Universal Remote

Drumingman

I need a remote to control the HT system. Lots of Different brands.
Could not find anything with a search.
Any suggestions?

louhamilton

Harmony has some great models to choose from.

okiepolkie

What is your budget?

I like just about any of the Harmony remotes, especially the 880.

Mantis likes the Universal Remotes, like the MX850 and MX950.

*Seby*-Polk-

Agreed. Harmony has the better remotes i known.

Midnite Mick

I am getting a used pronto ts1000 already programmed though
I have just read this evening how much people like the harmony for its ease to program

mantis

Universal Remote Mx850, mx950 or the mighty mx3000. these are the best dollar for dollar remotes on the planet. Pronto used to be good, Harmony is ok at best but Universal I feel are the best all around.

Dan

bknauss

In my experience, Universal is best for the guys who want to spend time personalizing their remote (especially the mx3000). Harmony on the other hand is muuuuuuuuuucccccchhhhhhhh simpler to use. I'm not saying Universal isn't, but the time it would take to program a remote for all functions, macros, etc... it would be much faster with a Harmony. Harmony also has a better database of codes.

BrentMcGhee

That is what I do not like about the harmony, you are limited to the codes and customized layouts that you download from THEM. You have no control over how your remote funtions when you get a harmony.

Universal is a power user's remote. If you are okay with not having anysay about what ir codes are donwloaded for your devices or page layouts the harmony is fine becasue there is not much tinkering invloved.

However the reputation that the universl remotes are not user friendly is way off. THe unviversal remotes can be as indepth or simple as you want them to be. UNiversal would be good for the novice or the expert.

avelanchefan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&description=harmony+remote&Submit=ENE&Ntk=all&N=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

Newegg has the best prices on Harmony remotes around. I bought the 659 and you cannot find it any cheaper than 94.00 with shipping. I personally think harmony are great, and I do not understand why people are always slamming them. It turns on your TV, Receiver, DVD player all at the same time, all at the same settings of where I asked it to go to, yes the settings are limited, but I cannot fathom what kind of macros you would want to add. What more do you want a remote to do? Sure sometimes if I need to access the receivers advanced settings function it can get a little tedious, but I can access it with the remote, infact there is not a function on any of my components that I can find that the remote cannot access.

If your system is setup and calibrated the way you want then there is no reason why you would need any remote to do more. Because more than likely you will never access those features again.

mantis

What you paid for that remote is all about what it's worth. I have seen them many times and my customers trying to program them there selves only to put them on e bay and get a remote from us.

Really it's all persoanl taste, I perfer owning the best all around remote my money can buy. I also perfer to set up my own remote the way I like it. To do what I want it to do and put certain buttons in the way I see fit.
I program Universal remotes everyday and hardly ever find gear it doesn't find.

Dan

BrentMcGhee

avelanchefan wrote:

If your system is setup and calibrated the way you want then there is no reason why you would need any remote to do more. Because more than likely you will never access those features again.

A system is never setup perfectly...... i am sure that i am not alone when i say that making changes to my system is at least a weekly occurence! I/we are bever satisfied. we tweak we still find faults. We buy better gear, we still find faults, we tweak the new gear and still find faults, we then buy better gear, and the cycle continiues

Hoop

Personally, I'm going to giv Philips a try (Pronto TSU3000).

Currently I have a Sony RM-AV2500 and it just doesn't do all the things that I want it to do. Coming soon to an eBay auction near you.

BrentMcGhee

Ahhh... hoop i would prefer the harmony over the tsu3000. I have prgrammed those things a few times and was not impressed by them at all. As much as i am not a big fan of the harmony i would still rather have them over the pronto

tledoux

I've had my Philips TSU-6000 for almost 3 years now and absolutely love it. I haven't touched any of the separate device remotes since getting it. It only takes a couple of minutes add a new device. For me, it is the PERFECT remote. I just wish there was a full API available so I could write some apps for it.

cmy330go

+1 for Universal

Hoop

I forgot to mention this, but the best response to this thread is to visit www.remotecentral.com.

Tons of information about all different remotes (including Harmony, Universal, and Pronto as mentioned here). Be sure to check out the 'clicker picker'.

nebborjk

I have a Pronto TSU2000 and love it. Nearly unlimited design options, macros and devices, what's not to love. The programming software was a little tricky at first but once you get the hang of it there's nothing to it. I can add a new device from scratch in about 5 minutes or about 10 seconds if remotecentral already has one posted.

cmy330go

nebborjk wrote:

I have a Pronto TSU2000 and love it. Nearly unlimited design options, macros and devices, what's not to love........

Having to look at a touch screen every time you want to press a button.

I have a couple Prontos including the TSU2000 (both collecting dust) and you are right they are infinitely flexible, but not having plenty of hard buttons sucks.

