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View Full Version : New York Times: When Three Remotes Are Better Than One


Jason Dunn
05-03-2006, 11:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/01/technology/01drill.html?ex=1304136000&en=68e87a55dd1dfa68&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss' target='_blank'>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/01/technology/01drill.html?ex=1304136000&en=68e87a55dd1dfa68&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Almost half of households in the United States have three or more remote controls, according to a Web-based study conducted by JupiterResearch, a market research firm. But only a tenth of the households surveyed had universal remotes, which can single-handedly control many different devices High- and low-end universal remotes have failed to catch on for different reasons, according to Michael Gartenberg, a director at JupiterResearch. The cheaper models cannot communicate with many devices. And the high-end units, which sometimes have their own L.C.D. displays and can perform functions like dimming the lights, are hard to set up, he said."</i><br /><br />I can certainly sympathize with this article - I have, let's see here, remote controls for my TV, amp, DVD player, Xbox 360, and cable box. So that's five. Last year I dropped $300 or so on a Logitech Harmony Universal Remote (they wouldn't even respond to my email requesting a review unit) - I had it set up and working for a while, though switching inputs on the TV was something I was never able to automate and the input selector was buried six levels deep (I kid you not). The remote eventually died, and Logitech sent me a new one. That was six months ago, and I haven't set it up yet - I found the process too mind-numbing. On the surface, the Harmony remotes seem fantastic - you get a cool remote, program it via a slick Web-based interface, and you're golden right? Not for me - I found the Web site configuration to be utterly baffling, and could find no way to move my input selector up to the top level, or to automate it properly.<br /><br />It's stunning that the consumer electronics industry hasn't solved this problem properly yet. What about you? What's your remote control situation?

Mike Temporale
05-03-2006, 11:40 PM
Oh man, it's a mess of remotes here. I've got one for my TV, Media Center, Amp, and then there is the Kids TV, and the Kids DVD/VCR. (read the adults old TV and DVD ;) )

Anyway, I looked into one of those Philips universal programable remotes. It's pretty cool and lets you set the location of the button for each remote and all these fancy features, but in the end I figured it wasn't worth the time/money/effort.

ctmagnus
05-04-2006, 01:21 AM
I picked up a Harmony remote a month or so ago for $70 during one of Dell's deals. While it has replaced four remotes for day-to-day activities, there are some things that it cannot do, such as getting into the menu on our TV to reprogram it. Thankfully, that's only necessary if the power's been off for a while so the other remotes have been shelved since I got the Harmony.

Brendan Goetz
05-04-2006, 03:04 AM
I have a harmony 880 and I love it. It was a bit of a hassle to set up, but once I got it going, I haven't really looked back.

On thing I did was add buttons on the screen to control my TV inputs directly, no matter what device I’m on. If that makes any sense.

jmtc.

Philip Colmer
05-04-2006, 12:18 PM
I've got a Philips Pronto colour remote. It takes a bit of effort to design the pages, program the buttons, etc, etc, but it is really worth it in the end - you get the precise remote layout that you want.

More at http://www.remotecentral.com/ if anyone is interested. They've got lots of user contributed designs, remote codes (so you don't have to capture your own remote buttons), etc.

--Philip

stephman
05-04-2006, 02:36 PM
I have a harmony 880 and I love it. It was a bit of a hassle to set up, but once I got it going, I haven't really looked back.

On thing I did was add buttons on the screen to control my TV inputs directly, no matter what device I’m on. If that makes any sense.

jmtc.
It makes total sense, I own a 880 as well.
The web setup for the remote can be very easy AND it can be a pain as well.

Jason, it's easy to setup your new remote. Since you already setup your old one that broke, you can connect the new one to Logitech's site and upload your old settings to the new remote.

Neil Enns
05-04-2006, 03:52 PM
I have a Harmony as well, and it replaced two remotes. The way I see it the problem isn't with the universal remotes, it's with the units it tries to control.

There are so many units that weren't designed with a universal remote in mind. My DVD player, which also does 5.1 sound and handles all the audio in my setup, has no way of selecting the audio input directly. You can only do "next input". The Harmony does its best to remember what setting the DVD is on, but if any IR bursts get missed by the DVD player things get out of sync.

I wonder if we'll ever see a universal IR standard for devices. Ha!

Neil

emmfan
05-04-2006, 07:39 PM
I got the Universal Remote URC-200 (http://www.universalremote.com/urc/urc200/main.html) a couple of years ago after we got our LCD television. My receiver didn't have digital video out, so I figured that was a good time (excuse) to get a universal remote so that I could setup macros to control the LCD and the receiver when selecting different inputs which I had routed the video directly. I've since added two Tivos and the remote is working great. Everything is programmed through the remote. Even my 5 year old can work the remote, better than some adults :)