No more Logitech Harmony

[Ltnman]

Those with home theatres will often use a Logitech Harmony remote to control everything including smart home automation and lighting. I myself have been using the same remote control for around 10 years as it is the only way the family can get the TV, AV receiver and Sky Q to sinc up and then say watch a Blu-ray.

I have now read the Harmony is no more so I have bought another Harmony as a replacement while I can in the hope that Logitech servers will run for a few more years for any alterations to equipment.

Does anyone have an alternate remote that is as comprehensive as the Harmony or will it be a case that I will have to go back to 5 remotes one day?

 

[Lucid]

I've been a designer / programmer / installer / dealer for various touch-screen remotes since the first days of the Philips Pronto going back to the late 90s. I remember seeing the Harmony prototype at a trade show in 2000 I think. I was quite excited about it because of the form factor and what they were talking about as the way it would program. What only became clear when the product launched was how nailed down that had to keep the programming side of things and how the remote would only operate in certain ways in order for their support mechanism to work. Still, it was a big step up for a lot of enthusiasts.

The closest of any new remote range to Harmony is probably the URC Complete Control Range. Complete Control Automation | URC Automation (urc-automation.com) The only caveat is that the software to programme the remotes isn't generally available to end users.

There's some interesting stuff in the used market though. The last generation of Prontos offer far more programming flexibility , not to mention bigger screens with touch control. The software will run on Win 10. Have a look at TSU9400 and TSU9600.

 

[Ltnman]

Well after a couple of days of tinkering I got my new Harmony Elite set up perfectly. In fact it ended up being almost identically set up as my original one. I can now see the perfect sense of using a hub to capture the remote control signals as the remote can now be pointed in any direction.

I can’t though set up a working sequence to get the Sky Q box to switch to Netflix with a single button press. The sequence is home, then 10 commands of the down arrow and then 2 commands of the right arrow. Sometimes it works and sometimes it ends up at another option. Even putting in delays at each command makes no difference.