I’ve got a Tv, roku box, stereo receiver, dvd player and a digital media player (plus gaming consoles, but those aren’t important right now).
Because the digital media player is a Chinese product, I don’t expect a lot of aftermarket universal remotes to work with it. However if I can find a universal remote that controls my TV, roku, stereo receiver and DVD player that would be great.
Are modern products designed to handle a roku box and a stereo receiver? My impression is most only handle TV, DVD, VCR. Then again, the only universal remotes I’ve bought before were $10 models that were only designed to control a TV, DVD and VCR.
Any advice on a 4 device universal remote to control a TV, roku box, stereo receiver and DVD player? These are mainstream products so they should have codes covered by a good universal remote.
Would a phone app be an option for you? There universal remote apps available. I use SURE occasionally, and it covers TV, receiver, Roku, disc players, and a bunch of other stuff.
I love my Harmony Smart Control & Hub. Includes App support. Blasts a strong IR signal that controls everything in the room, regardless of location. $92 on Amazon.
Depends on whether the phone has an IR blaster (some do, most do not), or the devices can work with wireless (one of our TVs does, the other does not).
Some of the Logitech Harmony remotes might work for your needs. We bought this one when we set up a Roku for my in-laws; it works with their TV, their cable box (a basic Comcast one, I think), and their DVD player. I programmed it so that one button turns on the Roku and puts the TV in the right input mode, another one does the same for the DVD, and so on.
It might work with at least some of the stereo equipment. Others in the Harmony line might work as well. The downside is you have to program it using a computer and USB cable, on the other hand there is none of that messing with trying a zillion different cryptic codes.
I have a Roku 2XS, sony AVR & DVD, Vizio TV and a Tivo Roamio. Our Harmony 650 works fine for all of it. Think Amazon has them for under $60 right now.
True. I know Samsung dropped it from their Galaxy phones after S6. However, it’s easy and free, and it was possible the OP wasn’t aware that some phones have that capability.
Of dedicated remotes, I agree that one of the Logitech Harmonies would probably be the best solution. (Pity that Gyration isn’t making their media center remote anymore. Those were super-adaptable. Pretty sure mine’s got a “Crash Skynet” button, just in case.)
The best thing about the Logitech Harmony’s control of the Roku is that it bidirectionally communicates with it over the network, rather than one-way control via an IR flasher. It detects a Roku on the network, and queries it to find out what channels are subscribed to, and downloads icons for the channels and adds them to the display on the physical remote.
It also can tie into the Amazon Echo, so you can tell Alexa to “Pause Harmony.”
I have yet to find ANY…I MEAN ANY device with an IR interface that the Logitech Harmony cannot control. I’m including German DVB Ku band satellite receivers, ancient Motorola 4DTV C band ones, digital picture frames. In the incredibly unlikely event that they don’t have it, the Harmony can record the IR codes from the original remote.
I really can’t praise the Logitech Harmony system highly enough.
By the way, while it is technically possible to control a Harmony Hub with a smart phone, it is a bad idea for a home theater. All-glass interfaces are terrible in the dark, and having to look away from the screen to wake the phone, and look at the screen to find the button to change the channel or mute the audio - you’ll find yourself ordering the physical remote soon.
On the other hand, it is possible to use the iPhone or Android app from anywhere in the world. One of my clients got stuck last night, and I was able to get his TV back using my phone.
I have a Logitec Harmony, too. It’s an older 4-device one. It works with my roku and I assume it would work with a stereo. I liked it back when you plugged it into your PC and picked your device models from a list. Now you have to “train” them with the real remote.
Looking into it, the Logitech harmony may work on my Micca brand digital media player. In that case, I’d want something that can handle 5 devices.
The logitech harmony 650 is about $45 new, that sounds like a decent one.
With logitech harmony, is the remote all you need or do you need a hub device too? If I could hook it up to my alexa to voice pause the roku or dvd player, even better.
I looked at the Inteset INT-422. Reviews are good, however I’m wondering if getting one that can handle more than 4 devices may be wise. However for a 4 device remote the reviews are good.
I can’t find the SURE remote app, all I can find on google play are guides for how to use it. I don’t know if my phone would work, I have a samsung galaxy J7
No, that’s not the case. Both the Hub and all the current models are controlled by either a web site or phone app where you select Manufacturer from one drop-down and model from another, and after you have all the devices you create “Activities”. It’s pud simple. You can record IR codes if needed, but it’s not the default.
It’s perfectly fine. All it does is IR. The main thing about the Hub system is the connection from the remote to the Hub is over WiFi, so you don’t have to aim the remote at anything. The programming is done via a Windows application and the data is put onto the remote with a USB cable.
The Alexa integration is only on their newer networked models. There is no network connection for a five year old device like the 650 to communicate to the Alexa - it is just sending out IR flashes. $45 is an absurdly cheap price and that is undoubtedly a refurbished device - they were $200 new.
I have a 650 in my bedroom, and it is good for controlling a TV and a Roku. But once you understand how useful the Harmony system is, you’ll find yourself eventually purchasing the current model.
Also, I can’t over-state just how much trying to control an AV system with any phone or tablet sucks. It’s not a good match for a home theater or listening system - you need physical buttons you can find by touch in the dark. You need to be able to pick up a comfortable, well-balanced remote and find the volume, channel, play, pause and stop buttons in the dark by feel.
The Harmony system has enough physical buttons to be totally useful, and a touch screen for maximum flexibility. It took Logitech to make this work.
One other thing, if you buy one model, you can port the programming to a better one. It’s all saved on your account - I had a client who had his 650 chewed by by his dog, and was able to send him out for a Harmony One and he was back up and running in an hour.
I can’t find it on my phone, but I can find it on the google store on my laptop. Maybe google play won’t show me apps that don’t work with my phone since mine lacks IR ability.
That’s remarkable - they must have cleared out the warehouse. Anyway, it’s a decent unit, and less than half what it cost originally. No RF, no rechargeable batteries, 5 device limit. You can get around the last by adding IR codes to existing devices for that one thing you need - I had to do that for an IR controlled HDMI switch where I just needed those four buttons, so I added them as extras for the TV.
Cool. The very best thing about Harmony is that they can update codes and features.
The hassle of the 650 is that it has three hard buttons for activities, one soft button for “More activites” which you select from the four soft buttons on the left and right of the screen, plus the left and right buttons below. It doesn’t have a touch screen, and the color LCD just serves as labels for the soft buttons. It works great if you don’t have a very complex system, and you can’t beat the price.
I went to walmart to pick up a Logitech Harmony 650. They had them in stock for $45, but I also saw some GE brand universal remotes that controlled 8 devices for about $17.
I figured I’d buy the cheaper GE one, because it was 1/3 the price. This thing actually does pretty much everything I need. I set it up to control my TV, Roku, stereo reciever and blu ray player. I don’t think it can control my Micca digital player, but thats not really important because I mostly use the HDMI cable to connect the laptop to the TV when I want to watch digital media anyway.
All in all I’m happy with my purchase (so far, who knows what the future holds).