whats so great about harmonys remotes?

munsterrr · 02-27-2008, 07:34 AM

just wanted to say hi first of all. first post here. ive been browsing this forum for about a week and have learned alot. thanks ahead of time

anyways i see these harmony remotes that alot of people seem to have and do see all the greatness about them. to me it looks like a remote that does macros with a screen and nothing more. i mean right now i have an old sony vl-600 that can "learn" buttons of it doesnt know them and does macros.

i just dont see it. maybe you guys can open my eyes and show me the light.

starrin · 02-27-2008, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by munsterrr

just wanted to say hi first of all. first post here. ive been browsing this forum for about a week and have learned alot. thanks ahead of time

anyways i see these harmony remotes that alot of people seem to have and do see all the greatness about them. to me it looks like a remote that does macros with a screen and nothing more. i mean right now i have an old sony vl-600 that can "learn" buttons of it doesnt know them and does macros.
i just dont see it. maybe you guys can open my eyes and show me the light.

It works great for my wife. When we went HD-HT she went bananas. The idea that she could punch a button on the remote that pulled up a function (Watch TV) or (Watch TV HT) and everything falls into place made a true believer of her - and a great supporter of HD

munsterrr · 02-27-2008, 08:14 AM

so once again its just a fancy macro more or less?

mylan · 02-27-2008, 08:29 AM

While I do not own one as of yet, what sets the Harmony's apart is the way they are set up. Your Sony learns commands by aiming the remote at the one it replaced I would imagine, the Harmony uses web based programming. You log on, create a password, and tell it what devices you own and how you want it to control your system. With a little trial and error, they can be tweaked further for more control options. You can save the configuration to their web site and retrieve it if the remote ever loses its settings and you can transfer your settings to a newer model Harmony whenever you upgrade, bottom line, it is the programming that sets these remotes apart.

munsterrr · 02-27-2008, 09:44 AM

so with this remote i guess anyone would say its for everyone else but the person that purchased, setup, and studied how everything works.

like we know tv has to go to input 1, reciever goes to dvd, dvd player goes to disc 3, microwave in the kitchen goes to 1 minute 3 seconds, the garage door opens and the hall light turns on.

BUTTTTT any common folk would just hit the "end of the world button"

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mylan · 02-27-2008, 10:06 AM

Ummm, yeah, what you said.

munsterrr · 02-27-2008, 10:09 AM

haha outstanding

Jeff Gatie · 02-27-2008, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by munsterrr

so once again its just a fancy macro more or less?

No, it is a lot more than a macro. The remote operates on "states" and that state can change from activity to activity. Say you have a macro on a traditional remote that sets up watching a DVD. It could consist of:

Turn on TV
Turn on DVD
Switch TV input to DVD
Switch receiver to DVD input
Switch TV display mode to Full

But what if you were listening to music on your DVD player and your TV was already in "Full" mode? Because there are no "discrete" commands for on/off or TV mode, you may push the "DVD" macro and suddenly it turns your DVD player off and changes to the mode that is below "Full" on the menu. You would then have to go back and fix the stuff the macro screwed up on.

The Harmony takes care of all this by itself. It remembers the current state of all your devices and only acts on the ones that need it.

For example, if all your devices are off and you hit "Watch TV", it will turn on the TV, the Cable box, and the Receiver, switch everything to the right input, and away you go. If you then hit "Watch DVD", it won't turn everything off then on again, and it won't change the inputs/states it doesn't have to. Instead it will just turn the Cable box off, turn the DVD on, and switch the inputs on the TV and/or receiver. No macro can do this. Plus, if things ever get messed up (because of a blocked signal or someone messing with the manual controls), you just hit "Help" and it will ask you step by step questions to correct the setup (i.e. Is the TV on? Is the Receiver on DVD Input?).

JeremyErwin · 02-27-2008, 10:40 AM

Quote:

like we know tv has to go to input 1, reciever goes to dvd, dvd player goes to disc 3, microwave in the kitchen goes to 1 minute 3 seconds, the garage door opens and the hall light turns on.

I suppose that if you want to remember those trivialities, you're welcome to them. As for myself, I don't feel the need to keep three remotes at hand.

Harmonies work best when there's a dedicated button assigned to each function. "Input--left---left--left--enter" doesn't always work as well as "hdmi 1".

I like the internet functionality: it's fast and easy.