New Remote

My Logitech Harmony remote showed up today: an infrared receiver hub (which is Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connected), a handheld remote control, and some cables & a power supply.

Powered up the hub and got it recognized by my network.

Because my old remote was also a Logitech I was given the opportunity to transfer all its settings over to the new one. That worked swell.

The Logitech remotes have three modes: Devices, Activities and Watch TV.

* "Watch TV" allows you to change channels.

* "Activities" allows you to choose activities you have preset up. In my case that's Watch TV, Watch a Blu-Ray, Watch Apple TV, Watch a Region 2 DVD, Watch a VHS, Listen to Radio, Watch YouTube, Listen to Pandora. These all carried across from the old remote.

* "Devices" are all of my equipment I've set up.

I tried to "add a device" which would be my Nest thermostat, but it was not recognized as an available device. After a half hour of trying over and over, and pondering why it wasn't seen, I discovered I never completed setting it up on the Nest website. I registered it for warranty & such but my Nest app on the iPad wasn't fully connected. With a little help from the support files I got my thermostat recognized. Surprise! Now I can change temperature (and schedules, etc.) from my iPad.

The hub is a nice feature, allowing me to log into it from my iPad and do anything the remote will do.

However:
(1) It does not, apparently, work with Comcast's online presence to give a list of channels, previews of movies, schedules, search mode, etc. You can get all this by toggling over to Comcast.com, but it is not incorporated into Harmony.com. It should be.

(2) The remote that came with this package is pretty basic. It has an overall on-off, volume up-down, channel up-down, guide, mute, exit, play/fast forward/rewind, etc but it does not have favorite channels, it does not have on-off for each device, it does not have troubleshooting. My old remote has all that. Plus the new one does not light up.

(3) It looks therefore, to get the full functionality I was HOPING for, I may need to buy the $250 remote I cancelled IN ADDITION TO this $135 hardware/software package.

On further fiddling with it, I'm not sure my earlier statement is correct. I'm not sure I can use the iPad as a remote.

There's a Harmony app, but it appears to be for SETTING UP the handheld remote only. Once everything is set up, there doesn't appear(?) to be an option to actually DO anything with the app.

Totally stupid, if true.

On and off only.

You cannot change channels, adjust the volume, hit play on a DVD, or select a different input to the TV.

On and off only.

Totally stupid.

That's really disappointing.

Major WTF for that.

I left feedback on the tech support forum, which appears to be the only help available.  We'll see if I get a response.

Quote :

I bought a Logitech Harmony Home Control because I have a basket full of remotes next to my TV: one for the TV, one for the cable box, one for the DVD, one for Apple TV, you get the idea.  My old Harmony 600 worked to control most things (not the Apple TV, not the Samsung Smart TV apps, etc.), but I thought using my iPad as a universal remote would probably be a better use of technology, since it's right here by the TV anyway.

Alas, after setting this thing set up and getting everything recognized, it APPEARS the Harmony app is for setup only?  It can be used for turning on your entertainment system -- but not controlling it?  I still need all those remotes... really???

Where is the software-based "soft-remote" to run on the iPad, which changes what it displays depending on what device is being controlled?  Where is the integration with my Comcast cable provider, giving me the program scheduling and instant access to channels?  Where is the porting over of DVD player controls to the iPad?  

You MADE me provide all the model numbers and manufacturer details, you MADE me provide my zip code and service provider.  Don't even try to tell me the information you need is not available.

Is this thing really only 10% functional?

The remote that comes with the Home Control is too stripped down to be useful -- no "favorite channels," no "help," no powering on/off individual devices, no buttons that light up in the dark.

Did I buy the wrong device?  Maybe I need to return the Home Control and buy the Ultimate One or the Harmony 1100i instead.  It just really seems like a lost opportunity here.

Either way I think it's going back.  If I were to make a list of what this setup does that my old setup doesn't, it would be a pretty short list:

1 Allow me to turn on devices from my iPad.

 Period.

And being able to power on devices individually is CRITICAL because most of them are binary, hit the power button once for on, once for off.  Consequently, if you're watching TV and want to swap over to watch a DVD, if you hit the "Play Movie" activation sequence it turns ON the DVD player, but simultaneously turns OFF the TV screen and the sound system.

I got two responses, one from a citizen and one from Logitech, both telling me I hadn't finished setting it up.

So I went back into it, checked everything, verified everything, coming up with the same result -- off and on only. I posted this to the forum.

No sooner had I done that, of course, than I discovered my error. Once everything is "set up" (like I had done) there is another, unlabeled, undocumented step you must take. I pressed the right-pointing arrow on the final setup page, and my setup was finalized. Once finalized I started getting the menus I was missing, and a screen of controls, and individual on-off buttons for components, and icons for favorite channels.

The controls are just a jumble of icons at the top of he screen -- no attempt to emulate the official remote -- but they're workable.

Now I need to spend about a week figuring out how to do everything.

Sounds like a real time saver over a handful of discrete remotes.

That thought did cross my mind. There's an audible delay -- no, not audible -- palpable? -- when hitting any icon before the effect is registered.

I'm not sure this is where I wanted to end up.

After a lot of praying about it, this is what I've decided to do.

1.  I'm going to return the Logitech Home Control I just bought.  It's is not fully developed and it's not what I was looking for.

