"The most complicated TV in the world" (need new remote)

[ukmgranger]

This is the phrase used by most of my family when they try to use my lounge TV.

I think I have found the cause and the solution!

The Remote.

This is the sole way of using my TV (including SageTV) as I want it to be as simple as possible.

I have had to resort to switching to the TV's tuner input and bypassing Sage altogether when the folks are around, as they are simply too scared of the whole thing. They are not total technophobes. They do have Sky+ at home with full-on recording functionality. They just don't like using Sage! Admittedly Sage did used to crash regularly on me in the early days (they saw this in action) which has probably stuck in their mind.

After thinking about it for a while I'm pretty sure the main problem is the remote. I have a Marantz RC3200 (picture below). It has a touch screen which is where the problem lies. It just doesn't have a nice tactile quality to it. Even my MS MCE remote has more feeling! Come to think of it, I much prefer using my bedroom client!

So - I am looking at replacing the remote in order to give the family more confidence.

I am thinking of getting the Logitec Harmony 525:http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/pr...mony_chart_525

Does anyone have this? Any comments?

I am done with touch-screen displays. They just don't have any feeling!

[dflachbart]

I can't comment on the Harmony, but I suggest you might also have a look at the MX-500. Not the latest hype, but the best remote I ever had. Especially if you are concerned about 'feeling'. My only complaint is the select button which is a little hard to press, but I got used to it. Read some user reviews here. Currently $76 at newegg.com.

Dirk

[ukmgranger]

This is totally my opinion and many may disagree, but that remote (mx-500)is damn ugly!

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by ukmgranger

This is the phrase used by most of my family when they try to use my lounge TV.

I think I have found the cause and the solution!

The Remote.

This is the sole way of using my TV (including SageTV) as I want it to be as simple as possible.

I have had to resort to switching to the TV's tuner input and bypassing Sage altogether when the folks are around, as they are simply too scared of the whole thing. They are not total technophobes. They do have Sky+ at home with full-on recording functionality. They just don't like using Sage! Admittedly Sage did used to crash regularly on me in the early days (they saw this in action) which has probably stuck in their mind.

After thinking about it for a while I'm pretty sure the main problem is the remote. I have a Marantz RC3200 (picture below). It has a touch screen which is where the problem lies. It just doesn't have a nice tactile quality to it. Even my MS MCE remote has more feeling! Come to think of it, I much prefer using my bedroom client!

So - I am looking at replacing the remote in order to give the family more confidence.

I am thinking of getting the Logitec Harmony 525:http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/pr...mony_chart_525

Does anyone have this? Any comments?

I am done with touch-screen displays. They just don't have any feeling!

In the states it's the 520 and except for the 4 colored buttons is the exactly same one I setup for the wife to use on the MVP in the bedroom. She loves it! I have a Harmony 880 in the front room. One push of the button turns on the TV, switrches to HDMI, wakes the PC, turns on the receiver and switches it to the DVD/LD input that the PC is plugged into for spdif 5.1. Everyone that comes over takes about 1 minute to become familiar with it and that's it.

Gerry

[wheelrandolph]

A little off topic.....but, Big Gerr, how do you get the 880 to wake the pc?
Randy

[Lucas]

Just an idea: Why not buy and configure a Sky+ remote just for your visitors. It should be familiar to them. Then they may get over the SageTV interface issue more quickly.

I use a Sky+ remote without any problem.

[Se7enLC]

Originally Posted by ukmgranger

After thinking about it for a while I'm pretty sure the main problem is the remote. I have a Marantz RC3200 (picture below). It has a touch screen which is where the problem lies. It just doesn't have a nice tactile quality to it. Even my MS MCE remote has more feeling! Come to think of it, I much prefer using my bedroom client!

So - I am looking at replacing the remote in order to give the family more confidence.

I am thinking of getting the Logitec Harmony 525:http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/pr...mony_chart_525

I think you can probably go even simpler, forgo the screen altogether and let the TV be the screen.

Here's the remote I use (for MythTV):



A typical use of the system is really only arrow keys and select, right? Maybe volume/channel up/down.

