# Universal remote for premiere



## Bill79707 (Apr 11, 2010)

Has anyone found a good universal remote for premiere? There is an expensive Logitech unit, is anyone using it?


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

The only remote I have in the living room is the Logitech Harmony One. At the moment, I have 5 TiVos, a receiver, a DVD player and of course the TV being controlled with that lone remote. I still have "Activities" defined for those devices that can't be controlled by the Harmony, such as my Wii, old Xbox and a PC, so when I select one of those "Activities", the TV & receiver are set to the proper inputs. I made a little spreadsheet to help me program the thing!


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

Bill79707 said:


> Has anyone found a good universal remote for premiere? There is an expensive Logitech unit, is anyone using it?


I personally hate the Harmony remotes. They just don't give you enough control over the programming, especially the macros, plus they make assumptions about the way things should flow that aren't always right and you have to call to get corrected.

We have a URC MX-3000 in the living room, but that's overkill for most. The other rooms have MX-500 remotes. It's by far my favorite non-touchscreen remote, and for quick and dirty, I like it even better than the MX-3000.

You can get an Universal Remote Control MX-500 for $50-$75 new on eBay.


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## RoundTuit (Dec 29, 2006)

I use a Harmony One and 900. They are fine if you are content with the "activity" paradigm they use. For the typical user they are easy to set up and use, but therein lies the rub. If you want to do more complex functions, there are some limitations without a generalized macro capability. Some Harmony remotes support simple sequences, but the 900 even lost that capability.

Also, the desktop and web-based software used to program the remote can be limiting. Again, it is designed for the typical user that has a single remote and few devices. If you have multiple remotes, it is difficult if not impossible to take bits and pieces of one configuration and replicate them on another remote. For example, I have three Harmony remotes, all different models. I would like to take the Favorites I have set up on one and use on the other two. In fact, I would even like to take the Favorites for one device and port it to another device on the same remote. It is rather tedious to set up 24 favorite channels with their associated icons, and I do not like having to replicate this across other devices and/or remotes.

That being said, I still like the Harmony's. You will be hard pressed to find a better remote without spending a lot more money.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I use a couple of the Harmony One remotes.


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

Like curiousgeorge, I am a big fan of URC's Professional Line of remotes. I have many different models in use throughout my home, but my favorite for controlling a TiVo is the MX-880:


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

RoundTuit said:


> ...For example, I have three Harmony remotes, all different models. I would like to take the Favorites I have set up on one and use on the other two...


[thread derail]
Could you use the Harmony Software's "Replace Remote" function to transfer your settings from one remote to the next?
[/thread derail]


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## RoundTuit (Dec 29, 2006)

orangeboy said:


> [thread derail]
> Could you use the Harmony Software's "Replace Remote" function to transfer your settings from one remote to the next?
> [/thread derail]


I suppose you could if you had two remotes of the same model, but I tried that when going from Harmony One to Harmony 900 and it said I had to create a new account.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

orangeboy said:


> [thread derail]
> Could you use the Harmony Software's "Replace Remote" function to transfer your settings from one remote to the next?
> [/thread derail]


The Universal Remote Control remotes have a clone feature that works great.


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## jmill (Feb 22, 2010)

RoundTuit said:


> I suppose you could if you had two remotes of the same model, but I tried that when going from Harmony One to Harmony 900 and it said I had to create a new account.


Since Harmony One and Harmony 900 used completely different technologies (infrared vs RF), they're not interchangeable. You can go between remotes as long as they're the same.


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## jmill (Feb 22, 2010)

gweempose said:


> Like curiousgeorge, I am a big fan of URC's Professional Line of remotes. I have many different models in use throughout my home, but my favorite for controlling a TiVo is the MX-880:


Is it just me or it looks ugly?


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## i2k (Apr 3, 2008)

aaronwt said:


> I use a couple of the Harmony One remotes.


same here. works fine, and wife friendly.


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## RoundTuit (Dec 29, 2006)

jmill said:


> Since Harmony One and Harmony 900 used completely different technologies (infrared vs RF), they're not interchangeable. You can go between remotes as long as they're the same.


I understand that, but at the user interface level the steps for programming the H900 are exactly the same as the H1, so in theory, there is no reason why one should not be able to clone a configuration on different Harmony models as long as one is not using a feature on one that is not supported by the other. In the case of RF, that is not configured until after the remote has been programmed on the desktop.

However, it is what it is, and I will live with it.


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

Has anyone had any experience with the Acoustic Research X Sight Touch remote control?...

http://www.araccessories.com/araccessories/xsightouch.do

I currently use a Harmony One which I love, but I've had it a few years now and some of the buttons are wearing out! Also, I really would like a universal remote with the color keys, but I'm not willing to blow $300+ on a Harmony 900 just yet and I don't want to step down to a Harmony 700 either!!

The X Sight Touch seems like a possible alternative. Any thoughts?


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## jmill (Feb 22, 2010)

RoundTuit said:


> I understand that, but at the user interface level the steps for programming the H900 are exactly the same as the H1, so in theory, there is no reason why one should not be able to clone a configuration on different Harmony models as long as one is not using a feature on one that is not supported by the other. In the case of RF, that is not configured until after the remote has been programmed on the desktop.
> 
> However, it is what it is, and I will live with it.


I agree with you 100%. User should be able to move from one Harmony remote to another as easily as they moved before (880 >> 890 >> One).

I have no idea why Logitech decided to remove certain features (macros) and disabled upgrade for Harmony 900. There are quite a few conversations about that on Logitech forums.


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## stujac (Jan 26, 2002)

TrueTurbo said:


> Has anyone had any experience with the Acoustic Research X Sight Touch remote control?...
> 
> http://www.araccessories.com/araccessories/xsightouch.do
> 
> ...


