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mattchapman · 2011-11-15, 22:58

I have $150 to spend on a universal remote and would like advice on which to get.

Requirements:
- Must control XBMC (running Win 7 x64). I already have eHome receiver which came with my MediaGate IR-02
- Must control Comcast cable box
- Must control Samsung LCD TV
- Must control Onkyo receiver
- Needs to be snappy (no lag issues)
- Wife friendly!

I'm guessing I should go Logitech Harmony but not sure which one.

Thanks!

**Chris!** · 2011-11-16, 00:33

The 300i would work (I have it - it's good):
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-3...241&sr=8-1

Depends what you want from the remote other than being able to control 4 things and snappy.

Logitech harmony's are going to be the way to go just give the line a quick look over

mattchapman · 2011-11-16, 02:51

Thanks.

So what do the $100+ ones give me that this $30 remote doesn't?

I see some of them have the touchscreen which sounds like an expensive gimmick.

dsimages · 2011-11-16, 03:12

My vote is for the harmony one. It all depends on the amount of devices you are controlling and money you want to spend. The higher end remotes will control twice to three times as many devices. For me, the charging station is priceless.

mattchapman · 2011-11-16, 05:29

dsimages Wrote:My vote is for the harmony one. It all depends on the amount of devices you are controlling and money you want to spend. The higher end remotes will control twice to three times as many devices. For me, the charging station is priceless.

Actually the charging station is putting me off. Just another piece of plastic in the living room I don't need. Prefer to use rechargeable AA batteries.

Chill · 2011-11-16, 06:03

+1 Harmony One. Wife Friendly, controls xbmc, my samsung, yamaha dsp, samsung bluray, pana dvd, xbox, etc

jhsrennie · 2011-11-16, 10:43

I have the Harmony 300 (very similar to the 300i) and I'm very pleased with it, but ...

All Harmony remotes give very slow response with eHome receivers unless you tweak the inter-key delay setting. The 300 and 300i can't change this setting and as a result are virtually unusable with eHome receivers. I use an ORtek receiver with my 300; I did try a Microsoft receiver but the slow response was just too painful.

This aside, if you just want the basic functionality and four devices I think the entry level Harmony remotes are just fine. The more expensive ones at extra goodies like activity buttons, where one button can do lots of things.

JR

MartijnGP · 2011-11-16, 12:00

If you're willing to fiddle around with EventGhost and an IR blaster, you can control any hardware. More work, but it allows for more flexibility and a greater choice of remotes.

taalas · 2011-11-16, 15:10

I know this will probably get all Harmony users angry but I have had Harmony's and wasn't very happy with them. Especially the fact that you have to program them using Logitech's crappy web-interfaced-desktop-program-which-takes-100-clicks-to-do-simple-reordering ruined them for me. I am now using one of Philips' Prestigo remotes (with hardware and software buttons) and I wouldn't want to go back.

mattchapman · 2011-11-16, 19:04

jhsrennie Wrote:I have the Harmony 300 (very similar to the 300i) and I'm very pleased with it, but ...

All Harmony remotes give very slow response with eHome receivers unless you tweak the inter-key delay setting. The 300 and 300i can't change this setting and as a result are virtually unusable with eHome receivers. I use an ORtek receiver with my 300; I did try a Microsoft receiver but the slow response was just too painful.

This aside, if you just want the basic functionality and four devices I think the entry level Harmony remotes are just fine. The more expensive ones at extra goodies like activity buttons, where one button can do lots of things.

JR

Thanks JR
Can you please direct me to the ORtek receiver you are using?
The price of the 300i is tempting but sounds like the lag with the ehome receiver would drive me crazy.

**Chris!** · 2011-11-16, 19:13

I tried a few receivers but the best one i've found is FLIRC, I programmed my 300i to emulate a tv and then programmed flic to keyboard commands.
(As flirc takes the annoying lirc out of remote receivers and appears to the host machine as a usb keyboard)

A portion of FLIRC sales goes to cancer research and the developer seems really nice.

jhsrennie · 2011-11-16, 19:36

mattchapman Wrote:Thanks JR
Can you please direct me to the ORtek receiver you are using?
The price of the 300i is tempting but sounds like the lag with the ehome receiver would drive me crazy.

You're unlikely to be able to buy just the receiver so you'll need to buy a handset/receiver combo. Also, though ORtek make the remote it's almost always rebadged as something else so searching on eBay for ORtek won't help. Just search the remote controls section on ebay for remotes that look like http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Remote_Contr...s#VRC-1100

You don't say where you live, and hence which ebay site you'd use, but if you're in the UK look at http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/PC-Remote-Cont...086/i.html and you'll find lots of ORtek remotes. An example is http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220839268649

JR

mattchapman · 2011-11-16, 19:39

jhsrennie Wrote:You're unlikely to be able to buy just the receiver so you'll need to buy a handset/receiver combo. Also, though ORtek make the remote it's almost always rebadged as something else so searching on eBay for ORtek won't help. Just search the remote controls section on ebay for remotes that look like http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Remote_Contr...s#VRC-1100

You don't say where you live, and hence which ebay site you'd use, but if you're in the UK look at http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/PC-Remote-Cont...086/i.html and you'll find lots of ORtek remotes. An example is http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220839268649

JR

Thanks. I'm in the US so I'll try to find it there.

Have you been able to properly set up the Info button to work properly (circumvent the right mouse click)? If not, that may be a showstopper for me.

outatouch0 · 2011-11-17, 20:30

Opinions vary among remotes. I went with a Harmony 600 series because I love the backlight style of remotes ($60'ish on amazon).
The 300i is a cheap entry level model. If you experience button lag it has not adjustment so you are stuck. The higher level Harmonies have an adjustment option for lag so no worries (see some of the threads in the hardware section).
Harmonies, just like several other remote options need to be set up properly for them to work properly. Most of the threads on setting them up are dated and now the setup is really uncomplicated. Download the software, add your devices. Set your activies, set your button commands. Anything you have a remote for you point it at the back of the Harmony and its done.

mattchapman · 2011-11-17, 21:39

outatouch0 Wrote:Opinions vary among remotes. I went with a Harmony 600 series because I love the backlight style of remotes ($60'ish on amazon).
The 300i is a cheap entry level model. If you experience button lag it has not adjustment so you are stuck. The higher level Harmonies have an adjustment option for lag so no worries (see some of the threads in the hardware section).
Harmonies, just like several other remote options need to be set up properly for them to work properly. Most of the threads on setting them up are dated and now the setup is really uncomplicated. Download the software, add your devices. Set your activies, set your button commands. Anything you have a remote for you point it at the back of the Harmony and its done.

Ok thanks. I have my eye on the Harmony 700 (about $90) and understand I can change the inter-key delay to avoid lag issues.