The Glade 4.0

So, if you couldn't tell from the "Sound Bars" thread, I'm trying to consolidate and simply my home theater system.

I have a universal remote now, but I'm looking for something that'll control...

1) A Philips TV
2) Whatever sound system solution I find
3) Apple TV
4) Roku
5) Soon-to-be-Comcast HD DVR
6) Xbox 360
7) PlayStation 3

I recognize that the PS3 is the sticky wicket, what with its convenient-but-not-in-this-case Bluetoothery, but I've read of IR receivers that plug into USB ports and allow remote control that way. I haven't investigated, but I believe these to exist.

Thoughts?

You're probably going to have to get a Harmony remote.

<3 my Harmony.

Logitech makes a PS3 to IR bridge, too, though it's not cheap. **** you, Sony.

Anyways, you can look up your devices on their compatibility database, and my guess is that you'll want either a Harmony One or a Harmony 900, depending on your budget and whether RF is worth the extra to you.

Check Amazon et al. for discounted deals. I found a Harmony 900 as a Christmas gift for just over sticker price on the Harmony One at Amazon.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I just got a harmony one for Christmas as well, (actually received it yesterday). So far, it is awesome. Have to buy the PS3 adapter, but from my research, there is no other universal that comes close to compatibility. (Also, setup was pretty quick and easy).

The Harmony has the most expansive compatibility list I've ever heard of. But what really makes it stand out, to me, is the activity-based control. It's really superior, and you can just tell whenever you invite somebody over and don't have to give a 5-minute lecture on how to turn on the TV/X-Box, whatever.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Definitely. The customization with the activities is nice as well. Personally, my only disappointment is that it's so strict on it's power controls, (it wants to control them all with activities), which doesn't work as well when I want to leave a component on and just switch over to check TV. Overall though, a vast improvement to the 6 remote Monty I was playing before.

Oh! I also need it to control an HDMI switcher.

Hit devices and you get access to all the controls for each device individually. Switch manually, then when you're done, switch back and hit the power.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

The harmony can control anything that is capable of receiving an input. As other have said, it has a very comprehensive database that it can just know how to control. But even if your device isn't listed specifically, you can still 'teach' the remote any IR command, either by the traditional transmit/receive mode, or even by actually editing the control codes with a text editor. I've never actually had to do this personally, but I've read forum posts show how to do it.

For non IR devices (FSCK Sony!), you can usually get an adapter at additional cost.

The initial cost of the Logitech devices is a bit high, but once you get it set up, it's worth every penny.

Midgen, I think you're doing it a disservice. The ease of setup is worth every penny, too!

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I cringed at the idea of a $100 Universal remote at first, I found an excellent deal on the 880 couple years ago, and do not regret the purchase at all.

As MIdgen said, as long as that HDMI switcher has a remote, the Harmony should be able to pick it up and do everything, Power off/On, only issues I have had issues with, I do know it works with the Monoprice brand HDMI switcher's.

But my Harmony 880, is the best device I own, I love my remote, no batteries *does happy dance*, controls EVERYTHING in my condo, Ceiling Fan's, Normal box Fan's, PS3, 360, PC, 3 A/V Receivers, and 3 TV's, sadly im out of inputs on my harmony now and on the verge of ordering the 2nd one. The only issue I have had so far, is my 1 fan, I cannot turn off/on with my harmony, controls everything else except for off/on., even learning from the Fan remote, I cannot get it to do off/on and to lazy to text edit it, I can get up for 1 fan

But for the PS3, you do need to get the Adapter, there are some make shift do dad's for the PS3 that will semi-work, there is a $15 adapter on Newegg (Google will tell ya, cant get to it at work) that does everything except power off/on. otherwise the Harmony adapter for the PS3 is $45-50? I beleive, I think some of the new Harmony's have bluetooth and IR

Currently can get the Harmony one for $145.67 after $20 MIR MUST select Frustration free package to get the rebate, which is a decent deal on the Harmony One
See http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread ... &t=2625183

There are always refurb of Harmony remotes around, dell carrys them same with Amazon, tigerdirect etc. I beleive they come with 90 day warranty, also can check out logitech Dent and Box items, sometimes can find a stragling Remote there as well, usually just a dented box or a cosmetic blemish.

Also I would throw out a big *thumbs up* to logitech support, the 880 Specifically had issues with the Docking station not having magnets thus not charging the remote properly, I emailed Logitech Support, they sent a new dock, no questions asked, nothing to send in return, at $0 cost to me.

