Is a one-for-all remote for me?

avaris15

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Hello,
Having just bought a new house, and got all my AV gear set up, I figured that getting an AIO remote might be the next step. I've got a lot of things to control:

Samsung LE40A656 screen
Samsung HT-C5500 blu-ray cinema system
Humax HDR-Fox T2 freeview box
Xbox 360
Airport Express for streaming audio

I know these remotes can do a lot, but I'm not sure to what extent. For example, I have everything running audio through different inputs on the cinema speakers, and want to be able to control the volume for that as the same time as channels etc on the freeview. Forgive my naivety, but is this possible?

Mainly this is for my fiancée, as she struggles to get it on the right inputs for the right things.

I've had a look at the Harmony One as a possible solution, but am very much open to other options if the price and functionality is right. Willing to spend up to about £150, which I figured should get me what I need.

Any help or pointers appreciated. Thanks.
 
Just read a few more reviews which indicate that the One will do pretty much everything I would need it to do. I'll take the plunge and have a play with it.
Thanks to those who took the time to read my OP.
 
Any of the Logitech Harmony range will do what you require. I have had the 525 for a few years now and still think its great.
 
Any of the Logitech Harmony range will do what you require. I have had the 525 for a few years now and still think its great.

Thanks very much. Amazon are selling the One for £90 and does everything (and more) that I need, with the lesser ones selling for marginally less. I think I'll opt for it - thanks.
 
Yes, any model would handle your devices, from the latest 600s up to the 1100, with the 525 and One in between.
 
Yes, any model would handle your devices, from the latest 600s up to the 1100, with the 525 and One in between.

These remotes are far more intelligent than I ever gave them credit for. Have ordered the One, for ease of use.

Thanks for the help. Look forward to playing around with it.
 
Universal remotes are brill. Control a TV, lights, two bias backlighting, av processor, BD player, DVD player, HTPC, HDMI switches, two Squeezeboxes, stereo pre-amp from one remote. Without too much fiddling, macros do most if not all for you. Never need to switch inputs, switch on or off, or sources manually
 
Universal remotes are brill. Control a TV, lights, two bias backlighting, av processor, BD player, DVD player, HTPC, HDMI switches, two Squeezeboxes, stereo pre-amp from one remote. Without too much fiddling, macros do most if not all for you. Never need to switch inputs, switch on or off, or sources manually

Pretty vast collection you have there. I feel pretty confident it will not only work for everything I currently have, but it's also future-proof. Thinking of going for a TosLink splitter too (IR controlled) so I should be able to configure that too.
 
Actually forgot another TV, another sky box, av amp, integrated amp, then another integrated amp, another av processor, ghetto blaster.

Plus things like favoruite channels no need to press 105, just press CH5" and it'll send out "105" as a macro.
 
Don't buy a cheap and nasty one though, want something to allow flexibility and customisation not stupid wizards telling you what you want to do (Logitech Harmony urgh)
 
Actually forgot another TV, another sky box, av amp, integrated amp, then another integrated amp, another av processor, ghetto blaster.

Plus things like favoruite channels no need to press 105, just press CH5" and it'll send out "105" as a macro.

That's pretty nifty - instead of it pressing "5" and having to wait for it to register? Makes sense.

You'd recommend against the Harmony remotes? From what I understand about the setup, is that once it's done with the wizards, that you can fine tune it manually. Is this not the case?

What do you use, out of curiosity?
 
That's pretty nifty - instead of it pressing "5"

yup favourite buttons allow macros so you don't need to know the number just press the button next to the name and it'll send the macro.

Use URC MX-850 Aeros remotes myself, tried Logitech Harmony couldn't stand the wizard design asking me what I want to go where. Couldn't work out how to place things where I wanted them.

If you do buy a URC remote be aware of their stupid software release policy, the only way of getting the remote cheap and having software yourself is through dodgy sources.
 
Thanks for the heads-up! I'll take a look around. I guess Logitech get a lot of sales because they can market it better, when there might be better options on the market.
 
