10 Units Universal Remote Controls
David
been a good buy. It came fully programmed for Philips products, and was
able to learn by head to head all other makes.
What is available today?
What are you using can you recommend yours?
Any comparison sites?
Any on topic advise welcome.
--
Regards,
David
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Dr Zoidberg
news:GR8zj.24358$6z2....@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
> My Marantz RC for 10 units RC 2000 is showing it's age, goes back to 1995,
> been a good buy. It came fully programmed for Philips products, and was
> able to learn by head to head all other makes.
> What is available today?
> What are you using can you recommend yours?
> Any comparison sites?
> Any on topic advise welcome.
>
--
Alex
"I laugh in the face of danger , then I hide until it goes away"
Peter
wrote:
>My Marantz RC for 10 units RC 2000 is showing it's age, goes back to 1995,
>been a good buy. It came fully programmed for Philips products, and was
>able to learn by head to head all other makes.
>What is available today?
>What are you using can you recommend yours?
>Any comparison sites?
>Any on topic advise welcome.
I used to use an RC2000 (still have it in the loft, I think), but
never much liked using it - primarily because it's badly balanced. My
current one is its successor, the RC 1400. That's a lovely one, with
few and minor disadvantages. I've been using it for some time now. I
think that it's discontinued now, but if you can find one, it's well
worth buying.
There's a comparison table in the back of What Hi-Fi. The general idea
seems to be that the Logitech Harmony series is generally good. That's
consistent with other users' experiences which I've heard. However, I
tried one briefly a while ago, and didn't like the feel of it. I found
the buttons too small and with an unpleasant 'clicky' action. That, of
course, is a purely subjective view, and one with which you might well
find you disagree.
The alternative seems to be the touch-screen variety. Again, some of
these are well thought of, but I don't like them: I want one that I
can use without having to look at it. (I use it when listening to
music with my eyes closed and my specs off.)
If you'd like to try a Marantz RC 1200, please contact me by e-mail. I
have a secondhand one available. (It'll control 11 devices.)
Peter.
Rob
> My Marantz RC for 10 units RC 2000 is showing it's age, goes back to
> 1995, been a good buy. It came fully programmed for Philips products,
> and was able to learn by head to head all other makes.
> What is available today?
> What are you using can you recommend yours?
> Any comparison sites?
> Any on topic advise welcome.
>
I've used a Logitech 520 for about 2 years now, and it does the trick.
The buttons are a little small (but positive enough with a 'click'),
nothing like the build/feel of a one4all UR I had, and the LCD screen is
not as customisable as i'd like. Also, it tends to prefer 'activities'
rather than per-device control, which i've never got my head round.
On the plus side it's relatively cheap, the backlit buttons/display are
nice, Mac software, the device database is huge, the IR seems to go
round corners, and it's pretty easy to use. Summary here:
Rob
Colin Stamp
wrote:
>My Marantz RC for 10 units RC 2000 is showing it's age, goes back to 1995,
>been a good buy. It came fully programmed for Philips products, and was
>able to learn by head to head all other makes.
>What is available today?
>What are you using can you recommend yours?
>Any comparison sites?
>Any on topic advise welcome.
I have a Logitech Harmony 555. It's an excellent remote if you like
fiddling. You configure it by plugging it into an internet-connected
PC via a USB cable. The online database takes care of most AV gear but
it'll learn from original remotes too.
Initially setting it up took me hours and hours (mainly because I
needed to get my head around the way the software works) but now
that's done, it's quick and easy to make little changes to get
everything arranged exactly as I want.
I found the "activity based" nature of it annoying at first, but now I
can see the point of it and it actually makes a lot of sense.
Cheers,
Colin.
ChrisM
Colin Stamp <col.d...@stamp.plus.com> Proclaimed from the tallest tower:
What do you mean by 'activity based'?
Is it like macros to do certain things across several devices, rather than
just selecting a single device and controlling it individually??
--
Regards,
Chris.
(Remove Elvis's shoes to email me)
Gunther Gloop
news:lrWdnSbGZdBRuk3a...@bt.com...
Kinda. An Activity based setup allows you to do something like...
Click "WATCH TV".
This might switch on the tv, digital satellite box and amp... so in this
sense it _is_ a macro.
