Universal Remote Control

[cpjames]

Hi Guys,

I know these have been talked about in the past ad-infinitum and I have had a browse around the forum for previous advice but the threads are getting old, so I thought i would ask the question seeing as there maybe new models on the market worth a look...

I am getting the universal remote control itch (Coffee table is starting to disapear) but I was looking for some advice on which to look at as there seem to be a plethora of them with different functions, pro's and cons.

Can anyone give some pointers as to which ones would be worth a look?

Many Thanks,

Chris

[chrisd]

If money's no object then this one is pretty nifty - http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=KEL-HARM885&af=50

Some might say that £150 on a remote control is a tad excessive though*.







* Not me, I got me one of them a couple of months ago :)

[Tivo_noob]

If money's no object then this one is pretty nifty - http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=KEL-HARM885&af=50

Some might say that £150 on a remote control is a tad excessive though*.







* Not me, I got me one of them a couple of months ago :)
I had one of these and although good it is nowhere near as good as the Theatre Master MX-800 which i now own. I had to buy mine from the US and got a mate to send it over gratis so it worked out about £60 all in *BARGAIN* you can get the cheaper MX-500 which i haven't used so not sure on the difference between the two?

But the MX-800 is an absolute dream to set up, especially if you are using it for loads of devices

[chrisd]

The Theatre Master MX-800 doesn't look half as cool as the 885 though.

[Tivo_noob]

The Theatre Master MX-800 doesn't look half as cool as the 885 though.

Funnily enough that is what i first thought, and after holding both i know which one i prefer, obviously it's down to personal opinion but the Harmony 885 just feels a little too plastic-y and don't even get me started on those damn connectors on the charging cradle :mad: so much as even look at the things and its off charge

[rwtomkins]

I had one of these and although good it is nowhere near as good as the Theatre Master MX-800 which i now own. I had to buy mine from the US and got a mate to send it over gratis so it worked out about £60 all in *BARGAIN* you can get the cheaper MX-500 which i haven't used so not sure on the difference between the two?

But the MX-800 is an absolute dream to set up, especially if you are using it for loads of devices

I've got the MX-500 and I'm very happy with it, but never having owned any other model, I can't make comparisons. Two things I would say, though. The set up took a long time because being a US product it it wasn't preprogrammed with many of my UK devices. Also, one thing to keep in mind is that US devices don't have the red/green/blue/yellow buttons that are used in the UK, which can be a bit of a nuisance. It means you have to use up other buttons to perform these functions.

[Pete77]

Funnily enough that is what i first thought, and after holding both i know which one i prefer, obviously it's down to personal opinion but the Harmony 885 just feels a little too plastic-y and don't even get me started on those damn connectors on the charging cradle :mad: so much as even look at the things and its off charge

I can't see how a remote you have to keep regularly on charge is an improvement.

Surely its easier just to buy a couple more Tivo remotes off Ebay and leave them kicking around for when you mislay the first one under the sofa or whatever.

The Tivo peanut only needs new batteries about once a year, which is surely far less effort.

[Tivo_noob]

I can't see how a remote you have to keep regularly on charge is an improvement.

Surely its easier just to buy a couple more Tivo remotes off Ebay and leave them kicking around for when you mislay the first one under the sofa or whatever.

The Tivo peanut only needs new batteries about once a year, which is surely far less effort.
Which is one of the reasons why i like the MX-800, it doesn't need charging, just normal batteries like the tivo remote.

The reason i bought a universal remote was because turning on/off all my devices was a job in itself ie:

One remote turn TV on, another to turn amp on then tivo to switch channels then the xbox one to watch a dvd. Now one press on the MX-800 does all these jobs at the same time, i love it and would never go back to juggling with 4-5 remotes now!

[chrisd]

I can't see how a remote you have to keep regularly on charge is an improvement.

Surely its easier just to buy a couple more Tivo remotes off Ebay and leave them kicking around for when you mislay the first one under the sofa or whatever.

The Tivo peanut only needs new batteries about once a year, which is surely far less effort.

The whole point of this thread is that the op is looking for a universal remote, not just more Tivo remotes.

