Good for you!
Agree on the button arrangement. I’m willing to live within those restraints, especially considering the price.
We’re buying another one today in fact, because some of the buttons have stopped responding. I’d already disassembled/cleaned contacts/inspected/reassembled this twice. Considering this is the single most used device in our household, and the continued high score in the critical WAF, it’s really a no-brainer for me.
WAF?
Anyway - maybe there’s the reason it was 17 versus 45 bucks :D.
Though I can’t speak to the durability of the Logitech we bought: we set it up for the in-laws (who are elderly), and with custom activity-by-activity document that I wrote, with large pictures of the remote, with relevant buttons circled (bear in mind, I programmed it so that a single button does everything they need to, say, watch a DVD)… I’m not sure they’ve ever used it.
Ignore me, I thought you were the person who bought the cheaper GE - I guess you were actually talking about the Logitech…
Day 1 of owning a universal remote. Why the fuck did I wait so long to buy a universal remote? This thing is great. No more having to carry 4 remotes between sitting positions in the living room.
There are a couple drawbacks though.
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I can’t turn my stereo receiver on, but I can turn it off and control the volume. No idea what that is about (the power off button works, but not the power on). I tried all the codes. This is a meaningful drawback because if I want to turn on the receiver to change the audio, I can’t do that.
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Can’t control my digital media player (but not a big deal since I mostly use the laptop and HDMI cable instead).
Anyway, happy with my purchase.
Wife Acceptance Factor:D
Say it with me now:
Ain’t Mama happy, ain’t no one happy!
Can I piggyback on this question?
I have an older Harmony remote, and not too long ago I bought a (used) Denon receiver.
The problem I have is that the Harmony remote only updates the Denon receiver’s volume v e r y s l o w l y. It changes the volume by 0.5 dB every second or so if you hold the button down. The Denon remote changes it at least 10 times as much.
I have tried reducing all the remote timeouts to 0 for the receiver, but it still goes slowly.
I’m thinking I might get a newer Harmony remote that has a hub to use with my Roku as well, but, will it resolve this issue? Denon is a pretty popular receiver brand, so I have to imagine that Harmony remotes will work well with them. Maybe my remote is just too old?
maybe better to have a look through the Logitech forums before you plunk down more money
https://community.logitech.com/s/topic/0TO31000000UKNpGAO/remotes-and-smart-home
-ps- you didn’t get a 626 or 646 did you?
The GE remotes are not comparable to a Logitech Harmony in any way. Most cheap “universal” remotes are actually “multi-remotes” where you can switch between operating different components, but you have to switch from one component to the other.
A Harmony has all the same codes, but the difference is that it has activities.
OK, let’s watch TV with a crap $15 GE “universal” remote:
Press the “TV” button to control the TV
Press the “Power” button to turn on the TV
Press the “Input” button to select the source on the TV
Press the “Cable” button to control the Cable box
Press the “Power” button to turn on the cable box
Press the “AV” button to control the AV receiver
Press the “Power” to turn on the AV receiver
Press the “Input” button to select the correct input on the AV receiver
On the Logitech?
Press “Watch Cable”
Want to switch to watching the DVD player? With the crap GE Universal remote, go through half a dozen steps. With the Logitech, press “Watch DVD”.
There really is no comparison.
With all of them, it’s possible to record the commands from your original remote, and replace the Volume Up and Volume Down commands. I’ve run into that once or twice.
On amazon they raised the prices of Harmony 650s, so I was in Walmart and decided to see if they raised the prices there too. Ironically Walmart lowered them, now they are only $35 instore for a new one.
I liked the first universal remote so I figured I’d get a second since that lets me set them up strategically in the living room.
The Harmony 650 is pretty interesting. Not only does it control all 4 media devices (TV, bluray, roku and stereo reciever) but it powers on and off the stereo reciever unlike the cheaper remote. It also not only controls my Micca video player but I set it up to control my oscillating fan.
Anyway, not bad for $35. But the cheaper $17 remote, despite having fewer functions does have a more intuitive sense. No messing with a ton of screens and options to change inputs or switch between devices.
(Not intended to be a hijack.)
The Harmony 650 is IR only? Or is there some other option using it to control my Roku? It’s a deal-killer if I have to use IR instead of wireless. I was really hoping to get with new times and buy a universal remote, too.
Eh. Now that I’ve had both the GE and Logitech harmony ones I can say there are benefits to each even if you ignore the price difference ($17 vs $35).
A major benefit of the GE one is that you can control the TV’s volume when it is set to control the roku box. That is nice, being able to pause a show while also turning the volume up or down. On the logitech you have to press back, then press Tv to alter the volume, then to pause the show you have to press back, press roku, then press pause.
You’d be surprised how important that little feature is, being able to control the TVs volume and the Roku’s pause/play option on the same item function.
Overall, I actually use the GE remote 90% of the time now. The GE is like a honda, the Logitech is like a more expensive car with a ton of options I don’t use and extra steps.
We have our Harmony “roku” activity set up to control system audio while having Roku transport buttons active. Seemed easy to set up, perhaps I’m misunderstanding your post? Don’t mean to be argumentative here, just curious.
I’ve only had the remote for a week, if there is a way to control the TV’s volume while it is set to control the roku, I haven’t figured it out yet.
Also I sometimes use the TV speakers, sometimes I use the stereo receiver. So I wouldn’t want the volume buttons to always work on one or the other.
I skipped the activities step in my setup.
Yeah, that’s the part where, once you spend some time (deciding/telling which buttons do what during which activities), review your choices, sync the device, then everything is good to go. May take a few minutes or longer, depending on your particulars.
Once you’re set up, if your devices aren’t powered up correctly for your activity, follow the Help button prompts (which actually–surprise!) helps.
Huh? The normal setup for any Logitech Harmony from the cheapest on up is to add all the “Devices” (TV, cable box, BluRay, AV receiver, Roku) then once those are all in, add “Activities”. Let’s assume you have those items. You create a “Watch TV” activity for cable. It will ask what items (TV, cable box, AV receiver) then ask what input the cable box is connected to (HDMI 1 on TV), what input on the AV receiver needs to be set (TV) and what controls the volume (AV receiver). After that, the “Watch TV” activity will always turn the TV on, turn the cable box on, turn the TV receiver on, switch the TV to HDMI 1, switch the AV receiver to TV and the channel up down menu, guide and numbers will be cable box controls, and the volume up down and mute will be the AV receiver.
See above - that is the entire purpose of a Harmony.
Please, go through the setup again. The Harmony is exactly what you want and, properly set up is the easiest to use remote possible.
OK, I see you “skipped setting up the activities.” Sorry, that was (how can I put this politely) a very bad idea. You can set up two Activities one that is “Roku TV sound” one “Roku Big Speakers” if you need. Or you can designate a pair of buttons as “TV Volume” on the “Watch Roku” activity. Or anything else. I set up a “Watch Football” activity for a client who loved the Chiefs but hated the network anchors, and it would turn on the TV, switch it to the right channel, turn the audio to the FM station and she could listen to the radio and watch TV.
Have you looked under all the sofa cushions?