Posted: 10/26/2005 7:41:08 PM EDT
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Anyone have any recommendations for a truly UNIVERSAL remote control? I've heard Harmony makes a good one - for about $200. Has anyone tried one of these and are they TRULY "universal"? How easy is it to program and use? I heard good and bad about them. What are your experiences with Harmony universal remote controls? btw... I think the "Movies & Home Theaters" forum needs to be whittled down to just "Movies" since it seems like 99% of the posts there are about movies and very little posts and responses when it comes to "Home Theaters" and similar technical questions. |
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Have you checked out Remote Central? I stumbled across that site a couple of years ago. It looks like a pretty good resource. |
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The Harmony works well but if you want something that will work that is a lot cheaper give the Sony RM-VL900 a try. It is a learning remote and can be programmed to control virtually anything. I have been using one for years AND the price has dropped so it can now be found online for around $30. A review of it at Remote Central. www.remotecentral.com/vl900/index.html |
I use the sony RM-AV 3100. Had very good use of it. Touch screen, preprogramed, and learning. Here's a link Sony Remote |
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I posted a thread about this a while back, mostly just trying to turn people on to the Harmony 659. The thing was so well designed, so simple to set up and intuitive that I had to let people know; I was accused of being an industry shill I was so enthusiastic about it... Anyway, the Harmony's aren't that expensive at all. I bought mine for $85 from erwincomp.com; I checked and they're still about the same price, here's a link: Harmony 659 The thing is truly universal; in the thread I posted I asked people to try and find a device that wasn't in it's database. No one could, and some were throwing out some really old, obscure components. You follow a simple online tool that asks you what components you have, and what devices you're using to control what function (such as onkyo reciever for audio, instead of the tv for audio, you get the picture ), plug the thing in via USB and download your settings. Done. It really is that easy, and the device sets the basic macros for you, so when you hit 'watch tv', the tv comes on, the satellite/cable reciever comes on, the audio reciever comes on and switches to whatever mode you've set for the tv. Likewise, if you hit 'watch a movie', the DVD player comes on, the tv switches to that input, the reciever hops modes to whatever audio mode you like for movies. Whatever devices aren't needed for what you're doing are turned off. Another thing that is great is there is a help button at the top of the remote. Lets say your system was off but your five year old accidentally pushes the power button on your bigscreen. Well, when you tell the remote 'watch tv' it will send the power command to all the devices required, turning everything on, exept the tv, which is now off. Just hit the 'help' button, and it goes through a short menu that asks if certain components are on or off... just answer and within 2-3 button presses it usually fixes the problem, automatically. And the remote can be configured however you want, as advanced as you want. Me, for instance, I have a 5 disc DVD changer, so I set the six programmable buttons (on each side of the screen in the pic) so that they are labled disc's 1-5 and eject. There are other controls on the remote for play, pause and everything else, but these custom buttons make moving and switching discs a breeze. If you want to edit macros you can. You want to change the timing of signals, you can. All just depends on how much you enjoy tinkering with it. I hated how my old satellite remote had such lag between button presses; I could never scroll as fast as I wanted through the channel lists. I cranked the button/signal timing for the satellite reciever down to like .05 seconds between signals, and I can scroll like a banshee now (the wife hates this  )Gimme a few minutes, I'm going into the archives to see if I can find that old thread, there was some really good info in there, not just about the harmony but some others as well.  Edited to add: Found the old thread in the archive archive.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=340691 |
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I have a harmony 880. Its great, but has a few minor drawbacks Biggest problem is that is slow. The time from when you press a number to when the tv actually recieves the number is a few seconds. Its not a big deal for me because I use a favorites list, so I only notice the delay when I want to go to a specfic channel. Programming the remote and getting the macros to work right is a little bit of a challenge, but not that hard once you get the hang of it. Bottom line: Its works pretty good and I dont have to have 6 remotes to watch tv. Buy one. |
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I've got a Harmony 688 and it's the best universal remote I have owned thus far. The setup is fairly easy via the web interface and USB programming. The only two complaints I have is that battery life is not as good as they claim; get some rechargable NiMH. And, although programming the remote is pretty easy, making major changes to the order of softkeys on the web interface is a PITA. However I still would recommend this remote. |
I took his advise and this REMOTE IS THE BEST THING EVER!!! |