As usual, you jump in with some needless comment that has absolutely nothing to do with what the op is asking. :(


Back on track, the problem with getting any kind of universal remote will be that old problem of different strokes for different folks, and you're probably just gonna have to buy one that you feel will be best suited for you and hope that you like it when it arrives. Is there anywhere around that you can go see the remotes in a shop before splashing out the cash?

Regarding the 885 having its own charging station - I find it quite useful in that I always know where it is, and it will always be fully charged as it becomes routine to put it there at the end of the night and leave it charging until the next morning.

Of course if (when, probably) the charging station breaks then I'm screwed! :eek:

[iankb]

I have an MX-500 and, while it is a bit tedious to program, I am very pleased with it once setup.

To me, it is very important that you can operate a remote by feel, especially when watching DVD's in the dark, and when operating a TiVo where you really need to watch the on-screen menus, and not the remote. For that, the buttons should have varying sizes and layouts, and have reasonable space between them. LCD-based buttons (as used on a Pronto) are a massive no-no. The TiVo remote is ideal for that, and the MX-500 is almost as good. The Harmony would not suit my criteria, since the buttons do not have well-defined edges, and they are far too close together.

[jrg]

those damn connectors on the charging cradle :mad: so much as even look at the things and its off charge

Ah! So it's not just mine that does that then?

It mightn't be so bad, if it didn't also beep every damn time! (I see some recent posts in forums elsewhere suggest that there are replacement cradles available from Logitech.)

[Pete77]

Ah! So it's not just mine that does that then?

Nope it never is just your item when an electronic product has bad design of this kind.

Its an old longstanding cyncial customer call centre person trick to always fob customers off by suggesting that they are the only person they have ever heard of who had this problem with the equipment so they must have been abusing it etc or just unlucky.

Sadly a lot of the public are very gullible so customer service people get away with such techniques about 8 times out of 10.

The washing machine manufacturer Hotpoint for instance and Rover are amongst two companies who had very good reason to try and treat their customers with this kind of active contempt! :eek:

[MrPie]

Ebuyer have the Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote for a bagain £33 if you use Google checkout....

(damm the 5 post rule - I can't post a link :-()

Not sure that it's TiVo compatible but a this price it's worth a punt.
Report back if it's any good as I fancy one too :-)

Cheers,

Pie

[mikerr]

Ebuyer have the Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote for a bagain £33 if you use Google checkout....Here's the link

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/101041

[Tivo_noob]

TBH i preferred the 525 over the 885 probably more to do with the fact that the cradle wasn't involved, anyway get a Theatre Master if you can find one, its better than both.........................am i repeating myself :D

[Tivo_noob]

I have an MX-500 and, while it is a bit tedious to program, I am very pleased with it once setup.

To me, it is very important that you can operate a remote by feel, especially when watching DVD's in the dark, and when operating a TiVo where you really need to watch the on-screen menus, and not the remote. For that, the buttons should have varying sizes and layouts, and have reasonable space between them. LCD-based buttons (as used on a Pronto) are a massive no-no. The TiVo remote is ideal for that, and the MX-500 is almost as good. The Harmony would not suit my criteria, since the buttons do not have well-defined edges, and they are far too close together.

I take it the MX-500 doesn't have a "Lights On" button where all the buttons illuminate in the dark, its just that the 800 does?

[iankb]

I take it the MX-500 doesn't have a "Lights On" button where all the buttons illuminate in the dark, its just that the 800 does?The MX-500 has illuminated buttons as well. It's just that I prefer to keep looking at the screen, and not having to keep looking at the remote; especially with the TiVo which requires a lot more button-pressing than just channel-changing.

[cleudo]

I've got the mx-500 as well. Love the rubbery feel and the well defined (as stated by Ian) keys.

Looks nice when you hit the keypad illumination bar on the side - which also gives you a clue as to when the batteries need changing (more often than I'd like, but still ok at 3-4months a set)

Would have liked the mx800 (and there's one above that isn't there? mx-1000?), but the increase in price was substantial. £60 for an mx-800 sounds like a real bargain - I paid more than that for the 500.

Can you still get these in the uk? I had to get mine from a US ebay seller.

[iankb]

Looks nice when you hit the keypad illumination bar on the side - which also gives you a clue as to when the batteries need changing (more often than I'd like, but still ok at 3-4months a set)Other people have said that battery life isn't good, but I only change my batteries every year or two. Either my button usage is below the norm, or else different revisions of the remote have different battery usage.

