Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Anyone have a Harmony One remote?

Enjoy the remote. Looks like they made a lot of progress in terms of the button layout on the 1000. It's the one piece of equipment that you will use *the most* For me, the premium (not that much at Amazon/AVS/6thAve actually) was well worth the money.

One more reason to consider RF is if you have complex macros. Especially TOAD (Toggle On...) boxes that need variables to keep state of ON/OFF status. Asking your children or your wife to "don't forget to keep the remote pointed until it finishes the macro" is a bit much.

RF is one of those devices that you never knew how badly you needed it until you get it!

Well, I've been doing fine so far with just IR, so even if I can go from 5 remotes down to 1 nice remote, I am doing better. Plus, if I got the RF one, and then needed the RF to IR deal, I would be even more over the budget amount.

The way things are set up in my equipment rack, I can hit them pretty well right now even though they are off to the left side of my theater and not a straight shot. The big question will be if I can get the projector "on/off" and "HDMI/Component" to be in a "macro" or not.

As far as I know, yes. For awhile I used my two 850s in the same room. I had the commands set to "both," rather than to "RF only" so I can't be certain, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I would think the RF box doesn't care where the signal comes from, just that it's the proper signal.


You realize, don't you, this scenario conjurs up the image of the two of you ending up in a remote war?

click=dancing

click=movie

click=dancing

click=movie

click=dancing

click=movie


CLICK=DANCING

Pretty funny!

You are correct. The "RF deal" is not inexpensive.

I would echo what Ray had to say earlier. If you are looking for a remote, go to Surf Remote Control to see if they carry the remote in which you are interested. If the page with your remote-of-choice contains a link which says "Looking for a lower price? Click here or send an email to discounts@surfremotecontrol.com," by all means, do what it says. They give discounts of up to 50% off but can't advertise the discounted price due to agreements with the manufacturers. If the web page for your remote-of-choice doesn't have that link, the price you see is probably their discounted price or they don't offer a discount on that particular remote.

The guy who runs SRC, Mike, is a super nice guy who devotes a great deal of his time helping people who are asking questions about remote controls at forums all over the internet. I've even phoned him and he has helped.

DISCLAIMER: I have no relationship with SRC, business or otherwise.

I read this thread with great interest. I have a Harm 1000 and extremely frustrated with the touch screen. Changing channels is very inaccurate. My sausage digits will press '2-3-3' and all I get is channel 2, then 3 and back to 2 again. Or I inadvertantly hit the 'help' button. I like the IR aspect and the Harmony software but the remote itself is marginally useful in my experience. I was interested in the Harmony 1 but would really like an IR option. Are the URCs as easy to program?

I know! I know.

Yes, I find them pretty easy. They come with a program you install on your computer and also include a pretty expansive library of devices so that you can "one-touch import" the entire device into the remote. That usually gets you 95% of what you need for each device, after which you customize a bit to meet your exact situation.

Jason

Just another +1 for the Harmony One. I have one and love it. It's a very good remote - but then again it ought to be for the price! It's one of the only non OEM remotes that I've ever used that seems as quick & snappy as the original. Changing channels, volume, etc are all lightning quick. The layout is also superb, and it's easy to use just by feel (though it is fully backlit, of course).

I used to have a Harmony 550. It was pretty good, and can do nearly as much as the One can but for only $75. But several of the buttons that I frequently used died after about a year, and I got tired of replacing batteries every other month. I'm hoping the One will last longer, and of course the charging cradle handles the batteries. I've had mine for 5 months now and it's holding up well.

Harmony's programming software is pretty good, but it's not as seamless as they'd like you to believe. The initial 'just working' setup is pretty quick, but you will probably need to spend a bit of time setting up the remote to work the way you want to. It's taken me a good couple of hours to write the macros, set up the customized menus and so forth. The end result is worth it though, as anyone without any clue of how my system works can access any playback types (CD, DVD, SACD, satellite, PS2, AppleTV, etc) in my AV room simply touching one button. It's good, really. 100% Wife approved .

My One did freak out on me once though. I simply picked it up to turn on the TV and the touchscreen/display was all garbled and unreadable. I had to pull the batteries to reboot the remote, that seemed to fix it and it hasn't done it since.

Do check around for prices. You can do a lot better than the MSRP's $250. I bought mine on sale from Amazon for about $160.

So I've used my remote for watching the ball drop on New Years, and for 2 Blu-Ray movie viewings and so far I love this thing. It has a nice wide IR transmit field so that I don't need to point right at my components, and it is great not having to select the component I want when I am in an "activity". It know that when I press the volume button up or down to send that signal to the receiver, but when I want to pause or whatever the movie, that goes to the Blu-Ray. No more pressing "RECEIVER" or "TV" or "AUX" or whatever button at the top like more universal remotes and then pressing the control I want. It also works perfectly to turn on all of my gear and set them to the proper setting for that activity. It sends "power on" and then HDMI or Component on the projector, the receiver on and to the needed input, the Dish, HD-DVD, or Blu-Ray are turned on and set as needed. Now if the remote could just get up and put the disc in the tray, it would be perfect.

It makes me want to get some IR light switches now...