Remotes (1 Viewer)

[mylan]

That sounds like a good deal Mark, give us your impressions when you get it set up in regards to ease of programming, ergonomics, etc. I like the design of the 880 because it resembles the "peanut" shape of the tivo remote but really want something I can use in the dark so I may wait for the 1000, yes, it is $499 but I expect rebates or other discounts on that one too. I like how the 1000 will put an exact graphical layout of the remote it replaced and it is a third of the price of the Universal Remotes MX-3000 when you figure in custom programming. Still, that thing is on backorder and I may bite on the 880 if the price is right.

 

[Egbert Berfel]

I've spent about a week with my 880 ($149 at Amazon), and I've experienced some highs and some lows.

The remote works flawlessly if you can program it correctly. Programming the thing is quite a chore however. It took about two hours before I learned how to navigate the website easily. The UI is just terrible.

Assigning button functions between different components is nice, but takes a lot of time, and there's a few bugs.

I think overall however, if you can dedicate 2 to 10 hours of programming, testing, and tweaking, and you have a lot of patience, then the 880 is a pretty incredible little gadget.

I'd say get it.

 

[MarkHastings]

I just got mine tonight. I'm setting it up now. I'll probably post a new thread with my thoughts. (I'll post my thoughts here instead).

 

[MarkHastings]

So I set up the remote last night and it took me a little bit to get the app running properly because (knowing my luck) they were doing maintenance on the site. So after that initial frustration, I got in and started configuring.

When I first got the remote plugged in, I loved the way it looked. Very sleek and futuristic. Setting my components up were fairly easy. Some were easier than others.

My receiver is one of the early SONY DD/DTS receivers and for some reason, I had a hell of a time getting that to function properly. Mainly because there's no "On" button, you just choose which input you want and that turns the unit on (as well as switching to the correct input)...but after a good half hour of redoing the setup for that component, it started functioning properly.

Then, (again, because of my bad luck) I couldn't get the volume to work on the receiver. After what seemed like an hour of redoing the remote and changing things, etc. I found out that the volume knob on my receiver was flaking out. Not even the original remote would make it work, so I had to play around with the volume knob (on the unit) until I finally got control of it with the remote.

So, as I started playing with the controls, everything worked great. I love how it turns off components when you switch over to another Activity.

I seemed to get all of my units to function properly with the remote and all of the old functions are present on the Harmony remote. It was funny, I was actually amazed how many buttons I hadn't even noticed on the remote...for example, when I was testing out my cable box, I was like :Oh no! How am I going to use the 'switch back' button?" (to go back to the previous channel), but then I saw the "Prev" button and that did the trick. NICE!

The only real issue I still have is, my DVD player didn't seem to translate 100% - The thing that kills me is, it's not even a year old. It's a new SONY HDMI DVD player.

So here's my issue: At first, a few of the buttons (Step forward, Step Back, Next Chapter, Prev Chapter, Zoom) didn't work, so I had to use the "Learn" method to capture the functions from my original remote.

This finally fixed all the issues expect for one that is still clunky. The "Prev Chapter" - The "Next Chapter" now works on the physical buttons of the remote, but the "Prev Chapter" doesn't. I see there's a "Skip Backward" in the LCD section...it worked, but it's on page 10 of 13.

This isn't a major thing...I would LOVE to be able to get the actual button to respond, but it's just not doing anything. I was wondering, does anyone know if it's possible to rearrange the LCD items? If I could at least get the "Skip Backward" to page 1, I'd be ok with this. I just don't like having to go back to page 10 everytime I want to use that function.

Well, here are my initial thoughts:

Cons: Overall I like the remote, but I do have to admit that it can't compare to having all 5 remotes out at the same time. With all of them there, I could easily hit the button I wanted, whereas now I have to go hunting for the button.

Pro's: Not having to worry about 5 remotes is definitely a good thing. Having the ability to turn on and off things with one touch is also great.

So overall, the con (of having to hunt and peck for functions) is something I will learn to deal with because the pro (of having one remote) is definitely a nice thing to have.

oh, and p.s. Mike, the color LCD is SWEET! I like how you can customize backgrounds and slide shows too. Pretty cool!

 

[JeremyErwin]

I have the previous chapter, next chapter functions wired to my channel rocker button.

Be sure that you don't confuse it with the volume control.

 

[MarkHastings]

Jeremy, thanks! I had no idea you could reasign the default buttons. There are so many options in the software, I overlooked the option to change the buttons.

When I opened the layout to my DVD player functionality, the "Replay" button had nothing assignned to it...no wonder it doesn't work...

A quick change to "Skip Backward" and the button now works.


But now I have another request: I route my DVD player into my reciever as well as my TV (in case I don't want to turn the receiver on)...so whenever I turn on the reciever, I like to make sure the TV volume is turned down. When I hit the "Watch a DVD" activity, the remote goes into DVD mode so I can't use the volume control on the TV unless I go to the TV device, change the volume, then go back to the DVD.

