I'm just looking at the Harmony 1100 and 900 remotes for my set up at home. I'm looking to have my home theater speakers along with my speakers throughout my place connected to my receiver.I'm then thinking of hooking up Apple TV so that i can listen to music from my computer throughout my place.

If i have my RF remote in the basement with the receiver, will the remote be able to control everything even if i'm on the 2nd or 3rd floor?

The AppleTV uses an IR remote but...
1. it can learn from any IR remote, and supports a few extra playback buttons
2. a wireless to IR extender will work
3. it can be wireless controlled from an iTouch or iPhone.
4. iTunes can playback music Airtunes through the ATV

is the answer...

you could place your equipment in the basement with the RF extender installed and the remote could be programmed to do things like "apple tv - Kitchen" or "CD - Living room" By doing this you can have your receiver (based on its capabilities) determine which speakers the ATV is feeding.

The harmony is good at turning the apple tv on, in fact in my experience, the ATV rarely ever turns off and if it does, it turns itself back on.

Getting the harmony to control the menus can be done but takes some tweaking. Users do help in fixing the harmony settings int he database, and i have not tried the newer settings for fear of screwing up my own settings.

this said, the previous poster is correct, that by using "remote" on your ipod touch or iphone, in combination with your harmony, you will feel like you are using a very sophisticated system indeed. writing this makes me think that harmony oughta write an application that enables the iphone t o control the RF extender, now that would be incredibly cool!

good luck.....

further to above

you might want to look at this

http://l5technology.com/featured-news/l5-remote-debuts-at-ces-2010/

When turning on the Apple tv through the Harmony, are you just able to access the songs in itunes or can you access internet radio as well? What is the RF extender, i'm assuming this wouldn't come with the Harmony.

The l5Techonolgy transmitter for the iphone looks very cool too, wondering if it makes sense to wait for it and whether it would do everything the Harmony could. I just want to be able to control my HT settings/PS3 as well as playing music through my computer/Apple TV throughout my place.

in reality, the harmony is fantastic

it will control everything, and fully control aplle tv, its just a little work to get it to control apple tv well.

the rf ectender is the IR blaster that comes with the harmomy.....

p.s.

the harmony 890 was being blown out over the holidays at places like futureshop, and it is all you need

great to know, i'll look for the 890 as well. Where i bought my speakers they have Universal remotes and they mentioned they would even set the remote up for me. It doesn't look as nice as the Harmony but just wondering, are they that difficult to program and operate? How did you end up figuring yours out?

If the place you bought your speakers was referring to the brand Universal Remote Control, they are vastly superior remotes to Harmony. For a setup like yours, an MX-810 or 880 with RF base station (MRF-260 or MRF-350) would be very nice indeed. Which model were they suggesting? Looks are subjective, but I will put the build quality and ergonomics of URC's product line up against Harmony any day of the week. The MX-810/880 form factor is simply the best wand style remote I've ever seen for ergonomics and balance. The MX-980 is almost as good and the MX-5000 is simply a beautiful remote (although very expensive and overkill for your situation).

Let them program it for you because there is a learning curve with higher end remotes like those offered by URC. That said, as an authorized URC dealer they are allowed to give you a copy of the software. Insist on that as part of the deal if you do it so that you can tweak the programming yourself ... and as you add components you will not need professional programming.

I think the Harmony 900 is one of the few products of theirs I would recommend in terms of ergonomics and build quality (the One and maybe the 700 are the others). It is, however, expensive for a wizard based remote. While those allow consumers to program systems themselves with somewhat relative ease ... that limits the flexibility and power of the remote. Macros, jumps, page navigation, aliases, and variables are what makes products like those offered by URC (or RTI, UEI (Nevo), and Philips (Pronto)) so much more effective. Especially since you're doing multi-zone, multi-level.

Since the 890 also has IR and an AppleTV would be impossible to navigate blindly I'm not sure how useful being in another room is while controlling it. Of course Pause / Play & skip would still work.

with the iPhone / iTouch as a remote you don't need to see the TV menus, Also IMHO this combo in many ways is more powerful and a better value than a Sonos system. I've also seen an elegant Wifi to IR bridge but can't remember where for the iTouch.

Since the 890 also has IR and an AppleTV would be impossible to navigate blindly I'm not sure how useful being in another room is while controlling it. Of course Pause / Play & skip would still work.



Autonomics is making modules for Creston remotes that control an ATV over IP, allowing for complete control from the display on the remote. The beta version of the same module for the URC MX-6000 is out, the MX-5000 to follow, as well as modules for RTI and AMX remotes.

There are solutions out there that address this issue. The iPhone/iTouch app is very cool and I don't mean to be remotely dismissive of it. But, there's a difference between that and a dedicated remote that can control a whole home theatre system, or even multi-zone control which seems, from the original post, more along the lines of what he's looking for.

Don't know anything about RF remotes, but it should be able to control an Apple TV easily. Apple TV has a learning mode to learn a new remote. I use my remote that came with the TV to control my Apple TV. I use the DVD function of the TV remote to control the Apple TV and just had Apple TV learn that remote.

hkaye, the purpose of RF in this application is to allow control of devices (receiver, AppleTV) from other rooms. IR only works line of sight so the Apple remote is of no value to this application. The OP wants to set an RF base station where his receiver and AppleTV are and have the ability to control it anywhere in the house.