There is also a Monster Universal Remote out there, that does use the Harmony Interface, I have not personally used it and it looks ugly as piss IMHO, big thread at slickdeals on it, sale has since died, so probably back up to a Monster ridicolous price as its Monster and they overcharge for everything they sell.

Kashan, no Bluetooth Harmony's. The higher end models have RF for line-of-sight-less control (and come with IR extenders that you can set up. They essentially receive the RF signal (without line of sight), and then re-transmit as an IR signal from their fixed position that has line of sight to your devices), but not Bluetooth.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Finally decided to just set my 360 to "always on" via activities and turn it off manually when I'm through with it. Got tired of booting up and signing into live when I wanted to flip over.

Just ordered a Harmony One. Should arrive tomorrow.

If this works for everything else (TV, Bose Cinemate speakers, Comcast DVR, Xbox 360, HDMI switcher, Apple TV, and Roku XD), the only outlier will be the PS3, due to its non-IRedness. And sometime or another I'll get around to picking up the expensive-ass Logitech IR receiver for it.

Let us know if we steered you to film/gamer geek nirvana or techno-hell, Farsky!

My only beef with the expensive-ass Logitech IR PS3 receiver (well, aside from the one directed at Sony for making it necessary in the first place -- honestly, $300 for a system and you can't throw in a $2 IR or RF chip?) is that I can't seem to figure out how to get the Harmony One to direct its IR commands through the RF to IR repeater. Meaning that I still have to point the remote for PS3 commands.

As far as I can tell, it's intensely ironic that the only thing IR device I own the Harmony One doesn't recognize (and subsequently shunt through the RF repeater) is its own branded equipment.

_________________
"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Brick, not truly multi-functional, but it will turn everything off, for good, when applied correctly.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Hopefully you enjoy the Harmony One and everything works out, but I have a $22 Universal from Amazon that works with all my devices (minus PS3). I know for a fact it works with Apple TV and the 360, would imagine it'd work for Roku as well. I have sound punch-through enabled to only control my Onkyo receiver and channel buttons only control my cable box. Backlight is nice as well, though I'm not sure that red is the best color for it.

Welllllll...poop.

I've had The One for a couple years and it is fantastic. The programmable interface used via PC is simple and efficient. It even has color coded XBox buttons on the touch screen.

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Hokanu
Duty is a magnificent blessing because it is the sign of trust from the universe.
END OF LINE.

Lenas, I can tell by looking at it, that it isn't even comparable to the Harmony One remote.

More like F*CK everyone else for still using crappy *** 30+ year old technology, IR sucks being directional and often difficult with the signal strength causing devices to not even get the signal and RF is a completely open over saturated band that often leads to cross talk and devices controlling other's accidentally or interfering with connection, bluetooth is linked to a specific device so there is no issue with cross talk and has no directional issues, it's like still using a dial up modem today, sure it "works" but it sucks.


That being said i'm curious about something, I've only used cheaper universal remotes and that annoyed the heck out of me as I found the constant switch the remote to TV mode, cable mode, etc far worse than just picking up the other remote, do the higher end ones deal with multiple device control better or do they still have the clunky universal but only operates one device at a time depending on the mode they are in? For example can you say set them up so without changing any mode or anything on the remote the volume button changes the volume on a stereo receiver, the channel button & numbers changes the channel on the cable box and the input button changes the input on the TV?

Why? Lack of a screen? I'm sorry but the LHO is no better in practice. I can still turn on my entertainment devices, in order, with one press. I can still replace all of my remotes with a single device. At least I don't have to plug mine into a PC when I wanna change macros, I guess.



My $22 remote can do all that. You can program certain controls to "punch through" to specific devices. My volume goes to receiver, channels go to cable box and input switching always goes to the tv.

Anyway, I hope Farskee enjoys the Harmony One. It definitely looks nicer and has some cool features, I was just throwing out a suggestion that could also get the job done should he need another in the future.

I agree, bluetooth is cool, but i've already found an issue with it. PS3 only supports one bluetooth "remote" at any given time, (even though it has support for up to 8 devices). So if I want to use my harmony remote, I have to "pair" it, or if I want to use my PS3 bluetooth remote (when the PS3 is hooked up in another room), then I have to pair that. So that's one thing that sucks about the PS3 bluetooth remote implementation.

Regarding your cable/tv/aux mode, the harmony one will allow you to control whatever device you like when you program your "activity". So let's say the activity is "watch a DVD", so you would want the play controls to control your player, audio/mute to control your receiver, etc. It does all that by default when you define your activities.