Looks pretty interesting. Any idea how much?


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

stujac said:


> Looks pretty interesting. Any idea how much?


Best Buy sell the X Sight Touch for $180. That means you should be able to pick one up for around $140 if you shop around the web a little.


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## stujac (Jan 26, 2002)

Will have to look at it.


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## Mike-Mike (Mar 2, 2010)

jmill said:


> Is it just me or it looks ugly?


Best Buy has a logitech one that is all square and cool looking, but yeah other that I think the other remotes are kind of ugly..

I just ordered the TPXL, so it comes with the learning remote, but I think I will still upgrade to the QWERTY remote when it is available

I bought a coffee table with drawers specifically so I could hide all of my remotes so I'm not that affected by my multiple remotes, but I would be down for some QWERTY action


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

jmill said:


> Is it just me or it looks ugly?


I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To me, the most important aspect of a remote is its functionality. The reason I love the MX-880 is because it has an awesome layout. When studying the photo, pay close attention to the size, shape and spacing of the buttons. The Harmony remotes have gotten better in this respect over the years, but they still don't hold a candle to the best URC remotes when it comes to ergonomics.


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## RoundTuit (Dec 29, 2006)

jmill said:


> I agree with you 100%. User should be able to move from one Harmony remote to another as easily as they moved before (880 >> 890 >> One).
> 
> I have no idea why Logitech decided to remove certain features (macros) and disabled upgrade for Harmony 900. There are quite a few conversations about that on Logitech forums.


Now that you mention macros (which I am assuming to mean sequences), perhaps that is why Logitech does not support a simple upgrade from H1 to H900. That is an example of a feature supported by H1 and not H900, which undermines my argument.

Still, if one had not used such unsupported features, it should be possible to transfer the configuration from one to the other without any loss of functionality.


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## TrueTurbo (Feb 19, 2008)

gweempose said:


> I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To me, the most important aspect of a remote is its functionality. The reason I love the MX-880 is because it has an awesome layout. When studying the photo, pay close attention to the size, shape and spacing of the buttons. The Harmony remotes have gotten better in this respect over the years, but they still don't hold a candle to the best URC remotes when it comes to ergonomics.


I've owned URC remotes before and personally, the ergonomics of the Harmony One remote beats the URCs hands down. Also, the next universal remote I buy has to have the 4 colored keys on it. These keys are becoming increasingly popular and it sucks if you can only program them in as 'virtual' keys on the touch screen!

I just wish Logitech would refresh the Harmony One to include the color keys. I don't want or need the RF capabilities of the Harmony 900 and don't want to spend the extra bucks for them.


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## vtwep (Apr 6, 2010)

I've used Harmony 880 for 3 locations for years. Just switched to Harmony One in my main set up (where one of my Tivo XLs is located), and just programmed it last night. Seems to be working fine for me.


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## RichB (Apr 2, 2003)

I have a Series 3 setup for Remote code (RC) 1 and I setup my Premiere with RC 2. I checked both in the System Information.
The Premiere works fine and its remote has no effect on the S3.

However, the S3 still controls the Premiere.

What am I missing?

Thanks,

Rich


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

TrueTurbo said:


> I've owned URC remotes before and personally, the ergonomics of the Harmony One remote beats the URCs hands down.


Apparently, ergonomics is in the eye of the beholder as well.  Ergonomics aside, I've never been a big fan of the Harmony's wizard style of programming. It just doesn't offer me the flexibility I need. I suppose if you're patient, you can get the Harmony to do most things, but some of the more advanced programming is simply out of the question. For example, I can make a button on an MX-880 do two different things depending on whether you hold it down or press it fast. This is the type of thing that is impossible to do with a Harmony.


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

RichB said:


> I have a Series 3 setup for Remote code (RC) 1 and I setup my Premiere with RC 2. I checked both in the System Information.
> The Premiere works fine and its remote has no effect on the S3.
> 
> However, the S3 still controls the Premiere.
> ...


Don't have both TiVos on the System Information screen at the same time, or use a different TiVo's remote while on the System Information screen.


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## RichB (Apr 2, 2003)

orangeboy said:


> Don't have both TiVos on the System Information screen at the same time, or use a different TiVo's remote while on the System Information screen.


I set them up with a black plastic bag over the front to set them independantly.

Is the RC 1 supposed to be universal, controlling any TiVo regardless of its remote code setting?

- Rich


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## RoundTuit (Dec 29, 2006)

RichB said:


> I set them up with a black plastic bag over the front to set them independantly.
> 
> Is the RC 1 supposed to be universal, controlling any TiVo regardless of its remote code setting?
> 
> - Rich


Double check the switch setting on the S3 remote (i.e., 1 or 2), and for whatever switch setting you are using, make sure the S3 remote is sending the correct address. When you see both TiVos responding to the remote, it is usually because it is sending a zero address -- i.e., zero is treated as a broadcast and all TiVos will respond.

If you have confirmed that your remote is not sending a zero address, and they are both responding, then the TiVos themselves must be using the same non-zero address. BTW, if you setup your S3 remote with two different non-zero addresses (e.g., 1 and 2 like you said you are using), you can control both the S3 and Premiere using only the S3 remote. I assume you already knew that, but mentioned this just in case.

Also, when you are setting up the address on the TiVo, make sure you navigate away from the System Information screen once you are done so you do not inadventantly change it to something else. The TiVo will only change its address when it is on the System Information screen.


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## RichB (Apr 2, 2003)

Thanks RoundTuit,

I am using a Pronto Remote of the S3 which I just reprogrammed with RC 1.
The PXL was set to RC 2. After the C software update and restart, the PXL is now working properly.

Go figure.

- Rich


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