An RF setup will control, through an RF base station, any of his IR devices from anywhere in the house. That still leaves a problem with the AppleTV of not seeing the display. That requires a more sophisticated solution such as the iTouch/iPhone app or a remote capable of two-way IP control of an AppleTV (so far only Creston has it in full release, URC is in beta but very near release, and AMX and RTI are pending ... don't know of any others at this point).

"That still leaves a problem with the AppleTV of not seeing the display."

okay, don't get it, why would the AppleTV need to 'see' the display?

No, one needs to be able to see the TV screen that the AppleTV is hooked up to to properly use it. If you're in another room, you cannot navigate an AppleTV.

The iTouch/iPhone app lets you queue songs, see what's playing, change playlists, etc. from any room. Likewise a remote that feature two-way IP control of an AppleTV. You can see an demo of what we're talking about at Autnomics website here (http://www.autonomichome.com/Apple-TV/mirage.html). That is running on a Creston remote, but the URC/RTI/AMX applications are very similar.

ah, okay, I guess I was missing the point.

ok, back to basics here, no where dod the initial post suggested how complicated a setup he had and how much functionality he wanted.....

that said, the harmony can and will do anything imaginable. Old school (need a technician to set it up) URs are ridiculous as compared to the harmony offering. Please name something a Harmony cannot do?

I too am confused as to what the hell Johnny C is taking about.....I have my apple tv hidden and controlled by my harmony just fine and i use the ATV for everything. If one has the harmony paired with the remote application on the ipod, this is a fabulous setup for "not being in the room"

I control the music and volume from my hot tub all year long via ipod. As far as hiding the atv and controlling it, harmony is more than sufficient.

I question wether all of the posters on this string offering alternatives have even used an ATV or for that matter a harmony?

I named a number of things a Harmony can't do, but that's not the point. The point is that, if you read his post again, he's talking about whole house audio and listening to his computer throughout his house. The AppleTV is one way of doing that. A server is another. He hasn't indicated whether he wants things like independent audio levels in each zone.

Whether you're a fan of Harmony or not, whole house audio stretches the capabilities of their remotes beyond what I believe they are effective at. You're also missing a key element here and that is your proposed solution of using a iTouch and a Harmony remote means using two remotes to control one playback device. When you cost the Harmony he's looking at with an iTouch ... you can do much better for less with products from higher end remote manufacturers. He mentioned his dealer carries URC and that's how they came up in this thread. They have some neat products just being released in the area of two-way IP control that will give Sonos like control of an AppleTV from your system remote. Nothing Harmony makes can touch that.

And yes, I've used and programmed several Harmonys. Several URC remotes. Several Philips Pronto and Marantz remotes. I also have an AppleTV.

Hey guys, the remote my dealer suggested was the URC as Johnny had mentioned, although it was grey and didn't look like either the MX-810 or 880. Although i'm all about functionality, i'm also a designer and well the ergonomics of it just didn't catch my eye, so i was curious about the Harmony remotes, especially the 1100 with it's touch screen. The MX-810 and 880 do look interesting though.

I also have an iphone and have actually tested adjusting my music through itunes from my downstairs and it works fine. So i do have the option of using my iphone in conjunction with another remote if i have to.

Was it wand style? Then it's probably either the MX-980 (http://www.universalremote.com/product_detail.php?model=135) or the MX-5000 (http://www.universalremote.com/product_detail.php?model=173). If it's the 980, it's an excellent, and very powerful, remote. Excellent ergonomics as well. One weakness is that it lacks a dedicated record button. I have one that I used to use as my main remote and I addressed that issue by placing a press&hold macro on the Stop button (press and hold the stop button for more than 1.5 seconds and it issues the record comment). Not that it's the best approach, just to illustrate the power of remotes in this league with things like press & hold macros, variable, etc.

If it's the MX-5000 ... that is the funkiest, coolest, most "make my friends and guests jaw drop" remote currently in the marketplace. It features two-way IP control which the 980 doesn't, but what makes it cool is the haptic feedback touchscreen. The biggest drawback of touchscreens is the lack of tactile feel and feedback. URC has an ingenious approach to addressing that with haptic feedback. My touchscreen vibrates where I press it.

If it's not wand style, it probably is the MX-6000 (http://www.universalremote.com/product_detail.php?model=156) which is the most powerful remote in their line. Never played with it myself as I much prefer wand style remotes.

If it is the 5000 or 6000, those are pretty expensive remotes and a Harmony or lower-end URC solution combined with your iPhone would certainly be less costly and possible more cost-effective approach. Not necessarily the coolest or most convenient (two units to control one device) but it may be hard to justify the cost of one of those remotes just for that application.

Looks like the remote my retailer was recommending was the MX-850, which looks to be a mid range remote and not as snazzy looking as the ones you had mentioned Johnny. I actually called them today to find out pricing on both the MX-980 ($700 CDN) & the MX-5000 ($1500 CDN). Which is more than my receiver! The do look nice though. I was leaning towards the Harmony 1100 originally because for the most part the remote will be laying around my kitchen and HT, so wasn't sure if having a remote in a kitchen would feel out of place. This is obviously not a major issue as i'm sure i could tuck it away somewhere. Those URC remotes do seem nice but wondering if they may be overkill for what i need. The cost is a bit of an issue, especially since i have to also add an RF base station as well...

Johnny you mentioned the lack of a record feature on the MX980, do you mean recording a tv station or recording info. from each device, just wasn't totally clear and what is the benefit if the 2 way IP control?