# Universal Remote



## gijohn (Jun 1, 2005)

Hope this is ok for the message boards - but can anyone recommened a good universal remote for the dish receivers, TV, DVD player, Tuner, etc? Preferrably one with a touch screen and easy to see in all types of lighting. Tried the Sony Commander and it's not good at all in average room lighting.

Thanks


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## SteveinDanville (Jun 26, 2002)

Absolutely: Get the Harmony 880 remote. It is unbelievable! Task-oriented, as in "Watch Satellite" or "Watch DVD" or "Listen to CD's", etc. It knows what's on, what's off, what input is being used, and is absolutely brilliant to tweak. You can rename everything. It has changed everything. Don't even think about anything else. Period.


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

I have had several universals, I like PC programmable for the ability to custom tailor the remote and load templates, etc. The Harmony does have a fairly simple and straight forward programming interface and it's activity based buttons make for easy macro like controls without having to custom script a macro.


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## gijohn (Jun 1, 2005)

Thanks for the quick responses Steve and Jason. Did a google on the Harmony and have read some reviews, etc and visited the Logitech site. Think I'll hit a Best Buy to do a "touch and feel".
Are you using this remote now Jason?


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

gijohn said:


> Thanks for the quick responses Steve and Jason. Did a google on the Harmony and have read some reviews, etc and visited the Logitech site. Think I'll hit a Best Buy to do a "touch and feel".
> Are you using this remote now Jason?


Yes, I have a SST659 in use. My 3 year old can use this remote to turn on all the gear in my theater. I created an actvity button to turn on the display, 811, av receiver, select sources, and tune to Nick Jr. I also love how easy it was to use discreates to assure everything was off when I hit power off. Now, if you plan on using your univseral in conjunction with a DVR I do not recommend the model 659, the transport buttons are not ideally placed on this model. When your ready to buy look around...I got my 659 off Buy.com on a power buy for around $60.

I would recommend reading the remote reviews over at www.remotecentral.com.


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

I have this one. It's cheap, and it does everything one needs. It's excellent:
http://www2.shopping.com/xPC-Univer...niversal_Learning_Upgradeable_Remote_with_LCD


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## Jon Spackman (Feb 7, 2005)

mx-850 is a great rf capable remote that we sell often. RF is nice because you can hide gear away in a cabinet or in another room and you dont have to point the reote at anything!

If you have more to spend and really want a nice touchscreen. the Marantz RC9500 is a very nice RF capable remote.

(RF recievers for the mx-850 and the 9500 are optional).


Jon


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## Stallion (Oct 25, 2005)

gijohn said:


> Thanks for the quick responses Steve and Jason. Did a google on the Harmony and have read some reviews, etc and visited the Logitech site. Think I'll hit a Best Buy to do a "touch and feel".
> Are you using this remote now Jason?


I'm going to agree with SteveinDanville on this one. I owned a harmony, and it is the remote to own. VERY simplistic setup, and just works great. Don't get caught up in the touch screen stuff. You get no physical sensation from a touch screen, so you always have to look down to know what your pushing. I had a remote like that, and it got anoying. Hard buttons are much better, especially combined with an lcd for customized buttons. Harmony hit it on the head. You will need a computer to set it up though. I'm assuming you have one. The setup is very straightforward, and works great.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Also a Harmony owner here. I love it, even though mine is a VERY early model (one of the first batch). One of these days I will upgrade to a current one which is even more user friendly.


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## gijohn (Jun 1, 2005)

"Glowing" reviews. Guess I'll really have to scope of these out. Thanks all!


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## gijohn (Jun 1, 2005)

Back to the Harmony 880 .. just read there is no RF support for this unit. My 942, tuner and DVD unit are in a cabinet behind glass doors. Problem?


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## Stallion (Oct 25, 2005)

gijohn said:


> Back to the Harmony 880 .. just read there is no RF support for this unit. My 942, tuner and DVD unit are in a cabinet behind glass doors. Problem?


As long as you can see the reciever, should be fine. It does accept an IR signal as well as RF yes?


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## gijohn (Jun 1, 2005)

Stallion said:


> As long as you can see the reciever, should be fine. It does accept an IR signal as well as RF yes?


All 3 units ... pretty sure.