My question is, is it possible to make the volume control the TV volume when the remote is in DVD mode?

I went into the default buttons menu and (obviously) there is nothing connected with the volume buttons, but since the drop down list only applies to the DVD player, there is no way to set them to the TV volume. Ideas?

 

[Stephen Tu]

1. Why do you ever want to use TV speakers? To me it's easier just to always use the receiver. Since the remote is turning everything on/off & switching all the devices for you, there's no convenience reason for not using the receiver.

2. OK, you want to use TV speakers occasionally.
First, create a separate activity "watch DVD w/ TV sound" or something like that. Tell the wizard you use the TV to control the volume, it will automatically set it up so the volume keys manipulate the TV. You will see it selected if you customize buttons for that activity, there are drop down lists under each device in the activity.

Now, on your main "watch DVD" activity, probably you *don't* want the vol buttons to control the TV volume, but rather the receiver volume. But you still want to lower the TV vol, so do one or both of:
- customize the activity startup. run the setup wizard, at the end there is option to "send additional commands". Tell it to also send a TV mute or multiple vol- commands. (mute easier, but might cause unwanted closed caption to turn on). You can also add additional commands when exiting the activity to reverse this if you want.
- use learning to add the TV vol commands to your DVD device, then stick them on the LCD so they are available during the activity, without having to switch to device mode.


You'll want to do most of your customizations under the *activity* section on the right side of the web interface, not the device section. That allows you to assign any command from any device associated with the activity to any key. That may be why you had problems if you were trying to fix everything over on the device side of the interface. E.g. the prev. chapter may not be assigned correctly under the activity. Also it's easier to pick just the subset of LCD commands you want here.

The only limitation is in the LCD section. If you want precise control of the LCD section, in terms of order of keys, interleaving commands from different devices, and not having commands auto-added to other activities, you'll have to use learning. (The default interface forces commands from each device to be grouped together, and will add them to other activities) Add the commands you need for the LCD from other devices to the primary device for the activity, e.g. learn "TV vol+ and TV vol-" to the DVD. Then you can rearrange at will and won't disturb the other activities.

 

[MarkHastings]

well, my reciever volume is flaky and gets stuck a lot, so I usually set it at one volume and leave it there. Most of the time I listen to the reciever, but whenever I'm watching a ton of TV shows while just lounging on the couch (like Family Guy, Simpsons, Seinfeld, Cheers, etc.) I prefer a more mellow sound and like the way the TV speakers produce the sound. It's less "In your face" that way.

I did find the activity section where I can change the volume control to the TV, so when I hit "Watch a DVD", I can lower the TV volume first (I can't use mute or else it shows the word "MUTE" on screen all the time) then I can go to the reciever device to change the reciever volume if I need to.

This was fine, but I ran into something else. Once I go into another device, I lose the 'multi use' where the some buttons work the DVD (i.e. play, pause, etc.), and some buttons work the TV (i.e. Aspect), and the other buttons work the reciever (i.e. volume)...

I also got my DVD device working the way I want to and would prefer to switch over to the DVD control rather than the multi-"Watch a DVD" activity control. But again, I can't use the volume buttons.

Hmmm

 

[Mike Frezon]

Grrrrrrr!



BTW, I have two different activities for watching TV. The one I use all the time turns on the TV, HD cable box, A/V Receiver, etc. I did set up the second one so that just the TV would turn on...So I could use the TV as the tuner, TV'ds speakers/volume, etc. NEVER use it. Like Stephen said, a separate activity is the way to go.

 

[MarkHastings]

OK, I set it up both ways of watching TV. One with the reciever and one without.

I just figured out how to get back to the "Watch DVD" setup too...I have a setup called "Watch DVD w/Stereo" that turns the reciever on and the volume control now controls the TV (so I can turn it down). I hardly ever touch the volume on the reciever, so having TV volume control (over reciever volume control) is the best method for starting out DVD viewing...but if I ever have to adjust the receiever, I just go into devices, select reciever, adjust the reciever volume, then hit "Devices" twice, and I'm back to the "Watch DVD w/Stereo" activity.


This seems like it's going to work best for my situation...at least until I replace the reciever.

It's funny, the more and more I adjust things, the more options I'm figuring out...I like how I can change the order of menu items that appear in the LCD, so I can bring my most frequently used buttons to page 1 instead of having to search alphabetically for them.

 

[Stephen Tu]

You are customizing in the wrong section. The idea is to get *the activities* working the way you want to, not the devices. Don't waste time customizing device LCD pages. Add all the commands you need to your primary device for an activity, then customize the activity, adding the LCD pages of exactly the commands you use most. The remote really isn't designed to be used in device mode. In device mode, as you see you lose the multi-component capability, plus you can screw up the smart state. Device mode is really meant to only be used infrequently for commands you use once every 6 months or so. Stuff you use on daily/weekly basis should be put into the activities. Like for DVD, learn the receiver vol onto the DVD device, add the receiver vol onto the LCD pages for the activity, then you don't need to use device mode at all.