Design wise the URC remotes are a bit "old fashioned" I guess. Also you need to make a choice touchscreen or one with hard buttons.

Touch screen are posher, but hard button designs are much better to use. Owned both, first touchscreen then moved to greyscale non touch screen/hard button combo.

One thing Logitech has going for it- the online IR database. Any decent universal remote will allow you to learn from it, however some are funny codes and will not learn, so you need the hex values or pre-learnt template or for it to be inside the database.
 
I guess one of the key things is for it to be user-friendly. My other half isn't very techy, so struggles with remotes etc (at least she appreciates all the bits that are connected). I don't mind fiddling around for a few hours to save myself a lot of long-term hassle. She would probably find the Logitech more approachable.

Also, I can get the One (which looks ideal for my situation) for £90. I'm struggling to find prices for any URC remotes for sale in the UK. Thank you for your help though. I know where to come if I am having troubles with my remote (or anything else techy for that matter!)
 
The Logitech database IS very large, and it's unusual for anyone to find that they have a device that's not in it.
The comments about "wizards" that don't let you do what you want don't make any sense.
All you do is specify what devices you have, and in what combinations you want to use them.
All the buttons within each combination then control the appropriate device.
If you want to make any changes to the initial configuration you can do so evry easily.
 
The Logitech database IS very large, and it's unusual for anyone to find that they have a device that's not in it.
The comments about "wizards" that don't let you do what you want don't make any sense.
All you do is specify what devices you have, and in what combinations you want to use them.
All the buttons within each combination then control the appropriate device.
If you want to make any changes to the initial configuration you can do so evry easily.

And it looks like if there is something not on the database, it can learn? Just thinking about the toslink switcher, potentially.
I was way off the mark initially, thinking that I'd have to faff around with the volume on the receiver whilst using the freeview box - so I've definitely learnt that these remotes are a lot smarter than I originally thought, and I've been tempted in to buying one. So thanks to all for their help.
 
Yes, but it would be unusual to have to do that.
The Harmony Smart State Technology is really quite simple. When you select a combination of devices, known as an activity, any device that is on but is no longer required is powered off, each device that it uses is powered on if it's not already on, and its input setting is made if required, automatically. The Power and Input status of each device are stored so that only necessary commands are sent to change them. To set up each combination you choose one from a wide variety of types - to watch TV by satellite, or to play a BR, for example. The setup procedure simply looks for you to select a device, from a list if there are more than one for that option, for each function, such as to display the video, to control the volume, to select the channel, to play the BR, etc, and to specify any input settings that may be required. In your example, the channel and number buttons would be set to control the Freeview receiver, the volume buttons to control the sound system, and others to control the TV, all at the same time.There's no more to it than that and I simply don't recognise the "wizarding" problems that have been mentioned.
 
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I'd like to second logiciel's comments. The Harmony remotes are incredibly flexible and I don't recognise the "wizard problems" either.
 
Just saying last time I used one (Harmony 1000) wasn't impressed with the software, too "easy to use, but limited in customisation" Rather allowing me to put anything I want, where I want.

When you select a combination of devices, known as an activity, any device that is on but is no longer required is powered off

You can do that with any decent universal remote too, just send a discrete code for things that you're not using in that activity. I've done that for the URC.

ie "watch Bluray"
Av amp on, power TV on, BD player on, delay, TV input (BD) AV amp (BD)
POWER OFF for unused things ie CDP, LD, VCR, etc etc etc.
 
Quite so - it's what any activity based universal does.
On Harmonys you don't send any codes at all for things that you're not using so that point isn't clear.
Customisation is another common feature of universals but is stronger than most on Harmonys.
They do allow you to put anything you want where you want - any command on any button.
Activities do exactly the sort of things that you describe in that BR example.
 
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They do allow you to put anything you want where you want - any command on any button.

Any decent universal will do that. And should also allow any macro on any button.
 

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