I just read that Catt owns the 880... I bought a Harmony One about 4 months ago, and have loved it ever since.
Touch screen, macro functions, and you can make customized touch-screen buttons for your favorite channels.
Macro functions: if I want to watch TV, I press my customized "Watch TV" button. It turns on my TV, receiver, and cable box. TV is set to HDMI input 1, receiver set to HDMI input 1, and I am watching TV. The volume button is set to change volume on the receiver, but the channel buttons are for the cable box.
When I want to go from TV to watching a dvd, I press my customized "Watch BD/DVD" button. It shuts the cable box off, sets the receiver to HDMI input 2, and would turn on the dvd player if mine wasn't bluetooth only (PS 3.... the PS3 to Harmony interface is $60, haven't bought it yet).
SO it's pretty cool.
Has a charging cradle, so once a week I just let it sit on the charger overnight and I am good for another week (logistics in the living room are bad, at the moment, otherwise it would sit on the cradle every night).
You program it through a computer. Load the software, and there is an installation wizard. You just punch in the brand and model number of all of the components you want to control, and the remote will automatically know how to signal it. This remote will control anything remote controllable. I will be getting a new ceiling fan/light fixture in the living room soon, and this remote will operate it.
If you buy a new Harmony remote, even a different model, you just go into the software, say you have a new remote, and the settings will automatically download to the new remote.
There are a few tiers of these things, I think the Harmony One is somewhere in the middle. I paid $150, I saw a $400 and a $100 model that I remember.
But it's pretty damned cool.
Logitech Harmony universal remotes
Yeah, I have the 880. I really like it, but it does have a couple of downsides.
1) The software on the PC to program it kinda sucks. It does everything you would need, but it's clunky and hard to just make small changes.
2) This is really more of an issue with my setup. My TV doesn't have a "go to input2" button. It cycles. So the remote remembers what state it thinks the TV is in. If they ever get out of synch, you have to manually resynch them (either manually change the tv using the buttons on the TV, or tell the remote to tune to the activity the tv is on while covering the IR xmitter).
As for the 880 itself, I love the ergonomics. Very easy to hold in one hand, and to use without even looking at it. And, it will turn on its own backlight when it detects you picking it up to make it easier if you need to look at it.
1) The software on the PC to program it kinda sucks. It does everything you would need, but it's clunky and hard to just make small changes.
2) This is really more of an issue with my setup. My TV doesn't have a "go to input2" button. It cycles. So the remote remembers what state it thinks the TV is in. If they ever get out of synch, you have to manually resynch them (either manually change the tv using the buttons on the TV, or tell the remote to tune to the activity the tv is on while covering the IR xmitter).
As for the 880 itself, I love the ergonomics. Very easy to hold in one hand, and to use without even looking at it. And, it will turn on its own backlight when it detects you picking it up to make it easier if you need to look at it.
It's not me, it's someone else.
I, too, have an 880.
It had a really weird problem with my TV when I got it. My TV uses "Input" to cycle through sources, but for some reason if the target source was higher up the list of inputs (requiring a cycle past the end of the list) then the remote wouldn't change the input at all, but would think it did so that all subsequent attempts to change inputs would be off. It was freaky. But after several calls to Logitech customer services, they got a Tier 3 tech on it who did a little custom programing on my account to make it work.
Other than that, I've loved it. I picked up some X10 modules and an IR reciever for it so I even have it doing lights and whatnot. When I leave for work I have a button for that that powers everything down, changes the A/C setting, and turns off the lights. When I come home it turns everything back on for me. It's just one small step short of a full home automation system, all in a remote control that cost me just a little over $100.
Although, yeah, the setup can be pretty darn clunky. On the other hand, it's got so many options you can make it do almost anything.
It had a really weird problem with my TV when I got it. My TV uses "Input" to cycle through sources, but for some reason if the target source was higher up the list of inputs (requiring a cycle past the end of the list) then the remote wouldn't change the input at all, but would think it did so that all subsequent attempts to change inputs would be off. It was freaky. But after several calls to Logitech customer services, they got a Tier 3 tech on it who did a little custom programing on my account to make it work.
Other than that, I've loved it. I picked up some X10 modules and an IR reciever for it so I even have it doing lights and whatnot. When I leave for work I have a button for that that powers everything down, changes the A/C setting, and turns off the lights. When I come home it turns everything back on for me. It's just one small step short of a full home automation system, all in a remote control that cost me just a little over $100.