From then on (whilst 'in' that activity), the Volume Up/Down buttons might
relate to the amp, the Channel Up/Down buttons might relate to the satellite
and perhaps you'd use another button to access the tv setup menu. Or
something.
Actually, this is the kind of thing I've set up on every multi-remote I've
ever had, but Harmony seem to think they invented the notion.
Where they fall down (apart from other places) is when you then want to
"WATCH VHS" or "LISTEN TO MUSIC" or some other activity while the other one
is already activated.
Such things usually mess up half a dozen settings/ devices, perhaps
switching on the video, selecting the wrong EXT channel on the TV and
switching to some un-asked for mode on the amp.
Now I know that in an ideal world these niggles can be ironed out (and
Trendy Uncle is no doubt waiting to pounce from his quiet land of
netherworld), but in my experience each ironed niggle begets three others,
like a butterfly in Argentina.
Harmonys are nice looking multi-remotes that will allow you to use it with
95% of everything you need to do with it everyday. You might be able to get
100% depending on your perseverence and your particular devices, but I
personally know 3 others who use one (various brands -all do much the same)
and none of them feel 'safe' enough to remove all other remotes from the
room. ...Something I've never had a problem with on the Pronto or the old
marantz.
-Kevin.
Colin Stamp
wrote:
>Kinda. An Activity based setup allows you to do something like...
>
>Click "WATCH TV".
>This might switch on the tv, digital satellite box and amp... so in this
>sense it _is_ a macro.
>From then on (whilst 'in' that activity), the Volume Up/Down buttons might
>relate to the amp, the Channel Up/Down buttons might relate to the satellite
>and perhaps you'd use another button to access the tv setup menu. Or
>something.
>Actually, this is the kind of thing I've set up on every multi-remote I've
>ever had, but Harmony seem to think they invented the notion.
To be fair, it is more convenient to do on the Logitech one than any
of the others I've seen. You only set up the functions for each device
once, then you can then construct the "activities" by picking the
device functions from a list to map them onto the buttons in various
different ways.
You can, of course, use the thing in "device" mode too if you want it
to behave like a "normal" universal remote.
>
>Where they fall down (apart from other places) is when you then want to
>"WATCH VHS" or "LISTEN TO MUSIC" or some other activity while the other one
>is already activated.
>Such things usually mess up half a dozen settings/ devices, perhaps
>switching on the video, selecting the wrong EXT channel on the TV and
>switching to some un-asked for mode on the amp.
The remote keeps track of what it has switched on or off and what mode
it's put everything in, so it should only mess up if one of the
devices misses one of the remote's commands or someone starts pressing
front-panel buttons on the devices. It actually works very well, and
if anything does ever get out of step, you can always just switch to
the device in question and sort it out. Having said that, I tend not
to use the power-switching functions on the activity changes anyway. I
prefer have power buttons on the remote.
>
>Now I know that in an ideal world these niggles can be ironed out (and
>Trendy Uncle is no doubt waiting to pounce from his quiet land of
>netherworld), but in my experience each ironed niggle begets three others,
>like a butterfly in Argentina.
I did end-up doing loads of tweaking, granted. Generally because I
thought of more convenient ways of doing things after using the remote
for a bit. I've never noticed any problems with knock-on effects
though.
>
>Harmonys are nice looking multi-remotes that will allow you to use it with
>95% of everything you need to do with it everyday. You might be able to get
>100% depending on your perseverence and your particular devices, but I
>personally know 3 others who use one (various brands -all do much the same)
>and none of them feel 'safe' enough to remove all other remotes from the
>room. ...Something I've never had a problem with on the Pronto or the old
>marantz.
The Logitech certainly feels safe enough to me. In fact, It can access
functions on some devices that aren't on the original remotes
(worthwhile ones too). All the original remotes have been in the
cupboard since I first set it up. That certainly didn't happen with
the cheaper "one-for-all" type remotes that I've had in the past. Even
my self-confessed technophobe wife says she likes it more than the
original remotes.
The Prontos look very nice, but they ought to for the money. The
Harmony 555 was forty something quid from Amazon just before Christmas
and I haven't been left wishing I'd spent more money.
Cheers,
Colin.