 

[MarkHastings]

Oh duh! I found that section and thought it would be perfect to have the remote volume control the TV and put the receivers volume control in the LCD, but I could never get the settings to save, so I figured it wasn't possible to have double volume control...

But after reading your post, I thought I was doing something wrong, and I was....I wasn't adding a name for the item, so it wouldn't save it. Now I retried it with a name and it worked! Thanks! That's definitely the best way. Having the actual volume buttons controlling one device and the LCD controlling the other.

Cool!

 

[Mike Frezon]

So, Mark (yeah...you with the pretty color screen!)...how goes the 880?

Lovin' it yet?

 

[MarkHastings]

Well, I'm getting more and more used to it. There are still a lot of slight cons with it, but I am willing to live with them if it means having only one remote.

For instance, here are a few things I'm either not crazy about or just not used to yet.

1) A little slower than original remotes: I've got the delay set to the lowest speed with my ReplayTV device, but the remote is still slightly sluggish. It's not horrible, but not as quick as the original remote. This is more of a little annoyance than a real con.

2) Let's say I want to watch my ReplayTV and that was the last thing I wacthed when I shut off the TV. When the TV comes on, it's already set to the ReplayTV input, but I still have to wait a little bit before the remote allows me control of the devices. I know I can change this delay, but it's only really annoying when the TV is already set to the input I want it set to.

Again, I'd hate to set the delay any less because there are times when I need the full delay. So this is only a slight annoyance at times.

3) I still haven't gotten used to the layout of the buttons. I find myself having to look at the remote to see where the buttons are. Hopefully this will change over time. This is one that might turn into a real con if I don't get used to the button layouts.

4) Some of the buttons require a lot of hand shifting to access them. The one thing I liked about my original remotes was the fact that I could grasp the remote and access all the buttons without moving my hand. The Harmony is a bit trickier and I find that I have to move my hand around a lot....sometimes (as someone mentioned before) having to use two hands. This is kind of annoying, but it's only really annoying when I need to access buttons in the top left hand side of the LCD.

But again, overall the cons aren't stopping me from enjoying the remote. Having the recharging station is great because it forces me to put the remote on the end table at the end of the day rather than before where all the remotes would be left out on the floor, the couch, the foot stool, etc. etc.

Plus, the charging station looks really cool (even when the remote is out of the station).

 

[Mike Frezon]

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

When you push an activity, don't you have your TV's input automatically go to the correct setting? I'm not sure what "delay" you are referring to. Maybe someone else knows what you mean.

 

[Craig Beam]

Just picked up the 880 today, and spent about an hour getting it programmed exactly as I wanted it. Damn, I wish I'd checked the HTF first! I literally would've had the thing tamed in fifteen minutes (I too was trying fruitlessly to program the device modes instead of customizing the activities modes), plus I would've saved a hundred bucks (yes, I paid $249 for it). :frowning: But you know what? It's an awesome piece of equipment, and I don't regret getting it at all.

But wait.... the 890 is only $234.28 on Amazon! I don't really need the RF stuff, but the 890 has fully backlit keys, and it's cheaper than the $249 I paid for the 880. Hmmmm..... I may need to check the return policy on the 880....

 

[MarkHastings]

Yes, it goes to the correct input, but the remote has a delay (before changing the input) to allow your TV set to warm up before accepting commands on changing inputs.

My 55" LCD takes a bit to warm up so that delay (before the remote changes inputs) is sometimes necessary. There are just times when the TV is already warmed up and on the correct input, but I can't do anything with the remote because it's still in it's "Actions" mode (waiting for the TV to warm up before changing inputs) and you can't use any of the remote buttons yet.

EDIT: I just checked my settings. For some reason I thought the "Power on Delay" was set to 2,400 ms, but it is set to 24,000 ms as the deafult. Isn't that 24 seconds??? Maybe that's why it takes so long? I thought it was set to only 2.4 seconds. Hmmm, maybe I need to lower that a little bit.


I just turned on my TV after being off all night and I timed it at about 13 seconds before I was able to change inupts, so I lowered my TV device delay to 15,000 ms - Hopefully this will speed things up, but again, let's say I'm watching my ReplayTV and want to watch a DVD...after hitting the "Watch a DVD" action, the TV is already on, but the remote will still wait 15 seconds before changing over to the "DVD" input (and regaining control of the DVD player).

 

[MarkHastings]

I just tried out the new delay setting and things seem to be going much quicker than the default setting. For some reason, things seem to be going even quicker when the TV is already on and I switch to a new "Activity" - it doesn't wait the full 15 seconds, it's much quicker.

 

[nolesrule]

I was going to say, my TV needs about a 10 second warm-up delay, but the remote only pauses if the TV needs to be turned on, not anytime there is an input change.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Ah. I see. My HD set is a CRT...so I guess I don't have those delay issues?

And, I don't think/know that my 628 has a delay feature.

But something tells me I'm just blissfully ignorant.