Is Harmony's new 1000 remote a good alternative to AMX and Crestron?

[kennyt]

New remote should be here in a few days. Harmony CS seemed to be pretty busy but as always they were prompt and courteous once you got them on the line. It's nice that a company of this size can and does actually seem to care about it's customers.

[kennyt]

Uh OH....

New remote came the other day, it didn't work either... on any computer I tried it on. I reinstalled the Harmony remote software and low and behold, they both work now.....

Me bad!

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by kennyt

I still am using this remote almost daily and must say, for those of us not able/willing to shell out the $$ for the upper level controllers, it is! In all my use of this remote, I have only had one glitch that required me to remove the battery from the remote to let it reboot. Otherwise it has performed flawlessly, and I can't say enough good things about the Harmony software interface. Changing components out is a breeze and customizing the remote is equally simple. Try that with you Crestron or AMX gear!!!

For me, who lives in a house built in 1988, the idea of running wire through all the walls to add solid automation is insane, so I don't need most of the features the AMX or Crestron or Control 4 offer, this is clearly the way to go! FWIW I was reading the new smarthome catalog last night, and if I wanted to, I could easily automate my home with this remote, so long as I was willing to swap out all the switches in the house. This would be at least an order of magnitude cheaper than hardwiring and don't for get I still wouldn't need the high end remote!

Ken, isn't part of Control4's whole idea that they use wireless devices so you can automate lighting, etc. without pulling new wires?

[kennyt]

Lotus,

You are correct, bad example on my part.

I spoke with the head designers and tech guys from Harmony to discuss my problems with the remote, actually more criticisms like not being able to customize the screens and change labels on many buttons. All this could very easily be done with some reworking of their software but alas they have no intention of doing this.

I also asked about the possibility of an RF receiver that will control components via RS 232, and they again have no intention of making it (at least this is the current party line). Too bad as if they did these two things, the Harmony remotes would be over the top the best reasonably priced remotes. Universal Remote Control already has an RF to RS 232 box and several levels of remotes to work with it.

While I still love the Harmony remotes and truly believe there are none easier to program, that simplicity also limits their utility.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by kennyt

Lotus,

You are correct, bad example on my part.

I spoke with the head designers and tech guys from Harmony to discuss my problems with the remote, actually more criticisms like not being able to customize the screens and change labels on many buttons. All this could very easily be done with some reworking of their software but alas they have no intention of doing this.

I also asked about the possibility of an RF receiver that will control components via RS 232, and they again have no intention of making it (at least this is the current party line). Too bad as if they did these two things, the Harmony remotes would be over the top the best reasonably priced remotes. Universal Remote Control already has an RF to RS 232 box and several levels of remotes to work with it.

While I still love the Harmony remotes and truly believe there are none easier to program, that simplicity also limits their utility.

It's a conspiracy to keep people paying too much money for Crestron.

While I love Crestron and it's capabilities it is way too expensive for 98% of the people out there.

[kennyt]

The longer I use my Harmony 1000 remote the less enchanted I am with it. It requires occasion reboots as it locks up from time to time, is so flippin' bright it's annoying to watch TV @ night with, and the minimal hard buttons have begun to try my patients even on my relatively simple BR system that is a plasma, receiver, DVD and Blu-ray player and cable box. If my 880 did RF, I would have replaced this already.