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## kc1ih (May 22, 2004)

Capmeister said:


> I have this one. It's cheap, and it does everything one needs. It's excellent:
> http://www2.shopping.com/xPC-Univer...niversal_Learning_Upgradeable_Remote_with_LCD


I find things tend to be missing on the AllForOne remotes. For instance, they have three codes that will operate my Sony VCR, but none of those codes assigns a button to the "input" function.

There is a less expensive Harmony comming out, the model 820, which should do the job for most people, and costs around $100. It's listed on the websites for Sears and for Wal-Mart, good luck finding it in stock!


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## Jon Spackman (Feb 7, 2005)

The remote can work even if line of sight is obstructed with a IR repeater system. Try the remote you want first and then check to see if it works with oyur doors shut.....


Jon


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## Corwynder (Feb 6, 2005)

I reccomend the Harmony remote. Got mine off of ebay for about $100. Downloaded the software and told Logitech I didn't have a usb cable for it and they sent it free of charge. Even my wife can use this remote. As well as the 6 and 8 year old. Now I don't have to get up in the morning and put it on cartoons for them.


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## Stallion (Oct 25, 2005)

gijohn said:


> All 3 units ... pretty sure.


Should work just fine. Glass should not obstruct it. If your gonna go universal (and I suggest you do), go Harmony. It's expensive, but its worth the money.


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## Dithermaster (Jan 27, 2004)

My MX-850 works great with my Dish PVR 921. I use the RF receiver and everything is in a cabinet. Although the 921's remote is RF, it also sees IR from the blasters. I am quite happy with the 850. I programmed "activities" on the main menu and have macros that turn everything on and set the inputs. The master off also turns it all back off.

///[email protected]


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## Rusty Barton (Jul 7, 2002)

kc1ih said:


> I find things tend to be missing on the AllForOne remotes. For instance, they have three codes that will operate my Sony VCR, but none of those codes assigns a button to the "input" function.
> 
> There is a less expensive Harmony comming out, the model 820, which should do the job for most people, and costs around $100. It's listed on the websites for Sears and for Wal-Mart, good luck finding it in stock!


Certain models of the One For All and Radio Shack remotes (URC-8910, URC-9910 etc.) have a JP1 connector inside the battery compartment. You can make or buy a cable to connect the remote to your pc via parallel or USB ports. There is free software available on the internet that allows you to add new devices to the remote and to move and re-assign remote buttons as desired. Do a Google search on "One For All" "JP1" to find out more.

One For All learning remotes usually only learn and retain about 10 keys. Using the JP1 connector, you can learn all the buttons from your original remote and transfer all them into the universal remote.

I reprogrammed a One For All remote to run my new Hewlett-Packard Plasma TV, Dish 501 and Panasonic DVD recorder.

-Rusty


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## steelhorse (Apr 27, 2004)

Jason Nipp said:


> Yes, I have a SST659 in use. My 3 year old can use this remote to turn on all the gear in my theater. I created an actvity button to turn on the display, 811, av receiver, select sources, and tune to Nick Jr. I also love how easy it was to use discreates to assure everything was off when I hit power off. Now, if you plan on using your univseral in conjunction with a DVR I do not recommend the model 659, the transport buttons are not ideally placed on this model. When your ready to buy look around...I got my 659 off Buy.com on a power buy for around $60.
> 
> I would recommend reading the remote reviews over at www.remotecentral.com.


Does the harmony run the dish 811? I thought the 811 used a uhf remote instead of ir. I went to the logitech site and didn't see anything about the harmony being uhf capable.


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## Jon Spackman (Feb 7, 2005)

Steelhorse-


Your right and your not. The 811 remote does UHF only. BUT the 811 has an IR receiver on the front of it. So the 811 (942, 921,and others) come with UHF remotes but will operate perfectly with an aftermarket Ir based remote.

IE: if you want the harmony, or mx-850, or one for all, or.... just get it because dish receivers respond to IR even if the remote they ship with does not use IR!


Jon


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## steelhorse (Apr 27, 2004)

Thanks much, I had one of those ordered and canceled because I thought it would not work.


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## Stallion (Oct 25, 2005)

j5races said:


> Steelhorse-
> 
> Your right and your not. The 811 remote does UHF only. BUT the 811 has an IR receiver on the front of it. So the 811 (942, 921,and others) come with UHF remotes but will operate perfectly with an aftermarket Ir based remote.
> 
> ...


^ Yea, that.


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