[Otto]

yourgrandma wrote:

Wow, that sounds great. I think I'm gonna go to Ultimate and grab one this week. Just to clarify, when you pick an activity, the remote presents you with the neede buttons to do that activity?

Yep. Any which way you want to set them up.

Pretty sweet. I dont like macros because I always start from a different point, so If the remote automatically hits the power to my dish reciever when its already on, I have to go through turning it back on....

The macros are optional, and will only do what you tell them to. By default, it will try to turn on whatever device is used in an "activity." For example, it'll try to turn on my TV for the "Watch Dish" activity. I don't like that either, because the TV might be on and then it'll turn it off, just like you said. However, there is another option in there to "leave device on all the time" and then it won't do any on/off stuff, it just leaves the power alone.

Like I was describing earlier, the Harmony database may give you other remote codes that aren't available from your original remote. One of these that comes to mind now is discrete power buttons. So, although your remote perhaps only has a button that says "power," and which simply toggles the device on and off, the Harmony database may have discrete buttons for "on" and "off." Then, you can program some of your macros to turn a device "on" only, and then even if it's already on it won't matter if the macro runs, because it's just sending another "on" command (i.e., it won't toggle it and turn it off). I generally do that for devices that I know I'll need and that have the discrete on/off commands. I know how you feel about the on/off business, and in an effort to get around it all, I simply made an "activity" called "Power" that just has "on" and "off" commands for all devices. At the end of the day, I just go to "Power" and hit them all off. Works great.

Anyway, that was an excellent description, thank you very much, Otto.

Sure, any time. I'm not 100% expert in the Harmony, but I've been working with it for a while now. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer.

One more question: does the 890 include RF reciever/IR transmitters to use it to control, say a Dish reciever down stairs? The lack of an RF remote has been a major complaint since we switched from Dish Network to DirecTV.

The 890 comes with one RF receiver/IR transmitter. I hang that little device on my wall, and it shoots the necessary IR to all devices (I use an open rack that's just sitting in my living room). You can also plug into the rear of that device more IR blinkers (included). I believe there are three or four 1/8" jacks for that purpose, and each wired IR blinker has two "heads" on it. I used these when I had some componentry that was behind the TV and which couldn't be reached by the normal IR blaster. The wires on those things are kinda long (maybe 6 feet?), and I don't know if you could run an extension cable and still have them work. I would certainly try if need be...

Now you're talking about talking to your DirecTV box that's located in the basement. You could certainly do that -- put the single RF receiver down there and use it to communicate with the DTV box. No problem. Assuming that the rest of your components are in the living room (or otherwise away from the DTV box), you can simply tell the 890 to use RF to talk with the DTV box and IR to talk with the other components (the 890 handset can shoot IR directly in addition to RF). However, you're going to lose the ability to control all your devices with the RF capability of the 890. It's not a showstopper by any means, but now that I've become accustomed to not having to point the remote at the rack, there's no going back. I use it all over the house (mostly to control volume of both "zone 1" and "zone 2").

I think there are a couple ways around this. The first thing I'd try is to connect one of the IR blinker extensions to the back of the RF receiver and try to wire that down to the basement. I'd use an extension cable if necessary (again, not sure it'll work, but I'd try). If that doesn't work, I think you can get a second RF receiver and connect that with the 890. I have zero experience with using two RF receivers, but customer service will know.

Anyway, it's been a good remote. Lots of cool features, and super flexible.