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  • Universal remote controls

    Hello,

    I've spent quite a lot of time programming the universal remote control my parents have: the marantz RC5400. While it is a nice device, one thing bothers me: you cannot store information in variables (e.g. to create true interactivity: if button x is pressed, set value x to 5;have the image of another button be dependant of x; and so on) - unlike what is said on RemoteCentral (same goes for the marantz 9500).
    The remote has enough memory to emulate this sort of behaviour by switching pages, but it made me wonder if there are remotes that do support variables.

    I'm not immediately in the market for one, I'm merely curious.

    Thanks!


    Jörg
    pixar
    Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow. (James Dean)

  • #2
    I have the logitech 880 which is a really nice unit... but programming it is both easy and the biggest pain in the butt. If you don't go through the wizard's steps you can't do it and making something truly custom... you just can't
    Wikipedia and Google.... the needles to my tangent habit.
    ________________________________________________

    That special feeling we get in the cockles of our hearts, Or maybe below the cockles, Maybe in the sub-cockle area, Maybe in the liver, Maybe in the kidneys, Maybe even in the colon, We don't know.

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    • #3
      Reviews of the latest universal remote controls, a file area, programming help, message forums and more!

      Is a site I used way back for looking at remotes. I haven't looked into remotes since then, but you should be able to find what your asking here.
      Have fun.

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      • #4
        Claymonkey: yes, I read that the Logitechs are too userfriendly in that it limits their abilities...

        Rhinoz: well, RemoteCentral drops the ball very consistently on the Marantz and Pronto remotes by stating they support variables (which they don't).

        What bothers me is for instance if you want to define a button to swicht something on (e.g. random play on a cd player), and you would like to have the status (on/off) reflected on the button.The only way I found to achieve this is by defining a second page (with all the buttons, but a different state random button), and switch to this new page when pressing the button. While this works (and while there is sufficiant memory to do this), it is really cumbersome when combining stuff.
        For the CD player, I now have 4 additional pages just to be able to show the status of random play, intro scan, repeat track and repeat disk (luckily, the player isn't capable of combining these functions, or I would have much more pages ). For the TV, I have 2 sets of pages: one for stand alone use, and one for when the sound is coming via the home cinema amplifier (as I cannot store this status in the remote). Combine this with a relatively primitive software, and you can imagine the complexity.

        I just checked the Marantz website, and noticed they renewed the entire remote control range, and are now going with wifi-devices! (this apprently also opens to the to full pc control )

        Jörg
        pixar
        Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow. (James Dean)

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        • #5
          Anyone know of any third-party/open source software that can be used with the logitech remotes? I do love the sheer number of devices they have in their database but alternatives are always interesting.
          Wikipedia and Google.... the needles to my tangent habit.
          ________________________________________________

          That special feeling we get in the cockles of our hearts, Or maybe below the cockles, Maybe in the sub-cockle area, Maybe in the liver, Maybe in the kidneys, Maybe even in the colon, We don't know.

          Comment


          • #6
            ...i just got done rebuilding my home theater and i puchased the harmony 1000 and it is the first universal remote that i have seen that i can controll all my devices with a very easy to use touch screen with software buttons(..linux is the os i believe)

            the activity screen works like a charm...logitechs database is impressive! i added all my devices and renamed them to what i wanted to show on the screen...logitechs software gives you full control over this. i then had to delete a lot of commands that i never used with any frequency...i only wanted 4 pages of buttons max(...reciever) and all other devices have 3 pages, my hdmi switch has 1. on both of my players i put the "navpad" on page 2 so that they were consistant with each other.

            the only drawback i can see so far is that you have to be connected to the web and logged on with their software...this doesn't sound like a big deal but your "session" has a time limit and there is no clock that reminds you of how much time you have left...i lost a lot of work in configuring my buttons at first because of this...but then it dawned on me that i didn't have to use their up/down arrow format to move commands to button labels...i'm all set now with the remote configured exactly the way i want it....yaaaaaaaaa!

            i have used now for two days have yet to get out any original remote...here are my pieces

            sharp aquos 65"
            samsung bd-p1400
            toshiba hd-xa3
            octava hdmi switch w/toslink routing
            sony str-da5es
            motorola digital cable reciever w/dvr

            cc
            Last edited by Chucky Cheese; 25 November 2007, 02:02. Reason: missing "the"

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