I was messing with my older Sony RM-AV2000 remote the last couple of days, and while it is a great remote, the lack of current device labels is frustrating. I mean, who needs 3 VCR set ups?

Anyway, I started looking into remotes and came across the Harmony series, which a lot of people seem to like.

I looked at the popular 880, and then that lead me to the newer 720, but I wasn't fond of the reports that they don't sit in their charging docks worth a darn, and that the paint on higher usage buttons comes off. So I decided to drop about twice as much and ordered a Harmony One remote today.

Are their any tips, tricks, or gotchas that I should be aware of?

This is going to be yet another Christmas present for me to go with my new Blu-Ray player and Blu-Ray movies, so I won't get a chance to play with it until Christmas, but if there is anything I should know ahead of time, that would be great.

I already found a site with a bunch of custom LCD icons to download to the device, so maybe I'll start weeding through those now and build up a library of possibilities..

Out with the old....



In with the new....

I have a Harmony 1000 that replaced the previous version to your Sony remote which I have, and the Harmony remote is far better (difference is day and night). Although it's not the same model that you have, I would assume that you set it up via their software which is super easy to navigate and really slick. You have nothing to worry about, they are great units and their customer service is top-notch.

I have the Harmony One... I would HIGHLY recommend it. Easy to program via the web, lot's of free 3rd party icons available via the web (as you already found), and VERY easy to use. It's a great remote.

Don't buy it if you expect to use the Logitech RF adapter... It doesn't work with the Harmony One. But, if all you need it IR, it is a great little remote.

I have the Harmony One also and love it, by far the best of all my Harmony remotes, a great remote overall.

I have the 785 and love it, as the others have said it's very easy to setup. The support is top notch, I had a problem and rang support and they programed the remote for me, then all I had to do was log into their software and update the remote, all fixed.

You can customize it all you want, there are a zillion things you can do with it.

Cool. Thanks! I only need IR and not RF so I should be good!

Nick - whatever you look at (and I hope that also includes the MX-900 ), be sure to check with Mike at SurfRemoteControl.com.

Great guy and he might be able to set you up with an "open box" unit (always pristine AND at a great price).

No affiliation with Mike, but my personal experience with hom, as well as droves of folks I have referred has been top notch.

I just purchased the Harmony One, arrived yesterday, and just set it up today. Very smooth, easy setup. So far so good, it behaves as it is supposed to and button layout seems ergonomic. Although no design is perfect, several users stated in online reviews that the Harmony One had corrected flaws in earlier models (880?), e.g., not fitting into cradle right, whereas Harmony One does fit, other glitches I can't recall, so it seems they have continued to improve the design and most of the frustration has been eliminated, leaving mainly the convenient features, which is what remotes are all about, it seems to me. My wife has been complaining about the remote situation, e.g., whenever the Sony 350 turns off it resets the Samsung TV to channel 2, which is more or less boneheaded programming, who among blu ray users is going to watch OTA TV as the default, certainly not the majority (I'm assuming if I read the manual I will be able to defeat the Anynet function in the 350). She gave the Harmony One a test drive and is happy with the functionality, so far it seems positively cheap in terms of value/cost ratio.

Sounds great! I have the 890 and love it (I really need the RF portion as I have devices that are not next to each other). You will enjoy that they are really up-to-date with new devices coming out on the market.

Love my 670.

Are you talking about the RF extender? If so, it is compatible with the Harmony 1000.

What is an RF Extender? Is it for using the remote in separate rooms?

I have the 890 and absolutely cannot stand the limited programming and the button layout. The 1000 looks a lot better in terms of the button layout. At my primary residence, I have MX900 from URC. You should seriously consider the URC line as well as the 1000.

The biggest "problem" with the URC products is that they seem to all have IR and RF. Since I don't need RF, I would be forced to pay a premium for functionality that I don't need. Their products seem pretty nice though if I did need RF.

There are things about RF that I really appreciate.

