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Author Topic: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?  (Read 18410 times)

Z0001

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Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« on: May 25, 2012, 05:09:22 am »

I currently have an OrigenAE case that comes with an iMon "PAD" remote. It's a pretty flimsy remote, the arrow keys don't work well at all, if at all anymore.nhowever it does have a good selection of keys eg Esc, right and left mouse click.

How do people find the Harmony remotes as PC remotes for MC (rather than just an AV separates universal remote). Can the "Exit" key be programmed as "Esc" for example as a dedicated PC device?

Any good advices to get it working with iMon? I hear there are issues.

Thanks
Z
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imugli

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2012, 05:24:13 am »

I use the Harmony One and it's great.

I've set it up to emulate an MCE remote, which MC supports natively so no programming necessary.

I use the standard MS IR receiver, so the iMon one might act differently.

The exit key doesn't actually do anything unless actually used in the context but to be honest I've never really found a need for it in Theater View because I just use the activities...

Hendrik

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2012, 05:55:44 am »

I also have the "One" and also with a generic MCE receiver. I tried to get it working with iMon before, but just getting a small MCE compatible receiver was much more painless.
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Scolex

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2012, 06:30:38 am »

I have the 900 and it works great, I chose it because the additional RF feature allows me to keep my HTPC out of site and inaudible. I am using it with a HP receiver transmitter.
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Sean

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2012, 10:13:54 am »

We have used Harmony One remotes for a couple of years and think they are great with MC. Really good WAF too!

Rod
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Scolex

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2012, 11:55:31 am »

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Sean

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2012, 02:14:38 pm »

You must not be married.

Wife Acceptance Factor.

AKA PAF.
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Sandy B Ridge

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2012, 02:42:23 pm »

I have a Harmony 900 and according to Ivy it is 'the best gadget that I own'! 8)

I got the 900 because my kit is in a cabinet with solid doors and no IR line of sight, so I got it for the RF capability. Otherwise I probably would have got a One.

SBR
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MrHaugen

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2012, 02:55:01 pm »

I purchased a Harmony One for my parents, and a 900 for my self. I'm starting to hate both of them. It's more and more annoying to use. The RF to IR is slowing down the signals so it drives me nuts. Operating Theater View with it is a pain. It generally reacts slow, it has very strange problems with setup sometimes. You have to do the setup over and over until it works. Things like that. I would recommend trying out a a URC remote instead. The best of the best would probably be the URC MX-5000. It will be my next purchase :D You'll have to have some serious time for programming the nuts though :o
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Scolex

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2012, 02:56:07 pm »

You must not be married.

Wife Acceptance Factor.

AKA PAF.

Actually that was a major factor in the purchase decision only for me it is FAF since I am only engaged.
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Sean

Scolex

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2012, 03:00:13 pm »

I purchased a Harmony One for my parents, and a 900 for my self. I'm starting to hate both of them. It's more and more annoying to use. The RF to IR is slowing down the signals so it drives me nuts. Operating Theater View with it is a pain. It generally reacts slow, it has very strange problems with setup sometimes. You have to do the setup over and over until it works. Things like that. I would recommend trying out a a URC remote instead. The best of the best would probably be the URC MX-5000. It will be my next purchase :D You'll have to have some serious time for programming the nuts though :o

I have not had any trouble like that, mine is quite responsive. The only time it has ever been finicky was when the battery was getting old, new battery and works flawlessly again.
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Sean

Z0001

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2012, 03:18:14 pm »

Great input, folks.  I started off thinking that a tablet or iphone based solution would be best due to the customiserbility, but I realized that having a sensory touch feel of physical buttons makes operating without looking the winner.

URC are coming to Oz, look like complex beasts! I read about the MX 5000 and drooled! They need to come up with a wizard approach to function building, so Harmony feels like a bridging device ... until a wifi/IP command unit comes out of course.

The iMon PAD, aside fom it's flakey performance, and that its not universal is a good remote for bringing in useful button functions such as mouse clicks, Escape, backspace etc - does the MS standard have these kind of functions? Right mouse click is very important so my wife can use the shuffle option in Theatre View, and I can't see how else to access shuffle without a right mouse click as it does not appear as a play option in the header scroll bar.  Is there another way?
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gvanbrunt

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #12 on: June 02, 2012, 02:27:48 pm »

Gone through 2 purchased Harmoneys in the last 5 years or so. Wore them out from dropping ect. Bought them for our conference room at work. Recommended to friends and family. Not one complaint, only raves about how great they are.

Highly recommended.

Also had the screen go in one. Called support after warranty had ran out. They checked and there was a recall. Sent me a new remote in the mail free no questions asked.
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imugli

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Re: Harmony One or 900 as a decent PC remote?
« Reply #13 on: June 02, 2012, 09:09:59 pm »

You'll probably want to be made aware of the following that CAN occur...

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1547825

Apparently the batteries CAN experience swelling if not treated / charged correctly.

It's still a great remote and I still recommend it thoroughly - just something to be aware of.

As for the sensory / touch thing - I completely agree. I used to have one of those universal remotes with one big touch screen, but having to look at it every time you want to press an arrow button (something that should be intuitive without the need to look) got annoying really quickly...
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