RE: Re: Buying Harmony remote from the states

["Andrew Walker" <andrew.walker@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for your views Mal.

I am a little shocked as I thought the Harmony remotes were the bee's
knees=
in the remote control world and have received many recommendations on this=
forum.

The only reason I need an all-in-1 remote is I now have an AV AMP driving
m=
y 5.1 system with sources XBOX via Coax, Sonos and the TV.  I wanted to
use=
the amp full time for everything including normal day to day tv watching f=
or the dolby pro logic decoding but of course the existing tv remote
volume=
controls wont work the amp.

I'm a complete newbie to clever remotes so can I program a remote such as
t=
he harmony to control the tv with normal program numbers 1,2,3,4 etc. but
t=
o talk to the AMP with the volume up/down buttons?  This would keep the
wif=
e happy.



-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of M=
al Lansell
Sent: 16 November 2007 10:28
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: Buying Harmony remote from the states

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "andy_walkuk" <andy_walkuk@...>
wrote:
>
> I was thinking of making use of the good =A3 - $ exchange rate at
the=20
> moment and getting a harmony remote from the states.
>=20
> However, there seems to be a difference in model numbers between
the
> American and European versions, i.e. the americans have the 890
and we
> have the 895, this is repeated on the whole range i think.
>=20
> I assume this is down to the power cord, can anyone with the
harmony
> remote docking veriosn tell me how the power supply works?  Is it a=20
> figure of 8 type power cord into a transformer, etc..  Do the
markings
> indicate universal voltage input?  Can I simply chop the plug off
and=20
> put a 13A 3-pin on it?
>=20
> US Ebayers that ship to the UK (buy-it-now) seem to have these at
half
> the price of the UK shops (some of these are refurbished though,
but
> still, half-price!).
>=20
> Many thanks.
>

My Harmony remote uses a wall-wart - if the U.S. version is the same you
ca=
n just buy a suitable replacement for a few quid.

Don't bother getting the Harmony remote with Z-Wave support (890,
IIRC) - Z-Wave operates on a different frequency in the U.S. and won't
work=
with U.K. devices.

However, my experience of a Harmony remote has not been good and I
wouldn't=
buy another.=20=20

Their website-based setup is slow and cumbersome.

The charging cradle is horizontal and the remote isn't heavy enough to
main=
tain good contact (and it beeps when it loses/gains contact, so when
someon=
e walks past it beeps away)

The remote locked up one time and burnt out it's IR emitters (I replaced
th=
em with ones bought at Maplins).

It frequently forgets what mode it is in, so I press a button expecting to
=
change the volume and it turns off the DVD player instead :-(

Mal