For example, I don't have to concentrate on aiming the remote. I can be reclining in my chair, with the remote resting in my lap at right angles (i.e., not pointing at the equipment) and I can press a button and get results (no small thing if you're surfing, or watching more than one football game at a time and you happen to be REALLY lazy ).

Also, If I'm going to the kitchen to get refreshments (totally out of sight of the equipment) and WWIII breaks out on my TV, as long as I have my trusty remote with me, I can adjust the volume to prevent glass breakage and angry neighbors.

Also (and I'll admit this one exposes my addiction ), I have a TV in my upstairs bedroom. I also have a second RF extender in the bedroom. I have my downstairs living room remote programmed with the capability to turn on the upstairs bedroom TV and cable box, and vice versa (the two RF extenders are set to different frequencies so the commands go only to the appropriate RF extender). If, for any reason, I'm moving between rooms, I can turn on the TV in the other room and set the correct channel BEFORE I get there. I never miss a play, a pitch, or a shot, never lose the plot or miss a news story.

To me, these things make RF worth having. YMMV.

FYI, my remotes are the URC MX850s.

Holy Crap, Jack. You got it BAD!

Jack -

Do you know if you can have two remotes talking to the same RF-extender? I have the MX-800 and we have one RF extender that has IR emitters running to a few different rooms in the house.

Since setting up the HT, the new point of contention between my wife and I is who gets to use the remote. Since everything works off of the IR emitters coming from the same RF box, we have to share one remote, which isn't always ideal. Having two remotes on the same box would be groovy.

Jason

I thought that RF and IR were not interchangeable. By that I mean, I thought that the equipment had to be specially designated as "RF"... You are telling me that everything can receive the RF signal even if it comes with just an IR remote?

I guess I should have found that out before I bought the Harmony One last night... Oh well, the Harmony One was already $75 over budget. For the URC one that I would have wanted, it would have been another $150 above that...

The way the URCs work is that the remotes can emit either IR or RF (or both) and this is set up in the PC software that comes with the remote. Very few components can actually receive RF as an input, so the RF is just a way to get signals from your distant remote to the RF-receiver box that sits near your equipment.

Once the RF signal is picked up by the RF-extender box, it translates the received RF signal into IR and sends it out either via a front "IR Blaster" that is a part of the extender box (i.e. to hit all of the equipment in your closet at once with whatever signal is received), or it sends the signals to one of six IR emitters that are attached to the RF-box and can be run to distant locations (i.e. a projector) to pipe the signal there as well. This keeps you from having to point the remote at the ceiling to hit the projector's IR input as the directly run IR emitter goes right to the projector's input and is attached via adhesive right over the sensor so that it gets the right signal no matter where you point the remote.

Aside from using for a projector, a lot of people use RF-capable remotes to operate equipment that sits inside an entertainment center that does not have transparent doors so that you don't have to have the cabinet doors open to run your equipment.

It's nifty stuff.

Jason

Nick - just saw your edit to include the fact that you already picked up a Harmony.

If you aren't in any of these situations like I described, you'll live just fine without RF. The Harmony One looks to be an awesome remote.

Jason

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...

The IR light switches are cool when used with the Harmony, another wow factor for visitors.

Nick - Home Depot sells Lutron IR light dimmers for about $30. A few of us got them at the same time about 6-8 months ago. They are an awesome low $$$ addition to the HT.

Jason

I've had the Harmony One for about a month now and I absolutely love it. I'm still tweaking the settings, so it just keeps getting better. Even my wife took the transition well. So far, I only have one small complaint. The bottom is too rounded, so when it's sitting on the coffee table I can't work it just by pressing the buttons without having to pick it up. Minor, but annoying.

Don't be so lazy Joe, picking up the remote is about the only exercise you can get while watching TV now adays, it used to be reaching and/or stretching for that 2nd or 3rd remote, now you just have to keep that one remote nearby, so be sure to use one hand/arm one time and the other one the following time to stay symmetrical.

