I have a fairly simple home theater: TV, DVD, TIVO, VCR, A/V Reciever. My wife is sick of 5 remotes. I had a pronto but never really got it programed. Also, I didn't like that you had to look at it in order to work it.

I want something very basic. I've read threads about people not likeing the harmony but it seemed that they were complaining that it was hard to set up custom programing etc. Is all that really necessary? We watch TIVO 95% of the time. Will my wife be able to pick it up, hit power and have everything turn on and watch TIVO? Also, how difficult is it to control a TIVO? I don't mind having to use the original remotes to do complicated stuff like tweek surrond modes etc. but how does it do for the very basic stuff like gudie, play, pause, ffwrd, rwd, navigate dvd's etc?

Thanks for you help.

It sounds like your needs are almost identical to mine. Unfortunately, I am about to return my Harmony.

Currently, customer support cannot get my (fairly simple) configuration to work. They seem to be caring people who are trying very hard, but are 0 for 2 with two or three other things still to tackle.

Obviously, there shouldn't be this number of problems in set up. I think that if I persevered I could probably solve most of the problems I am currently having - but at a high cost in time. Since you haven't got round to programming an even more expensive device, I suspect that you don't want to spend lots of time on Harmony either.

But the biggest reason I would suggest you think again is the usability for Tivo watching, even if all the basics work. If you are interested enough, you can search this forum and the one on Yahoo groups for various posts I have made in the last week and the responses I received. If you don't care that much, here is my conclusion.

For typical Tivo viewing:

1. Screen-based remotes are not good. Most people would rather use the Tivo remote without ever having to look at it.

2. Most hard button universals fairly well, but they have 50 or more buttons and that is too many.

3. Harmony has introduced several new concepts that look as if they could reduce the number of hard buttons and make a simpler universal remote.

4. Unfortunately, Harmony went too far in reducing the number of buttons to 15 (you could argue that there are only 9 useful buttons for a Tivo session). This requires the user to flip flop between two modes (play and navigate) so that the limited number of buttons can be remapped. This involves looking at the screen to ensure that the modes are correctly selected.

5. If Harmony had introduced their new concepts while keeping more hard buttons, they would have an excellent device for Tivo sessions. Once in Tivo mode you could watch all night without ever looking at the remote - just like you do with the Tivo remote. The extra buttons would give you the navigate pad and the play set of buttons just like on Tivo.

Of course, even if Harmony had done all of the design things right, the device would also have to actuall work with your configuration!

You will find one very savvy poster on the forums (Jason Wright) who has posted a design for a Harmony 2 that incorporates the hard buttons from the MX500 into a Harmony to give an ideal Tivo remote. However, after several months, even Jason has failed to make the current device do everything. He uses the Harmony as a "set up" device - to get everything switched on and connected properly. Then his wife picks up the Tivo remote and uses it for the rest of the night. Harmony is a rather expensive device (in time and money) to use once a night to turn things on and off. I have got further than that with a $40 universal from Radio Shack!

Hope this helps. Wish it was more positive.

Regards, Keith

I'm gonna dissent from the negative opinions.
Less really is more (buttonwise).

I thik the harmony is adept at PVR activities. It took a fair amount tweaking to get it there (no xml required). In fact I actually had an RMA # issued before I resolved myself to get it working.

I do not have a Tivo, However, I have a ReplayTV! (Quicksip/Commercial advance sold me). And as my other posts will attest. The standard, or out-of-the-box 'Watch PVR' activity for the ReplayTV was piss poor. After slogging through about 10 button remaps for this activity, the Harmony is effortlessly controlling my ReplayTV. Wich is about 99.5% of what I do with my setup.

My 'Watch ReplayTV' activity has three menus. Play, Navigate, Change Activity. In that order. the power-up mode is play. I have gotten so used to 1-side button press for Play-to-Nav, and 2-side button presses for the Nav-to-Play transitions that never I pick up the old ReplayTV remote (excepting times when the wife gets the harmony out of sync, an I want to quickly get the system synced without using the help button built into the harmony.)

I can search for content to record, setup features, browse the program guide, quickskip commercials, replay, rewind, all from the harmony, WHILST NEVER HAVING TO LOOK AT THE THING. In fact I turned off the back light to save on batteries.

Occasionally, very occasionally, I find myself wanting a number pad on the thing. But I gladly give it up because the Harmony integrates all of the old remotes so well.

I have...
Sony AV Receiver
Sony VCR
Sony CD Player
Sony TV
Sony DVD coming soon...
And a ReplayTV (god bless pvr's and death to those who would try to destroy my ability to nuke commercial breaks with the single press of a button)

The wife calls me at work the other day and says "I pressed watch a video tape. And it worked!!!"

That alone saved me 15 minutes of tech-support.

Take a look at some of the ReplayTV threads on this board, for my other rants / descriptions of how I came to love this remote.

You might want to seriously consider the Harmony.
Especially in regard to the wife factor. It has replaced 6 remotes in our house.

Setting up the remote was mostly automatic. Two of the devices were not in the Harmony database and creating a new device character tho time consuming, was fairly easy. I have learned to remap hard buttons and add menu items to my activities as well as devices and this has really helped make this remote simple in operating our home system.

My only two complaints which I think Harmony needs to address immediately is the inability to delete menu items and the inability to fully re-order menu items based on the users preference. Other than that, I am really pleased with this remote.

This message was edited by Orygun on 05/15/02 15:03.39.

I have a different suggestion. Take the minimal time to program your Pronto just to turn all the devices on, along with DVD/VHS transport buttons (menu, play, pause, stop). It will take far less time than setting up a Harmony to control your system. Then, keep the Pronto and TiVo remotes out - you're down to 2, with better ease of use/surfing than you'd have with the Pronto or Harmony alone. I know people with $12K Crestron systems who also keep a RePlay remote out for channel surfing.

-avi

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Slack or others - Does this mean you can scroll through screens using the button rather than the wheel? That would make a lot of sense in terms not having to look down. button presses are distinct whereas rolling the wheel it'd be easy to miss your menu...

I'm in the research phase of finding the right remote for me and the Harmony is looking good. Thanks for any help :-)
Peace
Sanaka

Yes, to travel between different menus like play or navigate, you just press the side button. To select items within a menu list you use the wheel.

I use mostly use the harmony for watching TIVO, and am very happy with it.

Thanks Rex!