Going back to the original post:



If this is the only function needed, most cable box remotes will handle this easily and I'm not afraid to recommend this simple approach to my customers. Customers appreciate my straight forward approach. Yes, I know that some installers will chide me for leaving money on the table, but I'd rather leave a little money on the table now, but guarantee a lifelong customer for the future.

Controlling the TV's Apps will require the use of the TV's own remote. I recently encountered a customer purchased LG that recognized the FIOS set top box and offered to control it. In this case the TV's own remote could be used to control the cable box. (I'm not saying that the user interface was glorious, only that TV watching could be controlled with a single remote)

Sure they can. But he is asking about the difference with ir and rf in this case. Harmony's rf bases use blasters which are also less reliable than an emitter.

You plug emitters into the RF extender. If you have a need for a blaster, that can be used too, but the original extender had four ports that were assignable and the new one has two, one of which is assignable. Also, if something (like some AVRs, music servers, etc) has a 3.5mm control jack, the Harmony RF extender can be connected via a mono cable with 3.5mm plugs- it works great.

If your installer is familiar with URC, you could do the entry level plus a base station for somewhere around half the price of the RTI.