I was looking at the harmony one at Best buy the other day... I am tempted to go to amazon and snag one. I'll just add it to the list of stuff I want to buy at "some point"

I just recently got a Harmony One as well. I went from the MX700 to this and I can tell you that the Harmony is SO much easier to program...well, for ME anyway. The only frustration I have is it's IR signal isn't as powerful or wide as the MX700. I have to point it directly in the middle of my system to get everything to turn on, whereas with the MX700, I could point it toward the opposite wall and it would work! Also, it doesn't seem as fast. However, I still love the remote and don't plan on going back to the MX700. It's got the perfect combination of hard buttons (which I'm still a fan of), but the convenience of touch screen where you would need it the most. This has probably already been mentioned in this thread somewhere, but there is a great website to get icons for your favorites, here.

Interesting since I can take my Harmony one and point it straight forward and it will operate the devices in my equipment rack that is 90 degrees to my left and only a couple of feet forward from my seating position. Maybe it is the gear that I am controlling.

Ya, I think Mary may have some interference issues as the Harmony one appears to have the same wide array setup as my 676 and I can work my avr that is beside and a little behind me with a bounced signal of the wall in front of me. I do agree the Harmony's are not the fastest at sending a signal but the easy set up is nice.

Santa brought me an Harmony One this Christmas. Very cool remote. Easy to program and use.

I get plenty of exercise lifting my drink and reaching for the chips! I'm going to look into getting an IR light switch so I don't have to get up to turn off the lights, since that tends to break my lifting routine.

Glad to hear it, again make sure to be lifting with one hand and then the other to keep symmetry up.

I had an MX700 for years and also upgraded to a Harmony One. IMO there are significant pros/cons each way.

I don't like how slow and laggy the Harmony One is. I've experimented with all the delay settings, but it's still sluggish. Long term, the buttons aren't as comfortable as the MX700.

OTOH the Harmony One is much easier to program, especially the initial setup. However I think Universal now has better programmer tools than the MX Editor program used on the MX700.

The Harmony One charging cradle is well designed. The motion-sensitive power up is nice. Their device code list is extensive. It's the only remote I've ever used with enough accurate codes to operate a fairly complex HT system with no custom programming.

While the INITIAL Harmony programming is easy, advanced work requires a fair amount of tweaking. The Harmony system invisibly does things "under the covers" to try and offload programming complexity. This is fine to a point, but for detailed work I often wonder "why did it do that?". By contrast Universal's macro-oriented approach only does what you tell it.

The Harmony system encourages (virtually forces) you into their "activity-based" approach. This is fine for some things but not others.

It's like a car with an automatic transmission vs manual transmission. Automatics are getting better all the time, and the Harmony is like an excellent automatic. Unfortunately I prefer manuals.

My wife likes the Harmony One so I'll keep using it. If I could do it over, I'd probably pick an updated Universal Remote for the faster performance and more manual, macro-oriented programming style.

I have similar feelings about my Harmony 890. Love the remote, especially the IR/RF functions, but wish they would take the child locks off and let me open it up a bit. Worth the trade off. My last remote was a Pronto Neo and it was great for tweaking, but a bit of beta test product in the long run.

Joe - thanks for the informative reply. I've got the MX-800 remote and was wondering how it stacks up to the Harmony One. Your note gives a very good perspective. Given how much time I've spent getting this one to work like I want it to, it doesn't sound like there is any huge benefit to making the switch.

Jason

Good comments above.
I agree. If I have a non-technical friend, I advise going with a Harmony. They can do wonders for people struggling with multiple remote systems. If they are technical and will eventually want to tweak everything, the Universal remotes definitely have the advantage. You can make things work the way YOU want them to. As long as you are willing to put a good bit off time into them.

I'm fairly technical (well, that's putting it mildly I suppose) but I have never programmed a remote in my life - other than punching in the codes on the cable remotes.

When I first held the URC MX900 (in my hands), it felt like a nice remote. It just felt very nice in my hands (no wise cracks from the peanut gallery please).