[cleudo]

Other people have said that battery life isn't good, but I only change my batteries every year or two. Either my button usage is below the norm, or else different revisions of the remote have different battery usage.

Possibly because mine seems to end up stuffed down the side of the settee quite often...

[teresatt]

If money's no object then this one is pretty nifty - http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=KEL-HARM885&af=50

Some might say that £150 on a remote control is a tad excessive though*.







* Not me, I got me one of them a couple of months ago :)
£150! That's nothing, I have one of these http://www.letsautomate.com/12042.cfm? :)

We do have the non colour version but the backlight went and I managed to persuade my husband that he would stand much more chance of seeing the buttons on the colour version without his glasses. The Pronto RU990 is a gorgeous remote and has enough hard buttons to make navigating through TiVo menus quite easy. If you have a complex home entertainment system, I think that nothing can beat a fully customisable LCD remote. There is just no way that we could find a remote with mostly hard buttons that we could use remembering what all the buttons do. I can programme my Pronto with lots of macros and very specifically labeled buttons to help all of our family in how to operate all aspects of our home entertainment system.

It's pretty much a personal thing as to whether you prefer mostly hard buttons or mostly LCD buttons and whether you have the time and patience to programme an LCD remote. For my family, I don't think we could find another remote to replace the Pronto, and I did look very hard when the backlight went on our Pronto RU950 as I did not want to spend £600 on a replacement remote. (My RU950 was out of warranty and a repair was very expensive and I didn't want another one as the backlight problem is a very common one.)

I've spent many, many happy hours over the years programming my Prontos and I'm probably completely mad, but at least my family all know how to operate everything.

If you like the idea of being able to customise your remote as much as you possibly can (and you've got silly amounts of money to spare), then I'd recommend a Pronto.

[mikerr]

If you're going to spend that sort of money, an ipaq pda might be a good plan too,
then you could use tivoweb from the remote as well :)

My old 2210 has great long distance IR, not sure about newer models.

[teresatt]

I've used my HP Jornada 568 and my HP hx4700 pocket PCs as backup remotes while my Pronto is charging. I even imported my Pronto ccf configuration files to them but Pocket PCs are no substitute for a dedicated remote. The Pronto has much stronger IR and more hard buttons and is physically easier to hold and use as a remote. My family prefers the Pronto to a Pocket PC.

It's all a matter of personal preference and whether you're mad enough to spend so much money on a remote.

[iankb]

I had a mono Pronto, but hardly ever used it. It had frustratingly poor contrast, few buttons per screen, slow to navigate (since you had to find out which screen you were on before you could navigate within it, or from it), and the screen was not that sensitive to even firm presses. For me, a total waste of money.

To a certain extent, it probably depends on how good your eyesight is and, if not, whether you are wearing the right glasses at the time. A colour screen would obviously help.

However, my preference will always be for a larger number of feelable hard buttons. I see a touch-sensitive screen as being a questionable triumph for form over function, when that screen is not the one that you see the results of your remote operation on. Think how much longer it would take for you to operate your computer if you had to look away from the screen to your mouse every time that you wanted to select a mouse button.

In the end, it's the number of button operations required to operate the TiVo during the day that makes the extra effort required to operate via a Pronto unacceptable to me.

Prontos are a bit like Marmite; you either love them or hate them. If you haven't tried a Pronto, you should think twice before spending several hundred pounds on one.

[cpjames]

Thanks as always for all the advice chaps.. I plumped for the Harmony 525 in the end ... I'll post a review as soon as its all set up :-)

Thanks Mr Pie ;-) for the advice re: google checkout think that was pretty much the best price anywhere.. I owe you a pint.

Chris

[teresatt]

I had a mono Pronto, but hardly ever used it. It had frustratingly poor contrast, few buttons per screen, slow to navigate (since you had to find out which screen you were on before you could navigate within it, or from it), and the screen was not that sensitive to even firm presses. For me, a total waste of money.

To a certain extent, it probably depends on how good your eyesight is and, if not, whether you are wearing the right glasses at the time. A colour screen would obviously help.

However, my preference will always be for a larger number of feelable hard buttons. I see a touch-sensitive screen as being a questionable triumph for form over function, when that screen is not the one that you see the results of your remote operation on. Think how much longer it would take for you to operate your computer if you had to look away from the screen to your mouse every time that you wanted to select a mouse button.