2.  I just bought a Logitech Harmony Ultimate remote with programmable color touch screen, model 915-000198 (discontinued) for eighty bucks.  This model appears to be identical to its current replacement (915-000224) which at Amazon is $300 stinking bucks ($330 at Best Buy). I see no difference between them.  These both replace the only other contender in the race, the Logitech 1100i which is a big bulky square box also discontinued (and $344!)

3.  This remote, as a programmable, allows me to create "Activities" which turn on multiple devices and control them from one remote.  Unlike my present Logitech 600 remote, it has controls which will display on a touch screen, and so I am hopeful that, like the Home Control I'm going to return, this will provide pause & play controls for devices other than the TV (which the 600 won't).

4.  Unlike the bulky 1100i, unlike the somewhat-inconvenient need to keep the iPad next to the TV and log into the Home Control remote before anything works, it looks like the 198 should allow Mrs NoCo to operate the TV.  Simple is better.

5.  One of the best features of the Home Control is the ability to program up to 50 favorite stations and choose them by clicking on a logo icon.  My present 600 only does 22, and they're not so easy to get to.  Names only, no icon.  The 198 appears to have the same system as the HC.

So we'll see.  It seems like the best option, until something better comes along (something that integrates with Comcast Cable to display a schedule, something that puts up a virtual remote for each device, something that integrates my seven devices seamlessly).

From the Logitech technical forum:

Quote :

What are the differences between Harmony touch model 915-000198 and 915-000224?

198 is the original Harmony Touch and the 224 is the Harmony Ultimate One. Both are IR remotes but can be paired with the Ultimate Hub in order to use RF and/or bluetooth. The difference in the two is the native hardware - the Ultimate One has a tilt-sensor (motion detector) and a vibration feedback mechanism (when you use the touch screen, the remote gently vibrates so you don't have to look down to verify), both of which are lacking in the orginal Harmony Touch.

NoCoPilot wrote:

5.  One of the best features of the Home Control is the ability to program up to 50 favorite stations and choose them by clicking on a logo icon.

That's really amazing. You can actually find 50 stations worth watching/listening to?

Currently I have about 35 stations identified -- movie channels, science channels, political channels, old TV, local news, Animal Planet.

Yes, when flipping channels nine times out of ten none of these channels has anything I want.

But of the 999 channels (give or take) on Comcast's menu, at least 949 of them I will never ever want to pull up. Having shortcuts to the good ones is important.

Will this fabulous new remote have the ability to automatically skip crap programs?

No, but it allows me to check them without going through 949 channels of home shopping, Christian broadcasting, Spanish-language, Philippine-language (Filipino?), sports networks, cartoon networks, government access, and so forth.

Incidentally, I ordered the new remote on Thursday afternoon, and by dinnertime I'd been notified it shipped already. Nice.

I also requested return authorization on the Home Control and got it right away. Printed out the prepaid UPS sticker and dropped the package off Friday morning at a UPS depot. So far remarkably unpainful.

Doesn't your cable box or DVR allow you to define you own channel listing?
The one on my satellite DVR has been that way for at least fifteen years.
Out of the several hundred channels, I have maybe twenty that show up on my listing.

Not to my knowledge.

My new (used) universal remote showed up today.  It still needs to be programmed for my system (it's still programmed for the last user's equipment) but he had a Samsung TV like me so I was able to confirm it works.

Needs to sit in the charging cradle for another couple of hours too.

I like the look & feel of it.

I'll work on it after my video file is safely in the producer's hands.

Grrrr. I bought a used remote (remote + charger only) because I've had a couple of Logitech Harmony remotes already and am familiar with how they work (no owner's manual req'd) and have a cable already for connecting it to the computer (to program it).

Trouble is, I couldn't find the cable.

Been a couple of years since I needed it. Had another mini-USB cable in my cablebox, and it works to charge up the remote from the computer but it is not recognized as a remote by the computer.

Went online to see if I can order an official cable; I can, and did. Looking at the picture of it though, I suddenly had a memory flash: didn't I carefully stash the cable upstairs in the drawer underneath the TV?

I did.

However, though it fits fine in my old Harmony 600 remote, the mini-USB jack is recessed in the Harmony Touch remote and the cable will not fit. Is DESIGNED not to fit, apparently (it has a weird bulge in just the wrong place.)

So, I get to wait another week. Grrr.

New cable arrived today, and it works. The reason it took so long is that it came all the way from Shenzhen Guangdong, China.

That's somewhat odd.

Not odd at all. Where do you think these things are made?
The first iPad I bought my wife was ordered on line from Apple, and it was shipped from China.

Okay, maybe not to odd so be MANUFACTURED in China.

Odd to ship directly from the factory though, maybe?

It is a bit odd that a cable would be shipped from the factory.

What kind of cable is it? Is it something that could be purchased from other than the manufacturer?

Apparently. As I have said, I have another mini-USB cable which works to charge the remote, but not to allow it to communicate with my computer. Must be a custom wiring configuration.

How would your computer know about the custom wiring?

Maybe the cable you first tried is for charging only. Those are quite common.
If it's just a normal usb to mini-usb cable, they are readily available. But if you don't have one to test, then buying as you did is probably the best route.