Harmony Remotes

[vincec]

Hey all,

I have a philips 47" HDTV and a Philips blu-ray surround sound system. Every time I turn them on I have to turn the TV on, then use the other remote to turn the surround sound on, then hit source (wait as it switches), hit source again, and then hit source a third time to get it to go to COAX. Is there a harmony remote that I can hit one button to turn both on and have it switch the surround sound to the right input? If so, which remote will do that for the least amount of money. In other words, which is the lowest model I can get that will do that? 

Thanks! 

[triad]

All harmonys work the same (except the 200/300), so choose by device count. If you have 5 or fewer devices a 600 is all you need. If you want bells and whistles like color LCD, recharging, etc., go up the line. The 200/300 can only do one macro, which may all you need. I personally have about 30 macros for my 8 device system to cover every scenario: watch tv with or without surround, watch DVR, listen to music, control lighting, record a DVD, play PS3, watch Netflix on PS3, listen to radio, watch Hulu on PC, etc. You get the idea. Each of those tasks (what harmony calls activities and everyone else calls macros) takes a single button press.

Any remote that does macros will do what you want. Many brands with that capability start around $8. My personal favorite is the $15 RCA RCRP05B which you can program directly on the remote or optionally from a PC like harmony with a cable you buy seperately or build yourself. The cheapest universal that does macros, has programmability via computer and has backlighting and and LCD for additional functions is the Acoustic Research ARRX12G. It's 12 device and about $30 on Amazon. It has a far better price and functionality than a comparable harmony (which would cost about $200).

All that being said, if you have cable, the free remote you got with may also be able to do macros. If you post the model, I can give you the steps and codes to create one button that does everything you posted.

[vincec]

I actually have two devices: A Philips 47" HDTV and a Philips surround sound / bluray player. 47PFL5704D/F7 and HTS3051BV/F7 respectively. 

I had ordered the Harmony 300, and had hoped to be able to get it to turn things on with the one "watch TV" macro. In programming that macro, it allows me to select devices to turn on, and for the TV ONLY, it lets me choose what input to put it on. That feature, if it had it for the surround sound, is all I really need from this remove.

See, once it turns the surround sound on, it has to then hit "source" three times to cycle from DVD through AUX 1 and AUX 2, to finally get to COAX. It's mainly a fault of the surround sound in that it doesn't remember it's last input (which is STUPID in my opinion), but the 300 doesn't allow me too choose an input on the surround sound.

Is it possible that with the 600 I could set an order of tasks for a macro? For instance: Turn TV on, turn Surround sound on, hit source on surround sound, hit it again, hit it again. - Do any remotes have that feature?

Alternatively, would hacking the surround sound to set coax as the default be easier? lol 

[rhachey]

To create macros with the 600, you would have to download the 7.7 software.  If you use MYHarmony.com to setup the remote, which the directions will state in the user directions, you cannot create sequences as macros are called in Harmony terms.

edit: I might also add that sequences are limited to 5 commands.