Which Logitech Harmony remote?

GeX

GeX

GeX

Soldato
Joined
17 Dec 2002
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Location
Manchester
Hi all.

Looking to declutter the lounge, and am keen to ditch the collection of remotes.

I've heard time and time again that the Logitech Harmony remotes are the best universal remotes. I've just got into looking at the prices of them, and wo. There are many different models.

Any user opinions of them? Help.

I have Samsung TV, a Sony AV amp and HTPC with an RC6 IR sensor.

The HTPC is used mainly for XBMC, and for TV we currently use the tuner built into the TV. I intend to change this soon, and install an HD tuner into the HTPC and then use the HTPC as the sole media source.

So I guess all I need from a multiremote is something that'll power on all three devices, can change sources on the TV and AV amp, change volume on the AV amp (also being able to change the TV volume would be handy as sometimes we don't have the AV amp on) and then control XBMC.

What's the best way of doing all that?
 
A harmony remote will do all that by use of what it calls activities. Once you get your head around the way it works (if I can do it, it's not too difficult!! lol) then it is an excellent way of controlling your system. I have used various remotes over the years, nothing too expensive, but the harmony 885 I have now is by far the best I have used.

I use xbmc as well on an htpc and I had no trouble setting up the harmony to control it. You can download media centre remote settings to it (there's a few to choose from as I remember) and it also a keyboard setting you can download, so you can just add keyboard commands to your media pc activity. Very useful for things like subtitles, etc.

I'm afraid I am not well up on the current harmony remotes, so I can't advise you on which one, sorry. I am sure there are people on here who have a better idea on the current remotes. The only thing I would advise is to get one with the coloured buttons - the red, yellow, blue, green, whatever colours they are for, useful for the red button stuff on sky, bbc, etc, just makes life easier lol
 
The thing that confuses me about the activity driven approach (which I assume is just macros)..

If I have a button for 'watch TV' - which I programme to power on the TV, ensure that the source is set to 'TV', power up the AV amp and ensure it's set to 'TV'.

If I then have another button for XBMC, and press that. It sends out a command to power up the TV (which is already on, so goes off), powers up the HTPC, powers up the AV amp (which goes off because it's already on).

Or does the remote remember what state each device is in?
 
Yes it remembers, and can be programmed to do what is necessary to achieve what you want with your equipment.... also depends if your TV has seperate buttons for on and off or just one button for power cycle etc.
 
I've got the Harmony One and it does everything you want. I've got, AV AmpVirgin TIVO, PC (XBMC as a app), and a 360 as "activities" all work great. I got my dad the 525 and that also works great...
 
GeX said:
The thing that confuses me about the activity driven approach (which I assume is just macros)..

If I have a button for 'watch TV' - which I programme to power on the TV, ensure that the source is set to 'TV', power up the AV amp and ensure it's set to 'TV'.

If I then have another button for XBMC, and press that. It sends out a command to power up the TV (which is already on, so goes off), powers up the HTPC, powers up the AV amp (which goes off because it's already on).

Or does the remote remember what state each device is in?
Click to expand...
Yes, as stated, it remembers what state the device is in.

Not sure how to properly explain this one, but the activities probably don't work in the way you normally expect a macro to run. When you set up the activities you will have the tv set to on for watching tv, watching htpc, etc. So when you switch from watching tv to watching htpc, it doesn't just run a macro to power cycle the tv, for example, it basically says the tv has to be on for this macro, what state is it currently in........it's already on........I will leave that part of the macro. Or something along those lines, anyway lol

Honestly, once you have done an activity, it all becomes pretty easy to understand, even I can do it!! :D
 
Bought a harmony 650 recently which I wish I had purchased sooner.

Controlling PJ, TV, AMP and Virgin Box

Makes life so much easier and means the kids just push one button to turn on the equipment they want.

Cost £31 which was a bargain
 
vanandjuanunited said:
Bought a harmony 650 recently which I wish I had purchased sooner.

Controlling PJ, TV, AMP and Virgin Box

Makes life so much easier and means the kids just push one button to turn on the equipment they want.

