Harmony Remotes

[RSargeant]

Hiya all,

I've a fairly busy and long-established lounge setup where all the components are in a dedicated cupboard and everything is controlled with a Harmony 1000 using 1 RF extender. All is working fine.

One of the components is a (British) Sky satellite receiver and I've just extended the component output of that to a TV in another room. If I physically take the 1000 into the second room I can change channels etc so there's not a range issue. I want a second Harmony to control the new TV and the sat box.

Obviously my problem now is that the 1000 knows only about a single room. I (think) I've read that the "pro" versions of Harmony (890, 895) are multi-room capable and would therefore allow me to power on the sat box from room 2 when a non-sat activity in the lounge had powered it off, and the 2 rooms activities and remotes would not get confused and lose track of what's going on.

Specifically, can I incorporate the 1000 into a multi-room setup. It would be a shame to have to discontinue using such an expensive  thing, and if not, what must I buy? Two 890 pro's? Are these still available? Any other workarounds?

The whole "pro" thing seems sealed to ordinary mortals, presumably only available to professionals who earn their daily bread with this stuff, but I'm in Switzerland and in my neighborhood I'm the professional having set up about 6 Harmonys for frustrated neighbors! Is there a secret handshake or hidden forum that opens doors? :-).

Richard

[rhachey]

H there has been a bug in the software for the 1000 that will not let it add a second RF extender for over a year.

[towboy123 Logi Legend]

First off there is no back door.  That said the 890 Pro is the route you need to go if you can find them.  They have been discontinued so If you have a warrenty item it would not be replaced with an 890Pro.  They use a different frequency then the euro versions so you would need an American Extender as well.  Setup can be tedious but I have a couple of users through the setup.

Hope this answers all your question if not feel free to ask. 

[hhatkin]

Thanks R - now deleted.

[RSargeant]

Hi towboy, and thanks,

Your answer was not a surprise. Logitech seem to have lost interest in multi-room and drifted away, just as they did with Z-Wave.

Having quickly looked and seen that there's no used 890 pro's I've decided to go the say but less clever route and just get another 895 locally. I'll add another RF extender. The Sat box has discrete on/off codes and there are only two of us in the house so I guess we can co-ordinate who is watching Swiss TV and who wants the satellite!

Thanks again,

Richard

[jcd]

Hi Guys,

I recently upgraded from a 1000 to a 1100 remote.  I also use an 890 in a multi room setup.  I do need to control some of the equipment in the main theatre room from another room.  I guess it could be characterized as using multi mode (RF with extenders and IR) in different rooms / zones.  I was talking to tier 2 support about some customization and learned (my understanding is) that when the Harmony remote(s) are paired with an RF extender,  that communication is discreet between that specific remote and the extender in which it is paired to.  I needed to control 1 multi zone receiver with an 890 and a 1100 remote at the same time.  Tier 2 had no suggestions.  I tested an idea of putting a "Y" adapter onto the IR blaster in between the 1100 RF receiver and the 890 RF receiver.  I programmed the extenders according to their roles. Viola! It worked.  The original test was made with a stereo 3.5 mm 1 female 2 male "Y" splitter (worked fine).  I found a mono version  (non right angle connectors too) of the same "Y" connector (better and correct) on the web at:  http://flashzebra.com/.  

Cheers,

John

**Note to Logitech**  Need to add the ability to sequence back into the 1100 profile.  It is a must have to advanced users.  I  use(d) these features daily with my 890and 1000 remotes.