I want to control my TV, DVD player, Digital Cable Box, and TiVo. I
like the look of it, but I am unfamiliar with the company.
Any input is welcome.
I own one... It works well, but doesn't offer any more functionality
than a Marantz RC2000; which is widely available on eBay for around
$30 and is *much* more solidly built. The X10 is a little flimsy. The
icon direct tuning is a cool little gimmick, but you're limited to 10
stations.
X10 are also prolific spammers. Something to consider if you plan to
do business with them.
A_C
A_C
-- Ric Seyler Online Racing: RicSeyler GPL Handicap 6.35 rics...@SPAMgulf.net http://www.pcola.gulf.net/~ricseyler remove –SPAM- from email address -------------------------------------- "Homer no function beer well without." - H.J. Simpson
My One-4-All URC 8910 (about $30) works great HOWEVER my wife didn't
like it. I now have a Logitech Harmony 676 Advanced Universal Remote
($119) and although it requires a few extra button pushes to use, it has
an LCD screen you can use to label buttons. This was easier for my wife
to use as she can now see (on the LCD screen) that she is in 'TV' (or
DVD, RECIEVER etc.) mode.
> I now have a Logitech Harmony 676 Advanced Universal Remote
> ($119) and although it requires a few extra button pushes to use, it has
> an LCD screen you can use to label buttons.
Just be aware that the Harmony comes with a Love-Hate relationship.
I love using mine, but the web based setup software is a monumental
pain in the patoot. See my review at:
Get a Harmony. It will make that X10 look like the $5 flea market remote it
actually is.
Judging from that moron's web design skills, he's pretty much never used a
computer before. No wonder he had trouble programming a remote. Took me like
5 minutes my first time with my Harmony 880.
While I think Logitech made a couple of poor choices with the web
interface, in general I find it extreemly easy to use for all the most
common opperations. I highly recommend the Harmony devices. I
replaced 5 remote controls with 1 and couldn't be happier. My
children have no problem using the Harmony. My wife, who could never
remember how to do anything more complicated than basic TV viewing or
CD listening, called me at work to announce that she "pushed the Play
DVD button, and everything turned on" and she was able to play the
burned CD that wouldn't play in our old CD/DVD changer. She was as
pleased as could be. }:)
Is the Harmony perfect? Certainly not. But it easily beats anything
else I've seen, so far.
Dan (Woj...)
Hey Tom, that's some great information you provided.
Much better than anyone else has provided.
Thanks for taking the time to review the product and post your
findings.
Keep up the great work!
Yep, I have the Harmony 659. Got it off eBay for around $100 CAD
including shipping. I love it! Programs really easily, though there
are some features missing IMO....but a great remote all round!
I got the 659 as a freebie with my widescreen. Software interface is a bit
cludgy, but when you're done the remote does all the basics nicely: Turns
on the appropriate gear, sets inputs for whatever you're doing (in my case
cable ... don't ask..., satellite, DVD and legacy VCR). There are some
tweaks that are best or at least more easily done with the device-specific
remote, but for 99% of my viewing, the Harmony does the job. Highly
recommended at the price (around $100).
R / John
The tweaking is kind of part of the fun. To tweak and tweak the
Harmony until you are absolutely able to dispense with every single
other remote control is such a cool feeling!
I can see where, to many, that tweaking wouldn't be all that fun, but
those are people that probably didn't enjoy playing "The Incredible
Machine" either :-)
I have plenty of room on my coffee table for all of my remotes and I
like them to be separate.
Thumper
> The tweaking is kind of part of the fun. To tweak and tweak the
> Harmony until you are absolutely able to dispense with every single
> other remote control is such a cool feeling!
>
> I can see where, to many, that tweaking wouldn't be all that fun, but
> those are people that probably didn't enjoy playing "The Incredible
> Machine" either :-)
I enjoy having it tweaked. I do not enjoy searching a twisty maze
of html links to find (for instance) where to change the delay it
defaulted two between signals, etc. If only they would build a site-map
web page I could search for stuff in so as to go directly to the
item I want to change. That would be a vast improvement (yes, I have
communicated that and many other feelings to them :-).
>On Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:21:26 -0700
Yes, actually, you've hit an area where I don't feel my tweaking
skills are that great: setting things like delay-between-signal times.
Fortunately, I've only had two uses for that (that I know of):
One is an older TV that needed a slightly longer-than-default delay
between being powered on and switching video inputs. I figured that
out, fixed it, and have now forgotten what I did.
The other is my white Logitech MM50 speaker thingy that holds my iPod
in the weight room. I can't figure out how to get the MM50 to react
differently to the act of *holding down* the "Left" button, as opposed
to simply pressing it once and letting go. (Holding down the Left
button makes an iPod speedsearch backwards -- say, through a podcast
-- while pressling "Left" once makes it jump to the beginning of a
podcast and exit.)
But that seems like a really small complaint, as regards the Harmony.
It was only on a lark that I even tried seeing if it could control the
MM50. All of my TVs, cable boxes, DVD players, TiVo, etc., the remote
now controls just fine.
I've had a few Harmony remotes (starting a few years ago before they were
purchased by Logitech, with the 768, and now an 880 and 659). You are
correct about the timing delays being somewhat hidden, but once you find it,
it isn't so bad.
Their tech support prior to Logitech was superb, though I have not contacted
them since then.......
>
Can't you reprogram the fast forward button (only reprogram for use during
the Ipod activity)?
I'm not sure how to answer that. For each activity, the fast forward
("FF") button will do something different. When watching a DVR, it is
the FF button for the DVR. When watching a DVD, it is the FF button
for the DVD player.
When controlling an iPod, however, there is a single button on the
iPod that means both FF and "Skip a Whole Song," depending on how you
push it. If you tap the button once, it skips the whole song. If you
hold the button down, and wait a moment while you keep holding, it
starts FF-ing through the song.
What I had a problem with was getting the remote to accurately send
the message to the iPod: "Okay, I'm HOLDING this button down. I'm not
just tapping it once." Sure, for my part, I would hold the button
down, but somehow the first thing transmitted to the iPod was "He just
tapped the button."
Keep in mind that this is a very particular, unusual case. For all my
other needs, the Harmony remotes have been just fine, even controlling
TV volumes (which also need to distinguish between "he tapped the
button once" and "he's holding it down."