Your Universal Remote Control Center
RemoteCentral.com
Harmony Remote Controls Forum - View Post
Previous section Next section Up level
Up level
The following page was printed from RemoteCentral.com:

Login:
Pass:
 
 

Topic:
Some questions on the Harmony
This thread has 4 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Wednesday January 23, 2002 at 17:13
www.RRDeals.com
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
July 2001
568
I'm interested in learning about this remote, and was hoping someone here would answer some questions for me, that others may also have. I apologize if I seem critical, but I feel like I'm missing something.

1) The basic concept of the Harmony is that it performs many tasks with a single 'click'. Hence, few buttons and activity-driven control. (Such as, WATCH DVD or whatever, would enact a macro to set up all of your equipment to watch a DVD).

My question - what advantages does the Harmony have over any macro-capable remote in this respect?

2) With the advent of the PVR and the connection we've found between Tivo/ReplayTV/UltimateTV ownership and the desire to find a nice all-in-one remote solution, how necessary (or desireable) is it to have TV listings on the remote itself, when it's likely far more convenient to use the PVR's channel guide?

3) The ZAP feature - does this save the show you're watching's date, time, title and description for future reference? How is this useful? Do you need to connect to your PC to transfer this information?

4) Does the unit come with a cradle or wireless connection to the PC, or must you connect using USB at your computer desk each time you wish to update?

5) Would you say the remote is geared more for people who don't do much in terms of advanced control or configurations?

Thank you for the answers in advance - this remote certainly seems interesting and I'm curious to read the responses!

Randy
www.RRDeals.com
Post 2 made on Wednesday January 23, 2002 at 22:33
Ken
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
July 2001
1,933
1)Macro advantage: Discrete codes are not neccessary.
2)TV listings are nice to have on the remote so you can refer to them without interfering with whats on the TV screen.
3)I have never used the Zap. Doesn't interest me and will figure out how to map the key to another funtion.
4)Connect to USB to update.
5)This remote is great for watching TV, VCR, SAT, DVD in its simplicity. But if you want to control all of your all of your componets to the nth degree, it is somewhat limited.
6)This is a great remote to play with.
Post 3 made on Thursday January 24, 2002 at 09:09
Anthony
Ultimate Member
Joined:
Posts:
May 2001
28,867
I don't have one of these remotes, but I have read all the posts.

1) from what I understand, it uses what I would call dynamic macros. For the first part, you don't need to configure macros (the macro steps) it figures it out from what equipment you have (I would guess you tell it how it is connected). Two from what the EZ guy said it uses state information to redefine macros on the fly (TV is on so no need to turn it on, watching CH 123 and you want to watch 124 it does CH+ instead of 1,2,4) Plus if things fall out of sync, there is a button with info on how to resync the equipment. So Ken is partially right in that Discrete codes are not as valuable, but they don't hurt.

2) I would add that not all people have PVRs, satellite, or Digital cable

3)I would guess it works that way, but it also connects directly to the shows website

5) yes/no. There are not many buttons (I think that is a plus) and scrolling through the window to tweak might become annoying. But since hard buttons are mapable, and since I guess you have control on the LCD list, one could design it to be usable for tweaking.
...
Post 4 made on Thursday January 24, 2002 at 09:22
Anthony
Ultimate Member
Joined:
Posts:
May 2001
28,867
From the web site

3)
Let’s say that you were watching Oprah on the 24th of September, 2001, and an interesting book was reviewed. You pressed the Zap button. When you connect your Harmony to the web, the web site presents a link on your Zap page to the correct episode.
[Link: easyzapper.com]

and you can find the on-line manual [Link: harmonyremote.tzo.com]
...
OP | Post 5 made on Thursday January 24, 2002 at 15:52
www.RRDeals.com
Founding Member
Joined:
Posts:
July 2001
568
Okay, thanks guys for the answers. I now have the impetus to research more and probably test it out for a few weeks.

Randy
www.RRDeals.com


Jump to


Protected Feature Before you can reply to a message...
You must first register for a Remote Central user account - it's fast and free! Or, if you already have an account, please login now.

Please read the following: Unsolicited commercial advertisements are absolutely not permitted on this forum. Other private buy & sell messages should be posted to our Marketplace. For information on how to advertise your service or product click here. Remote Central reserves the right to remove or modify any post that is deemed inappropriate.

Hosting Services by ipHouse