Although, yeah, the setup can be pretty darn clunky. On the other hand, it's got so many options you can make it do almost anything.
"ATTENTION: Customers browsing porn must hold magazines with both hands at all times!"
Try holding one. Touchscreen vs. buttons beside the LCD and 6 vs 8 "zones" in the LCD screen are the biggest quantifiable differences, but the feel of each remote is very different and you may find you'll like one better than the other. The 880 may also be able to be found a little cheaper (at least online) than the One since it's older.
Their appear to be pretty much the same, functionality-wise. But the little screen on the One is a touchscreen, where as it's just a display, with hard buttons, on the 880
It's not me, it's someone else.
Last week:
Recently I noticed the battery wasn't holding a charge for more than a day, so I bought a new battery from amazon. Same model number, looked exactly the same as the old battery, and it powered up my remote. Threw the old battery away.
I didn't notice for about a week that it wasn't charging in the cradle. I hang it up, and in about 5 seconds I get an error message on the remote, "Cannot charge, go to the support website." I didn't notice that for several days.
So I googled the issue, and their website said to make sure firmware was current, and to enter safe mode and try that, and a couple other things, but nothing worked.
Got another replacement battery... still doesn't work. Opened a helpdesk ticket at logitech, they told me do the firmware update/safe mode, and when it didn't work they gave me a 50% off code for any item from their store, to replace my remote.
I guess I am satisfied with that resolution.
I saw somewhere something about a magnet for the battery that would fix the issue, but couldn't get a lot of details.
And now today:
My brand new Harmony One remote arrived today.
Threw the new one on the old cradle: it began to charge.
Opened the battery compartment.
Brand new battery in old remote: it charges.
Replacement battery in brand new remote: it doesn't charge.
It is definitely the battery.
I compared the two batteries:
They have the exact same model number: R-IG7.
The only difference between the two is that the one that DOES recharge says 930mAh, and the one that does NOT recharge says 1200mAh.
I don't know those two different ratings mean, but apparently it is keeping my remotes from recharging. Also, I went back to my Amazon order, and the picture of the battery I ordered said 930mAh. The one they sent said 1200mAh. But again, same model number, so I don't even know wtf.
Unless the amazon resellers who sent me replacement batteries just happened to send me 2 bad ones in a row.
Recently I noticed the battery wasn't holding a charge for more than a day, so I bought a new battery from amazon. Same model number, looked exactly the same as the old battery, and it powered up my remote. Threw the old battery away.
I didn't notice for about a week that it wasn't charging in the cradle. I hang it up, and in about 5 seconds I get an error message on the remote, "Cannot charge, go to the support website." I didn't notice that for several days.
So I googled the issue, and their website said to make sure firmware was current, and to enter safe mode and try that, and a couple other things, but nothing worked.
Got another replacement battery... still doesn't work. Opened a helpdesk ticket at logitech, they told me do the firmware update/safe mode, and when it didn't work they gave me a 50% off code for any item from their store, to replace my remote.
I guess I am satisfied with that resolution.
I saw somewhere something about a magnet for the battery that would fix the issue, but couldn't get a lot of details.
And now today:
My brand new Harmony One remote arrived today.
Threw the new one on the old cradle: it began to charge.
Opened the battery compartment.
Brand new battery in old remote: it charges.
Replacement battery in brand new remote: it doesn't charge.
It is definitely the battery.
I compared the two batteries:
They have the exact same model number: R-IG7.
The only difference between the two is that the one that DOES recharge says 930mAh, and the one that does NOT recharge says 1200mAh.
I don't know those two different ratings mean, but apparently it is keeping my remotes from recharging. Also, I went back to my Amazon order, and the picture of the battery I ordered said 930mAh. The one they sent said 1200mAh. But again, same model number, so I don't even know wtf.
Unless the amazon resellers who sent me replacement batteries just happened to send me 2 bad ones in a row.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
Weird. the mAh is the capacity of the battery, how much electricity it can hold. Voltage or other things would contribute to charging issues, but not mAh. Although, possible that the battery has electronics or something in it that prevent it from charging if it's not an official battery or such.
It's not me, it's someone else.