The MX900 programming software has drag and drop capabilities, ability to test things prior to downloading to the remote etc. I was up and running in a very short amount of time.

I have the Harmony 890 as well. The button layout - to me - was engineered by someone who obviously never used it. They let marketing dictate the design spec, that's the best way I can describe it. It looks nice, but ....

If I have to recommend a remote to someone who can't connect a DVD to a receiver, I recommend the Harmony. To anyone else, I recommend the URC. The ability to do whatever I want (turn on sub titles, change the aspect ration etc) is too much for me to give up.

2 friends of mine have the Harmony 880. It doesn't sit in the cradle as well as you would like. I personally do not like the ergonomics and look of the remote.

I have the Harmony 720. It sits in the cradle very well.

I bought the 2 Harmony One's, 1 for my brother and 1 for my parents, for Christmas. It is a very nice remote. It sits in the cradle very well. It is a nice combination of touch screen and hard buttons. Combine that with the icons you can get from http://www.iconharmony.com and this remote looks great. Only major drawback is the lack of RF control. If this is not an issue for you, the Harmony One is a great choice.

If you need RF, I would recommend a URC remote. Check out http://www.remotecentral.com if you need any help with anything.

I've never had any cradle issues with the 880 and I've had mine for 1.5 years. All of the buttons look as good as new as well. I use the remote lots and really enjoy it.

if you google for 880 or 890, you'll get a lot of hits about the base going bad (not the battery). So apparently, my HT reseller was right. He mentioned that he had a rash of Harmony's that went bad on his customers and now refuses to sell them. I have the 890 and URC MX900 and for me, URC is *VASTLY* superior. However, 890 is *MUCH* easier to program. If you don't do anything fancy, Harmony may be the way to go. If you are slightly technical, URC is the way to go. Anyone that can use Excel or Word should be able to figure out how to program URC remotes.

BTW, having looked at Harmony One's physical layout, I'm glad Logitech decided to replace the idiotic buttons on the 880/90. Those buttons are annoying hard to find and press.

The 880 sits in it's cradle ok. My 2 friends haven't had issues with their cradle either.

Now compare it to how the Harmony One sits in it's cradle and it is a big difference. The Harmony one sits very snug and would not be jarred loose even if you bumped into it. I believe most complaints were of this nature as well as the contact points not charging the remote correctly.

I may be in the market for a Harmony One. I'm definitely a Harmony fan, as far back as the 768 which wasn't very good. Nice attempt though. It had the clicking scroll wheel. Man, is that a Canadian thing? It started on the Blackberry too.

My son dropped my 2nd 880 for the last time yesterday. The screen is toast but everything else works. I would live w/ it but I can't see the other activities/devices.

I'm tempted to buy it at Best Buy since I have a $50 GC. But Amazon has it for $50 less. I'm hoping to walk into BB soon and just 'convince' a manager to price match and sell it to me... Though I'm not hopeful.

Have you checked Circuit City? They are going out of business and marking down all their items. The circuit city nearest me was selling the Harmony One for $150.

I have the 880, but my experience with mine wasn't very good. Like the OP mentioned, I had a real hard time getting on its charging stand and the screen suffered from burn it from it. (like it'd keep falling on and off the charge stand which would keep lighting up the screen) As a remote it worked ok, but if you don't build yourself short cuts the deeper options on each device usually mean scrolling through pages of menus to find something simple (like the tv sleep timer).

I bought the 880 last year about this time. It is my first universal remote - I would not describe myself as technical. The vast majority of people that I know are like me as far as technicality - so to speak. I highly recommend the Harmony philosphy for them - I have some older components all of which were in the Harmony Database. I had the remote up and running in 30 minutes. It is the ONLY piece of my system to have ever gleaned any accolades from my wife. For that reason alone, it is one of my favorite components. Having said that, I might find another layout more user friendly? I had problems with the remote seating and charging properly. I contacted Harmony and they sent a brand new one at no charge. All I had to do was fill out a form that asked questions about the behavior of the remote as it related to charging. I considered it to be excellent customer service and I have not had any further problems..........Rob

What's funny is that I finally got around to mounting the 40" LCD in our bedroom. So I resigned myself to using the cable provided remote. But having gotten used to MX900 remote down stairs EVERYONE started complaining how bad the remote upstairs was. So I dug out the Harmony 890 from storage, ordered a new set of batteries and hooked it up again.