Cost £31 which was a bargain
Click to expand...
Ah yes, good point. My wife and kids can use it, which probably explains how simple it is, once set up. Certainly in the case of my wife anyway :D
 
pabloh20 said:
Yes, as stated, it remembers what state the device is in.

Not sure how to properly explain this one, but the activities probably don't work in the way you normally expect a macro to run. When you set up the activities you will have the tv set to on for watching tv, watching htpc, etc. So when you switch from watching tv to watching htpc, it doesn't just run a macro to power cycle the tv, for example, it basically says the tv has to be on for this macro, what state is it currently in........it's already on........I will leave that part of the macro. Or something along those lines, anyway lol

Honestly, once you have done an activity, it all becomes pretty easy to understand, even I can do it!! :D
Click to expand...
It's called conditional control: If the TV is already on then don't send the On command again in the new macro.

It works reasonably well most of the time. The only real hiccup is making sure the entire IR macro string of commands hits all the devices it should. The classic fails are pressing an activity button and then putting the remote down before the string has finished sending, or pointing the remote the wrong direction half way through, or simply someone walking by and blocking the IR stream. That's why Harmony's have the help function so you can resend individual commands.

The alternatives for foolproof operation are a wireless connection with IR Repeater, or full RS232/IP control. The £100+ Harmonys have the option of a wireless IR repeater. RS232 or IP control is the domain of the £1000+ remotes - Prontos (as was), Nevos, RTI, Crestron, AMX etc. :)
 
Interesting. One of the things I do find with my harmony remote is that I can point it any which way or loose, put it down, or whatever and it pretty much still turns everything on. It's much better than any other device remote I have in that sense.

Of course, walking out the room with it, as the wife sometimes does is a big no no lol
 
pabloh20 said:
Of course, walking out the room with it, as the wife sometimes does is a big no no lol
Click to expand...
LMAO at that :D

These remotes do have better blasters than those supplied with TVs and stuff. I use a Nevo at home. It will even hit the IR sensor on my room lights wall panel despite it being hidden behind the curtains.
 
I wanted the 650 but only if i could get it for around £30, got tired of looking for an offer so went for the cheap 300 version for £17, sure it doesn't have the screen or more than one basic macro but to be honest i doubt i would really use those and it sounds like they could fail to work properly, should have better battery life as well.
 
Love my harmony one, but the repeat rate of key presses is a bit slow.
I have played about with the settings (delay, repeat etc) and even had logitech on the phone trying to sort it out for me, but without much luck.

It's not very slow, but nowhere near as fast as my sky remote, which can move the 'cursor' round my sky hd box instantly.
 
I have the Harmony 885 and it's an excellent remote.

Unfortunately it will be going in the bin soon as the buttons are becoming more and more unresponsive which is a very common complaint on the 885

I would like to replace it with a Harmony One simply because the Harmony One also does RF as well as IR and our lights are also on remote so it would be cool to go into movie mode and at the touch of a button have the lights dim and everything setup :)
 
yeah i also have the 885 cracking remote if you get the activities setup correctly :), i have mine dimming the lights also.
just purchased a 1000 off av forums so looking forward to getting that all setup :D
 
So do activity's work as well as hoped?

Remotes being line of sight and devices having limited controls i would expect quite a few issues getting them to do exactly what you want, for instance do tv's have extra codes for switching directly to the input you want?

With most you have to press the av/input button multiple times or use the arrows to select the one you want, if there was a special code to go directly to hdmi1 for instance that would make activity's seem a lot more useful.
 
yeah the activities can be setup using a wizard then fine tuned to respond exactly how you want. you can set timing gaps between source switching so that the equipment can catch up etc :)
 
Larkspeed said:
I have the Harmony 885 and it's an excellent remote.

Unfortunately it will be going in the bin soon as the buttons are becoming more and more unresponsive which is a very common complaint on the 885

I would like to replace it with a Harmony One simply because the Harmony One also does RF as well as IR and our lights are also on remote so it would be cool to go into movie mode and at the touch of a button have the lights dim and everything setup :)
Click to expand...

Does the One do RF?
 
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