Any experience with Harmony 880 remote?

[cozmik]

Hey guys! I was just wondering if anyone had experience with the Logitech Harmony 880 remote control? I was origonally thinking about the Philips RC9800i, but after looking into the Harmony a little, I think it might be a better choice for what I am looking for.

Anyone have comments as to either remote? Though the Philips has an assload of neat features on it, I don't think I'd ever use them, and it's gotten some pretty average reviews too. Their Pronto was always pretty powerful, but I'm not in a position to buy a real one, and the Pronto Neo I've decided after 2 of them, is junk. The main advantage I see to the Harmony are the hard buttons. What I don't know about it though is if I can create soft buttons with the screen like I can with the Philips to fill in for specialty buttons on my OEM remotes. If anyone has personal experience with either or both, I'd love to hear about it!


Thanks guys!

 

[provenlogic]

I have 3 harmony remotes in my home, a 676 for the living room and too 520s for my bedroom and office. Harmonys are the best remotes out there period. There's nothing they can't do. I recommend getting the harmony.

 

[cozmik]

Thanks for the input guys! It sounds like it should do what I'm looking for.

I wasn't planning on ordering this soon, but my rebate from Cingular came in today, so I went ahead and ordered the Harmony 880. We'll see what this puppy can do!

 

[provenlogic]

Thanks for the input guys! It sounds like it should do what I'm looking for.

I wasn't planning on ordering this soon, but my rebate from Cingular came in today, so I went ahead and ordered the Harmony 880. We'll see what this puppy can do!

I can tell you what it can do, everything . The activity buttons are a godsend. No more pressing "cable" "input input" "TV" "volume up" "DVD" "Power" "open" etc... etc... All you do is press "watch DVD" and the rest is done automatically. And all those buttons that are unique to your hardware, but not on your universal remote, can be programmed to your Harmony, and you can even label the buttons on your remote via the LCD screen on the remote. it's awesome.

 

[cozmik]

I can tell you what it can do, everything . The activity buttons are a godsend. No more pressing "cable" "input input" "TV" "volume up" "DVD" "Power" "open" etc... etc... All you do is press "watch DVD" and the rest is done automatically. And all those buttons that are unique to your hardware, but not on your universal remote, can be programmed to your Harmony, and you can even label the buttons on your remote via the LCD screen on the remote. it's awesome.

That's exactly what I needed it to do!

I got it for a pretty swell price too.

 

[provenlogic]

Yep you'll like it. Now you have to set it all up the first time to do the activities correctly. Meaning u'll need to tell it what to do when you're setting it up, but after that it can do it all behind the scenes. Setup is simple tho, the remote will come with a USB cable and computer software. You'll install the software on your computer, and use the cable to connect the remote to your computer. Then setup will launch and guide you through the rest (setup for the remote is done via your PC/Mac), and once you've set things up the way you want, it will update the information to the remote.

 

[cozmik]

I just want to say that I've spent the last 4 hours trying to set this blasted thing up, and I'm still working on it. I also now have a ticket in for a call back from Level 2 support.

 

[provenlogic]

I just want to say that I've spent the last 4 hours trying to set this blasted thing up, and I'm still working on it. I also now have a ticket in for a call back from Level 2 support.

Oy, what's going wrong?? What's the hang up, this should be a very simple 10-15 minute process.

 

[cozmik]

Oy, what's going wrong?? What's the hang up, this should be a very simple 10-15 minute process.

It doesn't understand how turn on and off my preamp/processor or how to change inputs on my TV. I could honestly fix both if I could manually edit the macros it creates, but there is no way to do that. Also, I've had to reconfigure the hard buttons on almost all the activities, because on most of them, it didn't place any commands there. Additionally, it has created pages of soft keys for my devices when the keys don't actually exist, so I have to scroll through pages of nonexistent commands to get to the ones that actually do something.

Still waiting for Level 2 to call.

 

[provenlogic]

It doesn't understand how turn on and off my preamp/processor or how to change inputs on my TV. I could honestly fix both if I could manually edit the macros it creates, but there is no way to do that. Also, I've had to reconfigure the hard buttons on almost all the activities, because on most of them, it didn't place any commands there. Additionally, it has created pages of soft keys for my devices when the keys don't actually exist, so I have to scroll through pages of nonexistent commands to get to the ones that actually do something.

Still waiting for Level 2 to call.

First off, there are 100's of (secret) IR commands your TV will respond too that don't have buttons on your stock remote, harmony knows this, and uses them.

First off, i assume your added all the devices you have in your setup?

Secondly, create an activity, like watch a dvd. The wizard will ask you what input does your TV need to be on, What input does your audio converter need to be on, etc.. tell it the correct info, it will handle the rest.

Then go to customize buttons. Delete all the Extra buttons you don't want to use. Harmony doesn't use macros at all, it sends the shortcut IR commands directly to your TV, i.e. normally you would hit "input input input" to go to input 3, but your TV really has an IR command that sets it directly to input 3, but it doesn't necessarily have a corrisponding button on your stock remote. When harmony switches to the input, it doesn't use a "input input input" macro, it simply sends the 'secret" Input3 command.



Why don't you tell me step by step what you're doing to set it up? Or if you're feeling adventurous, set up a second harmony account, add your devices, but don't make any activities, and if you let me log in to that 2nd account, i can make an activity for you, so you can see how to do it.

 

[cozmik]

Harmony, on my TV, hit's input input input. Those codes aren't available for all TVs. And it does use macros, that's how the whole script is carried out. That said, i did everything like you're supposed to, with activities and all. The problem is this device tried to think too much, and isn't smart enough to do so.

I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with level 2 support. Things are working okay now. Still reassigning buttons and other tweaks. We'll see what happens.

 

[provenlogic]

Harmony, on my TV, hit's input input input. Those codes aren't available for all TVs. And it does use macros, that's how the whole script is carried out. That said, i did everything like you're supposed to, with activities and all. The problem is this device tried to think too much, and isn't smart enough to do so.

I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with level 2 support. Things are working okay now. Still reassigning buttons and other tweaks. We'll see what happens.

Let me know if you need any more help

 

[cozmik]

Thanks for you help thus far man. My biggest issue is probably that I'm used to the Pronto, where I can customize it to my hearts desire. I can't do that with this.

 

[provenlogic]

Thanks for you help thus far man. My biggest issue is probably that I'm used to the Pronto, where I can customize it to my hearts desire. I can't do that with this.

Yes you can, it's just different. It's not a JP1 remote, you just have to retrain your way of thinking when it comes to universal remotes . Good Luck.