In the end, it's the number of button operations required to operate the TiVo during the day that makes the extra effort required to operate via a Pronto unacceptable to me.

Prontos are a bit like Marmite; you either love them or hate them. If you haven't tried a Pronto, you should think twice before spending several hundred pounds on one.

Ian, you've obviously not used a more recent Pronto. There are enough hard buttons on the Pronto to easily do most day to day tasks on the TiVo without having to use LCD buttons. I can go to Now Playing, select and play a recording using only hard buttons, and that's including page up and down through the list of recordings. Then I also have enough hard buttons to pause, fast forward and replay.

The LCD screens come into their own for all the lesser used functions that we would never remember with a hard button based remote. We use a Topfield Freeview PVR as our backup PVR and it's own remote is a nightmare to use, especially if you install extra TAPS such as MyStuff which give the hard buttons different functions. I find it very difficult to operate my Topfield using it's own remote whereas I have programmed very specific buttons on the Pronto so that I don't have to remember which button does what. If I used the Topfield all the time, I'd probably find it's own remote easier to use.

However, it certainly is a personal thing and for me full customisability far out weighs the draw backs. I certainly agree that it's important to use an LCD based remote before buying one. The other big draw back for many people is the time it can take to programme it. I'm a bit of a geek and love carefully crafting my LCD screens and getting everything just right.

[cpjames]

Hi Guys,

As promised I thought I would post a quick reply now that I have set up the Harmony 525.

Pleased with the remote now that it is setup. As other reviews have mentioned the web based setup software is not the best however once I made sense of the rather non-intuitive interface I found it to be ok. Took a little while and some tweaking to set up all my devices and activities but was worth spending some time doing the tweaking to get it all working just as i want it

Nearly all my devices were on the logitech database which made the setup alot quicker. However in a couple of instances it seems to generalise. For example I have a Philips Streamium SLM5500 which allows me to stream content (Movies/Music/Pictures) from my PC in my office to the TV in the lounge. The database didnt have this particular device but had one of the other streamium devices which it subsituted. This gave me mos of the commands but i had to get it to learn a couple from the remote.

The activities work well. For example If I want to watch a film streamed via the Streamium I have to:

Switch the TV on and set it to AV2
Switch the surround sound amp on and switch it to line 2
Switch the streamium on.

This was a show stopper for my wife who isnt very technically minded and used to get as far as switch the tv on... (no offence darling :-))

Now she can just press activities -> Digital/Music Video and the remote sets it all up.

I appreciate that alot of the other remotes do this kind of thing and alot more and I did consider a pronto or similar but for my purposes it works very well and only cost £33 (ebuyer with google checkout)

So I am generally pretty pleased with it... the build of the remote is ok but not amazing but for the money I cant really complain.... and it looks nice IMO.. and lights up blue when you press a button :-)

If anyone is thinking about one of these and has any questions feel free to e-mail.

Cheers,

Chris

[steford]

Another vote for the MX-500 here. Imported it 5 years ago - set it up once and it's still going strong. Batteries died on me once while on holiday - I assumed I'd lost all the settings but it was fine. Not an issue with it being a US model with US codes as it's easier and makes more sense to program individual buttons anyway - that way it works how you want it to and can be kept simple and clean. So, for example, I have an "AMP>" button programmed on each device screen and so can switch the audio over by hitting the "AMP>" button at any time.

[iankb]

I use macros with my MX-500, but occasionally forget to keep the remote pointed in the right direction until the complete macro is transmitted. I end up with the TV on, but the amp not. Press it again, and the amp toggles on, and the TV toggles off. :o

[KiNeL]

Glad you've found a solution that works for you.

Does it control the TiVo properly and crucially, can it handle two ?

[cyril]

Glad you've found a solution that works for you.

Does it control the TiVo properly and crucially, can it handle two ?
My old Mx-500 handled 9 TiVos.

I've upgraded to an MX-950 which can handle 255 TiVos, which is a happy medium between a long hard-buttoned remote and a pronto-style LCD heavy remote.
Bargain at only £200 -it used to be £450 2 years ago..

Tempted by the new Rti-t2c colour remote though!
http://www.remoteshoppe.com/index.php?itemid=517
£450 though!

