Hello everyone,

I'm looking for a harmony 900 replacement. IR on the remote and some type of RF communication is required, it can be proprietary, wifi, whatever... so long as it works between rooms. The harmony pretty much does everything i need but it's just too damn slow over RF, it's been driving me nuts and i'm sick of it. What i mean by slow is that button presses take far too long to register, scrolling through a big list of items in XBMC just sucks, i end up counting the number of presses in advance and having the remote queue them up. The new remote must have instant response over RF. Price isn't really a big factor (within reason), but it absolutely must be consumer (me) programmable. Complexity is not an issue, so long as the software and some documentation is available i'll be able to program it just fine. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Look into iSquid, iRule, RedEye, and other similar systems.

I purchased a URC MX-890 (remote) and MRF-350 (base station) after being fed up with the Harmony 900's RF delay as well. Like you, I found myself queuing up the number of key presses and then waiting for the remote to catch up.

The URC MX-890 that I purchased is significantly faster, even with the RF -> IR conversion taking place. Also in terms of RF signal distance, the MX-890 blows away the Logitech 900. I find myself being able to control stuff on my setup from outside the house even where with the Logitech 900 I had to be within 20-30 feet it seemed.

Compared to the Logitech, the URC setup is costly but the power and functionality it gives is much better, not to mention the build quality and performance.

Although you won't be able to get the official software for programming from URC themselves, many shops will provide you with it if you ask them and purchase one of the items from them. In my experience, most authorized dealers were willing to offer me a 20% flat discount off the retail pricing when I purchased mine (last month). For the base station (URC MRF-350), Amazon still seems to be cheaper.

Programming it by yourself is not too hard -- it just takes a little while to get the hang of it and then there's not much to it. I'm still learning the advanced functionality but I got all the basics working on my setup.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Interesting username -- hope you weren't having to take it for too long!

OneRemote - Did you find your authorized dealer from URC's website? I would like to get a MX-880 or 890; but only if I can get the software.

Yes, I did purchase my remote from an authorized dealer. The first two dealers I contacted to purchase the equipment told me they would not be able to give me the software due to URC's rules. I told them I had actually called URC and was told that it was up to each individual dealer to decide on whether or not they want to provide the software but they still said they wouldn't be able to provide it.

The third dealer I contacted discounted both items (URC MX-890 and MRF-350) 20% off retail and was happy to provide the software so that's where I purchased it then. I've never programmed anything besides a Harmony remote in the past but after a little trial and error, I was able to get the URC working just fine.