Just my opinion.:)

nebborjk

Muscle Memory.:D

stonepimp

i just picked up a harmony 628 this morning... its a lower model than the ones from harmony mentioned earlier in the thread but i got it at almost half price. i have to admit i didn't do much research into it but the fact that i could set it up on my pc was a huge positive to me... not sure what other brands allow you to do this though.

howie777

I love my MX-800 from Universal. Thats all I have to say

Howie

EricBurg

I personally like the harmony 880, it was easy to set up and easy to use and can run everything in my theater, including the lights. My girlfriend can even use it. I actually got rid of all the buttons that can do any "adjustments" to my system, just so the GF can't screw anything up. For tweaking my system, call me crazy, but I still prefer to use all the original remotes, especially the reciever remote.

Eric

Willow

my vote is for the harmony as well I have the 659 and can't complain one bit

jruff98

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I had a question regarding the TSU 6000. I've been checking these on Ebay lately. I've noticed they have a few extra digits ehind the description, ie TSU6000/01. I assumed this was the year of production maybe? The philip's store has a ton of these (model TSU6000/99)that consistently go for 199.95, while other models go for over $300. Is this digit an indicator of something else? Whats the difference between this and model and others? Just simply age?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

nebborjk

I'd have a hard believing any of the TSU6000 are that old. But I don't know.

Lowell_M

I have the Harmony 659 and love it. I even have it programmed to set the light levels (wall sconces, bar light, overhead recessed) on my Lutron dimmers when I switch between "Watch TV" and "Watch DVD". I realize it's not really that necessary....but it's pretty cool.

DiscoMike

That is a good deal for the Pronto 6000s !!! The fraction after the model number might mean version number.

However, they have been superceeded by the 7000 and now 7500 colour models. I've had the TSU2000 then upgraded to the 3000. Even though the 3000 is a "better" model, I've found that it does not learn all of the codes on my remotes, even the simple remotes such as the logitech speaker remote are a challenge for the 3000 to even learn it, which it has never done !!! I am highly disappointed with Philips for putting out a high tech learning remote that has low learning capabilities. I do like it though for its touch screen and its macro capablilties - pressing one button can turn on or off a number of different components ! You can even set up the button layout on the PC and label them.

If you need macro capabilities, Philips is GREAT and does a decent job on learning most of my remotes. I am just surprized that it does not learn some of my simpler remotes or that it can not learn some of the buttons on my other remotes, despite keeping up with the latest firmware avaliable.

If I were to go with another remote, I would probably look into the Harmonys top level remotes, but I do not know its capabilities on macro programming.

Holydoc

I know that this thread is a bit old but..

Just bought the Harmony 880 to replace my Sony Commander touchscreen. The Sony could be programmed to do just about anything but the remote was a bit bulky and hard to understand. I needed something that was very intuitive and easy to update. From what I read about the 880, that fit the bill.

This is exactly what I found. The Harmony 880 is programmed via a website that marries up your components with the remote buttons. That part worked flawlessly. The best part about this remote is that it remembers the state of your components (whether they are ON or OFF). This is nice since the remote will only turn on the components that are necessary to do the activity (watch TV, Listen to Music, etc.) that you require.

After initial setup my new remote now controls my receiver, CD player, DVD, VCR, TV, and even my iPod in its dock. All I have to press is one button labeled "Watch TV" and my stereo comes on and sets itself to Video1, my TV comes on and sets its to Component1, and my DVR comes on. All other items including my iPod are shut-off. Quite cool.

Just my 2 cents.

unc2701

I've gotten my universal mx900 to do just about everything I want and even the woman can use it with no issues. Took me about an hour to get the programming down, then 4-5 ten minute "tweaks" as the woman found things to **** about.

okiepolkie

Over the past few months, I've programmed several Harmony remotes, as well as a couple other brands.

I had the MX 900 for a while, but just didn't care for the interface much. With a little more practice, I might get to like the Universal remotes better, but I don't know.

At the moment, I am looking at the remotes offered by www.rticorp.com

They are supposed to be very good for whole systems, and even more bulletproof than the URC remotes.

Unlike Harmony and URC, they can only be purchased and installed by a custom installer.

The good things about the RTi remotes:

- Macros are stored in a repeater block, so you press a button, then the block sends out the macros-so you don't have to keep pointing the remote towards the equipment. This can be acomplished with RF remotes, but it still leaves less for the remote to mess up.
- The sytem has an option of adding voltage sensors to check the status of each component.
- Tech support is very good, even for the end consumer

Negatives:

-High price
-Limited availability

For the most part, it isn't neccesary for people here on the forum. Most of take care of our equipment and can control it very well.

They are primarily for dedicated home theaters that don't have technophiles running the show. The T2+ has some touchscreen options, but all the necessary hard keys so you don't have to fumble with it in the dark.

As I get one programmed for a big system, I'll do a quick review to let people know how they really work.

Sherardp

Harmony 880 can be had online for a very cheap price. Look into it.