What an outstanding product! I have used them for close to two decades now to control my main home theater. Only using 3 different remotes over those years. Each being a major upgrade.
I know they quit offering support for them and I want to upgrade my TV but don’t want to loose my Harmony like functionality.
I don’t want to use a phone or a tablet.
Looking for a physical remote that I can push Watch TV and it will turn on the TV to the proper input, my receiver to the proper input, power on the XBOX, and allow me to program what devices are controlled by what buttons in that program sequence.
For instance when watching TV the volume controls the receiver, channel buttons the TV channels, and the arrows and programmed buttons control the XBOX.

Has anyone replicated the Harmony remotes that are worthwhile?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Black92LX,

Great question. I'm in the same boat.

I googled this about a year ago and didn't find anything I liked, so I'm curious as well.

I have Samsung TV and I just use the TV remote. Turns on TV and receiver. I just replaced my old one with a new TV and am waiting for Samsung tech support to get back to me why the remote isn't controlling the cable box like the old TV/remote did. The only additional hardware I have is an IR blaster in the closet with the equip. I think it controls the receiver via ARC and the blaster does other things.

It's possible whatever TV you get will also have that capability.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I have Samsung TV and I just use the TV remote. Turns on TV and receiver. I just replaced my old one with a new TV and am waiting for Samsung tech support to get back to me why the remote isn't controlling the cable box like the old TV/remote did. The only additional hardware I have is an IR blaster in the closet with the equip. I think it controls the receiver via ARC and the blaster does other things.

It's possible whatever TV you get will also have that capability.

This. I had a Logitech Harmony One (or whatever it was called). I had spent hours setting it up, fine tuning, placing the IR receivers just so, etc. Had it for years.

Replaced our main Samsung TV with a model that had their sleek, new (at the time) minimalist remote and after a few days learning it, I never picked up the Logitech again. It’s stupid easy to use. Sorry I can’t be of more help.

-Rob

I'm afraid the days of remotes like the Logitech Harmony are going the way of the buggy whip. There just isn't that much market for them anymore.

I replaced my upstairs and downstairs TV's and Reciever's last year. I had a similar question last fall. My 10+ year old Harmony One's ended up working fine with my new equipment. YMMV.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...990045594#7990045594

I have a Universal Remote (brand name) model MX-450. I think it’s been replaced by a newer model. Not cheap but does what you seem to want. Can be difficult to set up initially but once done, seems good-to-go. Tough on batteries though

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I have Samsung TV and I just use the TV remote. Turns on TV and receiver. I just replaced my old one with a new TV and am waiting for Samsung tech support to get back to me why the remote isn't controlling the cable box like the old TV/remote did. The only additional hardware I have is an IR blaster in the closet with the equip. I think it controls the receiver via ARC and the blaster does other things.

It's possible whatever TV you get will also have that capability.

This. I had a Logitech Harmony One (or whatever it was called). I had spent hours setting it up, fine tuning, placing the IR receivers just so, etc. Had it for years.

Replaced our main Samsung TV with a model that had their sleek, new (at the time) minimalist remote and after a few days learning it, I never picked up the Logitech again. It’s stupid easy to use. Sorry I can’t be of more help.

-Rob

Any idea if it controls the XBOX One S?

I'm assuming that it's Bluetooth for controllers? So probably not, I think it only works with IR. Haven't explored new TV much, old one could not control the PS4.

Also the functionality of the controls are limited to volume and power pretty much. If I want to change between Dolby and stereo I have to do it with receiver. With new TV the remote has been simplified, so I'm actually using the old TV remote if I want to see the cable menu or guide because it has buttons. The new TV is super limited on buttons.

I haven't played in A/V for a bit but URC remotes used to be as good as it gets.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I have Samsung TV and I just use the TV remote. Turns on TV and receiver. I just replaced my old one with a new TV and am waiting for Samsung tech support to get back to me why the remote isn't controlling the cable box like the old TV/remote did. The only additional hardware I have is an IR blaster in the closet with the equip. I think it controls the receiver via ARC and the blaster does other things.

It's possible whatever TV you get will also have that capability.

This. I had a Logitech Harmony One (or whatever it was called). I had spent hours setting it up, fine tuning, placing the IR receivers just so, etc. Had it for years.

Replaced our main Samsung TV with a model that had their sleek, new (at the time) minimalist remote and after a few days learning it, I never picked up the Logitech again. It’s stupid easy to use. Sorry I can’t be of more help.

-Rob

Any idea if it controls the XBOX One S?

That's the thing - it's just a TV remote. That's why I can't be of more help. I don't have a wide variety of components to control and when I'm playing a PS game, I just switch the source on the TV and grab the PS controller, which I obviously need to use anyway.

But I do get your love for the Harmony. Prior to the smart(er) TV, it was a PITA to use the old TV remote (and others) with 1,000 tiny buttons to perform three or four different commands to switch activities.

-Rob

I looked into this extensively a little while ago for the simple purpose of making it easier for the wife and not have to negotiate multiple remotes for various purposes

Two companies have put R&D into it but deal with whole house automation mostly. Control4 and Savant.

Universal Remote (URC) is the closest to Harmony

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Any idea if it controls the XBOX One S?

Is Xbox compatible with Samsung Smart TV?
What TVs are supported? The Xbox app currently supports select Samsung 2021 and 2022 Smart TVs and Samsung 2022 monitors via Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta).

Visit https://www.samsung.com/us/tel...r/tvs/gaming-hub/for a list of supported devices.

Link

Got new AV stuff this past Black Friday and went through a bit of agony/disappointment with my old Logitech Harmony 650s, and did a bit of learning about HDMI controls. Happy to share what I found, below.

Fail: 2022 vintage Sony with Harmony 650. The Harmony setup program accepted the model number just fine....but the Sony completely ignored the Harmony. This is a double-fail as it means just checking whether the Harmony setup program says it supports a new model doesn't necessarily mean it will work.

Win: 2022 vintage LG with Harmony 650. This works fine.

Win: 2022 vintage Sony BD player with Harmony 650. This works fine too.

Win: Xbox One X (don't recall the vintage) with Harmony 650. I've had both for several years and the Harmony 650 has never had any issues controlling it.

Other findings:
There are flavors of HDMI support* that make it possible for controls to pass back and forth between pieces of equipment, as well as video and audio. What that means in practice is that if all your stuff talks that language in the same dialect (and your HDMI cables support it) you can set your TV up to use its remote to turn on and off the other boxes, change volume on your receiver, change channels on your cable box, etc.

In other words, in that kind of setup, the TV's remote becomes the universal remote. I think that kind of electronic back-channel becoming more prevalent was one reason Logitech bailed from the universal remote business.

* What you're looking for here is called "Control for HDMI" by some makers, "Bravia Sync" by others (well, by Sony). It gets complex when you get into the details of which box talks with which box. (I even found that my Xbox One X, when it's plugged into the Sony TV, fouls up the HDMI control communication between the Sony TV and the Sony Sound Bar.)

I would take that ^^^^^ with a rather large grain of salt. E.g.: I briefly had a Sofabaton remote. It sucked. I returned it.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
I would take that ^^^^^ with a rather large grain of salt. E.g.: I briefly had a Sofabaton remote. It sucked. I returned it.

Brining back an old thread.

Which Sofabaton did you have??? Looks like they have a new better version.

My Logitech is on the fritz and I am freaking out.

Looks like the original SofaBaton was junk but they have redone it quite a bit and offer a pretty solid product now.

Think I am going to give the U2 version a go