so it only took me a couple of hours of fiddling to get it working as I wanted.
Valve
I'm really impressed with mine. If you've just got normal devices it really is so simple to set up. Mine was a bit more fiddly because I use a fair bit of X10 home automation kit which required a little fiddling around but even so it only took me a couple of hours of fiddling to get it working as I wanted.
Valve
Soldato
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Its the 515 that has a 5 device limit
Ah Cheers, though I wasnt going insane.
555 is nice. In Xbox/PVR you get the menu for the guide etc but then pressing either picture or sound allows the standard buttons to continue controlling the device or change to control the TV menus. Also brings up a range of customisable stuff in the LCD screen thats specific to those. Ie Picture on mine brings up all the PIP stuff.
On the subject of PIP, my TV is advertised as PIP only and thats all the std remote gives you, however PIPsize on the harmony makes goes from a PIP window to a PAP which is pretty neat. GTA and headphones on one side, PVR with TV speakers for the missus on the other.
Can get some IR dimmable light switches now
You can buy an IR remote for the PS3 and use the IR dongle with a universal remote to control it with macros. The only problem is - it wont turn your PS3 on. Saying that, you need to put a disc in most of the time anyway so you may as well switch it on whilst you are over ther
Is there any IR PS3 remote in particular thats reccomended?
Do all the logitech harmonies work flawlessly with Vista Media Centre and MediaPortal etc? Will I be able to use it with an internal RF reciever in my HTPC? Do you get anything like that included with the remotes? Can you also programme buttons to do things like open Firefox or iTunes? Would I be able to scroll through Firefox webpage or iTunes tracks?
If only Logitech could make their remotes look as good as Philips ones
If only Logitech could make their remotes look as good as Philips ones
Try the Nyko and use the remote that comes with it to learn all the essential codes.
use activities but just select one device.
Ah, using utility at the bottom worked, before I was trying to use "Music" as just my speakers controller.
Thanks for the advice, great little gadget
Soldato
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Use Devices then pick which one from the LCD screen
Soldato
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you know, i never even considered getting a universal remote. But the other day i was thinking to myself how it can be a bit of a pain to fiddle with all my remotes to get things up and running, not to mention that i need to always make sure i turn my amp on BEFORE my xbox otherwise for some reason it doesn't change to dolby digital. Any way, then i saw this thread and decided to order a logitech harmony 555. Can't wait, it should make things much easier. Any general tips in setting the thing up though?
It's dead easy, got my 360, Logitech 5500's and LG TV working straight away with "Play 360 game" and "Watch DVD" macros that turned all my stuff on automatically. The only issue I had was controlling my speakers independently.
I got the Harmony 785.. and i love it. While it has a few small issues it certainly the ebst all in 1 remote ive had.
My only real gripe is the fact you have to be online to update the setting on the remote. Which has been very annoying recently as ive had no internet.
My only real gripe is the fact you have to be online to update the setting on the remote. Which has been very annoying recently as ive had no internet.
Tried that but can't use the power button to turn the device on/off
Find the power on option in the lcd menu