Is there a reasonable priced remote that can “really” control all my home theater components?

Posted by admin in Friday, June 12th 2009

Lou B asked:

I have a Yamaha amplifier/tuner, a pioneer 300 disc CD player, a Tivo (first generation) DVR, 47″ Samsung HDTV, Sansui DVD/VCR Player, Comcast digital Cable Box (Motorola?) and a Microsoft Media Center Receiver. I’ve tried several “do all” remotes but there is always something that it won’t control. I know there are real expensive (Sony? at $300 to $500) remotes but I think that just too much for a “do all” remote.

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5 Comments

soaringwoodpecker said in June 13th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

Try going to Amazon.com. They have a huge selection of remotes and a wide variety of prices and a lot of them have customer ratings.

Rav D said in June 15th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

It is Harmony from logitec.Check

Wahooo said in June 16th, 2009 at 2:37 pm

Specifically look into the Harmony 520 or 550

XenonAudio said in June 18th, 2009 at 6:16 am

Try the Harmony 880. You can compare them too…
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Larry M said in June 18th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

If you’re looking to spend up to $400 then you’ve got quite a few options, but as I’m sure you’ve heard in your research the Harmony remote is the way to go. As far as what you’ve got I have similar products, and own three Harmony Remotes, each in a different room of my house. I also do training for them Nationally, so I know the products very well.

The coolest thing about a Harmony remote is that it truly will replace all of your remotes. Here’s a breakdown of how you program it and how it operates. You make a list of the products that you own (Brands and Models), then list how each device is connected to the other (inputs). Log into the programming site (included software). It will ask you’re knowledge level and walk you through the programming. Basically you tell it your model numbers for your products, and what inputs they are on for your receiver and TV. You tell it whether you want to control the volume through the stereo or your TV, then once you’ve done all that you download that information to your remote. If you want to watch a DVD, you hit Watch DVD on the remote, it will turn on your DVD, Receiver, and TV all to the correct inputs, all you do is hit play. If you want to watch TV, hit watch TV and your cable box will come on, DVD player will go off, and the receiver and TV will switch to the correct settings as well. One button for Off. And if something doesn’t operate properly when you turn it on, there is a help button that goes through a series of yes or no questions to fix the problem.

Here’s the remotes:
Harmony 670 - $150. This is their newest remote. It will control up to 15 devices. Full universal control of Tivo, Cable, etc. Runs on 2 AA batteries.

Harmony 880 - $250. This is the most popular universal remote on the market today. Does everything mentioned above, plus has a color screen which you can customize to fit your needs (for instance I made the icons bigger for my father because he had trouble seeing them, for my son, I put in his favorite channel icons, so all he has to do is hit the Nick button to watch Nickelodeon), also has a rechargeable battery, and it glows when you pick it up.

Harmony 890 - $400. Has everything mentioned above, but also has RF capabilities, meaning that you can put all of your components in a cabinet and work it from pretty much anywhere in the house.

You may also want to try and find the 659, its last year’s model of the 670, but its a great price right now at $100.

I know this was long, but I hope it helped, this is one of those products like Tivo that will change your life.