RIP Harmony

Now that Harmony is being discontinued, what now? I love my Harmony remote. It runs my AV system. I truly cannot fathom not having it.

Is there anything close to it at all? Thoughts?

Link : Update: Logitech Kills Harmony Remotes | AV Gadgets

I would imagine something new will emerge in the next couple of years.

It would be great if equipment manufactures implemented the HDMI CEC commands properly and you wouldn't need a IR blaster. The remote that came with your TV would be able to control any device through the HDMI cable. But each manufacturer calls it something different and then restricts advanced commands to their product line to lock out 3rd party devices.

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They’ve said they will continue to support and also update - I’m guessing they are waiting for a buy out - the IP and especially the huge database of devicee commands has got to be worth a lot. Let’s hope it’s not the likes of control 4…

That being said: how much longer is this sort of tech relevant … how often is there a need to change sources ..

Personally I use a harmony remote and will for the foreseeable but I wander how many years I’ll have a need ..

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I also love my Harmony. I never use the remote, but have everything linked through the hub. I have a Yamaha receiver, Samsung TV, PS4, Roku, Chromecast TV, Echo Fire cube, xfinity TV, etc. It is linked though Amazon Alexa. I just tell Alexa to turn on Roku (or one of the other inputs). I can tell Alexa to turn on Roku ( or even Netflix) and it will turn on the device, turn on the receiver, turn on the TV and set all the inputs properly. I could tie it into the room lights, but have not done that. The nice thing about harmony is that it worked with both IR and WiFi devices.

I do hope Logitech continues to support their installed customer base, even if no new devices are forthcoming.

I read that Logitech has been trying to sell the IP and they haven't had any biters. I like having the physical remote control in my hand, as I do not use Alexa or other voice controls.

The HDMI 2.1 4K/8K 120Hz and VRR compatibility mess is already causing a lot of AVR enthusiasts and video gamers asking for DisplayPort in TV and AVR. Anything more relied on not really standardized HDMI isn't going to be welcomed by most. And Harmony supports a lot of legacy (and expensive) AV equipment that only work on IR and people aren't going to give them up.

So, who do we need to speak to at Hubitat so that they purchase that IP already! :wink:

In all seriousness, I suspect that if they’re trying to sell it, it must not be bringing them that much revenue...

If you look at home automation in general, we have seen the demise of X10, Iris, Centralite, and now Smartthings and Harmony. I am sure I have missed quite a few others.

Since its inception, home automation has remained a niche market. The average homeowner is not going to go to the trouble of figuring out the difference between WiFI, Zigbee, Z-wave and Bluetooth protocals, much less the nuances between various versions of each.

They are not going to be bothered with pairing devices and programming scenes and routines.

Most folks just want to tank a device out of the box, plug it in and have it work. I have not found a home automation device yet that will do that. For me, the challenge of getting things to work just the way I want them is great fun, but my wife would never consider messing with it. When I decided to switch from Smartthings to Hubitat and was still transitioning between the two devices, my wife got frustrated that some things no longer worked the way she expected.
Now I have things the way she expects them to be, so she is satisfied.

I have tried to get some of my technically minded friends to get involved in home automation, but the best I have achieved is to get one guy to set up a SimpliSafe system. He and his wife often take extended vacations and they want to monitor the home front while they are away.

Custom implementations aside, in my experience these are just too slow...

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It also does LAN, none of my device use WiFi but it finds them all.

It does thing easily that are pain in the @$$ any other way.

I use either the remote on the Hubitat since I have lots of preset activities that are easy to access if my phone it not around. You still need the phone to add devices and activities.

Wink was pretty easy but very limited. The Hubitat Elevation does everything I wished it did and stuff I never imagined I could do. Yes, it would be nice if I could take all those commands the Harmony can do into the HE but I doubt they can afford it. HE may be the best hub but unless you are doing system integration for a living I doubt it is worth the effort for a lot of people. One you learn it, setting up new systems is easy but it is a lot a work for the average lazy person to do. Personally, I find that so much work has been done already I mostly just have to search and copy and paste but that still means it could take weeks not hours to set up. However, they are aggressively adding in built-in or support devices which greatly eases the process for many. Even of Hubitat users I doubt many have a MyQ garage opener which a moderately complicated process to set up compared to a simple switch or sensor like most devices. The hardest part for me was finding fucntion weather app. Fortunately, the built-in OpenWeather one works OK for basic information. It was easy to setup unlike Weather Underground and may others I tried,

Roku Ultra too, I also have a nVidia Shield, a Yamaha NVR and a Samsung TV as well as the Harmony Hub. I turned off power management for the Harmony Hub. It was not needed.

Love my Harmonys. I have a spare new hub and remote in an unopened box. Sounds like they will continue to support them for some considerable time to come.

Looks interesting but every Kickstarter I got involved with outside of my Temptest weather station and bringing back Mystery Science Theater 3000 brought a single production run and then the company disappeared.

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HDMI Cec needs to be actively developed and companies should abide by an alliance. IF YOUR PRODUCT SAY CEC IT FOLLOWS THESE GUIDLINES

Good luck with that :wink:.

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Looks expensive and fragile. Maybe it’s just me, but my remote ends up sat on or dropped 2x a month
I would pay $150 though not thE $349 it’s likely to cost