[Naylia]

I love my Harmony remote. It really is an amazing little guy. Something that boosted the GAF real high was letting my gf choose the model/color Since then I've never heard a single complaint about the remote


Se7en,
I don't think the Hauppauge can control other A/V equipment. It's really only good for operating just the HTPC. The strength of something like a Harmony is it's ability to know exactly what settings all your AV gear needs to be on to operate and also how to get from one state to another. (ie....the HTPC is VGA1/DVD, the Gamecube is Comp1/Video2, the VCR is AV1/Video1, and the cable box is HDMI1/TV ...(tv input/reciever input). It will also switch on/off gear you don't need/do need for any given activity. It's made it easy for other people and even children to be able to use my home theater setup.

[deria]

The nice thing about the harmony remote is that it can control everything. You use one remote, period.

It can also chain a whole bunch of actions into one "activity", (such as "watch a movie" which would turn on my tv, set it to the right input, turn on my dvd player, turn on my receiver, set the receiver to the right input, eject the dvd tray, etc.).

The remote will even remember which devices are on/off (so if you switch from watch a movie to watch tv, it knows that the TV is already on and doesn't turn it off like a regular universal remote would -- or if you switch to watch tv from watch a movie, it knows that the DVD player isn't needed anymore so it turns that off for you).

I use the 659 model, which is older, but it has a very nice tactile feel. All the buttons are raised, and in reasonable positions. It really is a great remote control (as I'm sure the newer ones are) that makes your system easy to use. My fiance picked it up, and the only thing she needed to be told was that she should press the "watch tv" button to watch tv, the "watch movie" button to watch a movie, and to never use any other remote to do anything. She was using it like a champion in 30 seconds.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by wheelrandolph

A little off topic.....but, Big Gerr, how do you get the 880 to wake the pc?
Randy

On the PC I have a MCE receiver. I set up the Harmony to be a MCE remote and assigned the Power button of the MCE remote to the Harmony. When I hit the Harmony's "Off" button PC goes to sleep. When I hit the Harmony to "Watch PVR" it sends out that power command and the PC wakes.

Gerry

[mattdcknsn]

Have you thought about using a JP1 remote? I have been using it for awhile now and it works great. Almost any one-for-all and alot of radio shack remotes are JP1 compatable. I clear the memory completely and program it to use only what I want, I even setup all the macros via a PC program. So far it works great, I am currently using the URC 8811 to control everything.

[wheelrandolph]

Originally Posted by gplasky

On the PC I have a MCE receiver. I set up the Harmony to be a MCE remote and assigned the Power button of the MCE remote to the Harmony. When I hit the Harmony's "Off" button PC goes to sleep. When I hit the Harmony to "Watch PVR" it sends out that power command and the PC wakes.

Gerry

Thanks Gerry. I have been looking for a way to do this.
Randy

[ukmgranger]

Thanks for all the suggestions people!

I'm in a mess now. I think that I'm down to two remote choices.
1. Microsoft MC remote
2. Harmony 525

The Harmony is just pure iCandy. It looks amazing, and I'm pretty sure that it would do a very good job at what I want it to do. I don't even need to control that many things. It really is going to be almost entirely devoted to controlling SageTV.

Then on the other hand, the MS remote is stunning in its layout. I'm sure that MS did some major work on getting this remote to just sit perfectly in your hand and have all the buttons in the right places. It really is a dream to use. and it pretty much matches sage in the buttons to functions area. It just doesn't look that nice. It's OK, but not as stylie as the Harmony 525.

So, once again I'm in a Aesthetics vs functionality situation.

I think that I am going to have to set sage to use the MS remote for the next time there are people 'round and see how they get on with it.

Mmmmmmm. Choices, choices.

[lovingHDTV]

I was looking at the Harmony 880 last week when it was $120 at Dell. For someone that has a Harmony remote, how do I tell if it will support my projector? It is a Sanyo PLV-80.

Is there a list of devices it supports?

thanks,

[bullgates]

Originally Posted by lovingHDTV

I was looking at the Harmony 880 last week when it was $120 at Dell. For someone that has a Harmony remote, how do I tell if it will support my projector? It is a Sanyo PLV-80.

Is there a list of devices it supports?

thanks,

They have a product list of 100,000+ devices supported. Go create a profile and check to see if it is available. I would be shocked if it was not available/supported. BTW the Harmony 880 has a $50 rebate on it also.