[mythtv-users] Speaking of Remotes....

[Gabe Rubin]

On Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 6:53 AM, Greg Oliver <oliver.greg at gmail.com> wrote:
> Circuit City has the Harmony One for $170 today only...
>
> http://www.circuitcity.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3547594&sku=L23-8100&SRCCODE=CCEM523BY&cm_mmc=EML-_-Main-_-CCEM523-_-circuit523
>
> Thanks

For anyone who has a Harmony 880 with the old cradles that make it
difficult to charge: although logitech won't replace the remote
(assuming you are outside the warranty period), it will be offer 50%
off to purchase a new remote.

There was a lengthy discussion here before discussing the pros and
cons of the logitech remotes.  I believe I gave my impressions, but
offer them again.

I have purchased 2 Harmony 880s and now have a Harmony One remote.
These are obviously not cheap remotes and with that price, you would
expect a high quality product.

Unfortunately, the 880 had its issues:

Several of the buttons stopped working (notably, the volume rocker;
others, including the OK button had to be pushed real hard).  The
work-around was to put volume buttons on the LCD; an inelegant
solution  for such an expensive remote, however, livable.

There were issues to charge the remote.  The original 880 I had never
charged properly unless I weighed down the remote to really get it
jammed in the cradle.  I am unclear as to why you could not charge
with the USB port (but did read that later models support charging
this way).  Eventually, the contacts on my original 880 charging part
wore off and I had to replace the remote with a new 880.  The dock on
that one worked fine; however, within a month, the LCD started acting
fluky to the point where I had to take the battery out of it and put
it in my older 880.  (I guess the better question is why I spent good
money on a remote that had already burned me once.)

I called logitech and demanded that it RMA the remote.  Logitech no
longer has the 880 so it sent me a Harmony One to replace it.  The RMA
process is actually decent.  Logitech just sends a new remote and does
not require the older one to be sent back.  I was told if I tried to
update the older remote, Logitech would brick it with its server.  I
can't confirm that as I no longer use the older 880s (they are
essentially unusable with one unable to charge and the other lacking
the LCD functionality and I have no second entertainment unit to
control).

The Harmony One is a great remote.  Much nicer layout and design than
the 880 with a touchscreen LCD.  The cradle actually works properly
and I have no issues using or charging the remote.  I essentially paid
$125 for it (that was the cost of the 880 it replaced including
shipping) and at that price, it is worth it, I guess.  I would be hard
pressed to pay much more than that, but it is the nicest remote I have
ever used.  Guests have no problem using it and I don't need to give a
tutorial on it.  You can also import channel icons for favorites, but
being as I rarely watch live tv, spending the hours to set it up is
not worth it to me.

Caveats: I understand that setting it up on a linux system is
difficult at best.  I have only used the windows software to set it
up.  Prepare to spend some time the first time you do set it up.
After that, it is easy sailing.