It's much better than the stock remote that came with the cable STB (made by URC ironically) but it still is MUCH inferior (IMHO) to the URC remote. Even my wife and kids said "it's better, but it's not like the downstairs one!"

The one thing I realized is that remote is the ONE PIECE of home theater that you use the most. So don't skimp!!

And WHO IN THE HELL at Logitech decided that IR flasher cables should be joined near the end? (they are dual headed) I had to run another dual flasher to the TV because of the stupid mold at near the end that joins the two heads together (one cable with dual heads can't reach the TV and the STB - it's too far apart). idiotic!

I've had my Harmony 1000 for a couple years now and I just recently (Monday)got the RF receiver. Yesterday I was sitting in my living room and all of a sudden the remote started my CD player (it was on pause) and turn the volume up. By the time I got a chance to stop the CD player, the Denon volume was at 40; yes it was unbelievably loud.

I called Logitech regarding this and the customer service representative said that he has heard of this happening at least one other time. I voice my displeasure, and told him that if there is anything wrong with my M80s, they are paying for any repairs.

Now I have to listen for any distortion, but it's really hard because in the back of my mind I'm constantly thinking/worrying that they got damaged. When it was playing that loud, it was playing a burnt CD and the audio sounded very bad.

Any suggestions? I told Logitech that if the speakers had to be returned to be tested to make sure they're okay, that they are paying for the shipping. I can't imagine being without them for a couple weeks, but what do you guys think would be the best route?

Thanks.

Great question, Alan has assured me that the M80s are nearly impervious to abuse; however, I have a pretty big room and like loud sound, just yesterday I heard a pop or two through the M80s but as always, there never seems to be any permanent or persistent damage, much less lingering distortion.

Before you do anything, Cam, I would get Alan's opinion on this. Clearly this is Logitechs fault...what kind of warranty does the Harmony have? Did it hit 40 quickly before you were able to turn the CD off or was it slowly/prolonged?

Sorry, I meant to say my 688. I'm trying to bid on ebay for a used one under $50. I know the One is probably a little nicer but I'm so used to the 688. AND, it's the only Harmony I've used (I'm sure the are others) that have hard Picture and Sound buttons.

wheelz999,
When I got my URC's MX900 and MRF350 (the RF base), it had an RF sniffer mode. I had to run around all over the living room to find a decent spot that didn't have has much RF interference. In the end, it ended up on top of my closet covered with a Frisbee! That's what it took to quite down the RF. It's very possible that you're getting so much interference that it cranked up your volume. I'm not sure if interference can do that or not, but it's something to check out.

I don't know what type of warranty my Harmony remote has, but the rep at Logitech was totally understanding. I called Axiom and spoke to Brent or Brett and explained everything to him, and one thing that he did mention was whether or not the volume got to 40 really quick, and I just mentioned to him that it was gradual but it was probably around five seconds (my RPA-1 didn't even shut down, so it was fairly quick). I'll fire off a message to Alan regarding this.



The Logitech rep said that it couldn't be any interference and actually suggested to try updating the firmware.

Also, just in case it happens again, I set the "volume limit" on my Denon to 0.

eh, found a used 688 for $30 on ebay. That'll work.

Waiting for a response from Logitech but maybe someone here knows. I'm changing from DSL to cable modem, hence a new email address. Logitech's login is your email address but they don't allow you to change that part of your login from what I can tell. Now I'm wondering how to get around this.

Keep using your old email address as the login, it doesn't care if it is the correct one.