The mx980 with colour screen is out now as well.
http://www.remoteshoppe.com/index.php?catid=22&blogid=1

[ruperte]

Glad you've found a solution that works for you.

Does it control the TiVo properly and crucially, can it handle two ?

I've got the Logitech Harmony 668 and 2 Tivo's and provided you look at the post below, yes it works just fine :)

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4864113&&#post4864113

[Pete77]

Cyril,

One hesitates to ask what line of employment you are in but can we take it that it must be something appropriately remunerative in order to allow you to always be think of yet further new ways to spend some of that cash on the very latest items of electronic technology.

[tivosoon]

Are there any recommendations for something simpler? My TiVo's silver peanut is giving up the ghost, and now that I have a TV with a remote control, and (oooh) a DVD player, I'm thinking about a universal remote rather than a replacement peanut.

I don't have a complicated home theatre setup; I've got a cheap TV, an old TiVo, and a DVD player. I can handle switching the telly to the appropriate channel when playing the Wii or DVD, and I never managed to get the TiVo remote to adjust the TV volume anyway. So I'm not looking for something that can handle complicated chains of macros or anything like that. But since I've got to get a new remote anyway, I'd be interested in cutting down to one control rather than three.

But since we use the TiVo remote far more than anything else, it would be essential that a universal replacement is as easy to use as a TiVo remote. I guess that mainly means a simple replacement for the TiVo button, page up/down, select etc (we don't use the thumb buttons); and for the Aux and VCR buttons.

Do I need to go to one of these super-programmable things with screens? Or will one of the basic ones with a load of buttons work with TiVo - and if so, which do people recommend?

[Pete77]

Do I need to go to one of these super-programmable things with screens? Or will one of the basic ones with a load of buttons work with TiVo - and if so, which do people recommend?

The Tivo Glo remote is likely to also control your tv volume and should be able to be programmed to turn on and off your DVD player.

Personally I would not like to use a generic Universal remote as the Tivo remote seems especially well designed for the task at hand.

Just how often do you use the DVD player. Not very often I suspect.

[Maclynn]

I use rechargeable batteries in the MX-500 and an MX-850 which is similar but is RF capable and is computer set up, which work well.
I also have a couple of Harmony remotes which are OK on a simple system but need the help button to often on a complicated system even when well set up.
I personally prefer the MX remotes.

[Milhouse]

Are there any recommendations for something simpler? My TiVo's silver peanut is giving up the ghost, and now that I have a TV with a remote control, and (oooh) a DVD player, I'm thinking about a universal remote rather than a replacement peanut.


I'd suggest you consider the new Harmony One which can be had for just over £100 on the street - it's incredibly versatile, works perfectly with the TiVo and is almost (but not quite) as ergonomicly friendly as the peanut (though it is still very comfortable to use with all the essential hard buttons in the right places). However, it does require a PC or Mac with a USB port in order to program it (you can add the UK TiVo from the Harmony database using device model PVR-10UK and all buttons will be automatically setup).

http://www.remoteshoppe.com/index.php?catid=25

[laurence@key2.co]

I have had a logitech harmony 885 for about a year. It's dead clever and easy to program via usb. I got it because I wanted to be able to control the tivo from elsewhere so I wanted another remote. It's hard to fault it and it can do everything - but it's just not as easy to use as the original remote - so it's now residing in a drawer. I bought a second tivo remote instead (which was much cheaper too).
Perhaps if I'd persevered, I'd have got more familiar with the logitech, but I got bored of having to look down at it. If I had to use a universal, I'd still go for a harmony. Prontos are even more fantastic, but too expensive for me!

[Milhouse]

The location and positioning of the transport control buttons on the Harmony 885 is poor IMHO and put me off buying it, however on the Harmony One they've done a much better job and it's actually pretty comfortable to use with a TiVo. The Peanut is perhaps worthy of the description "Design Classic" but I think Logitech have come close with the Harmony One.

Apparently Logitech designed the Harmony One based on user feedback and I think it shows, although the only obvious feature it lacks is the red/blue/green/yellow "teletext" hard buttons, not that these are a requirement for TiVo but Sky+ owners are pretty p1ssed even though the missing hard buttons can be added to the LCD touchscreen.