Harmony 880 and Xbox

[Player911]

Hey guys. I was updating my Harmony 880 remote tonight and wanted to set it up to go to the proper inputs on my TV and turn on my Awia surround... I programmed the remote to work with the Microsoft 360, and to my amazement it turned on my Xbox and turned it off when I was done.

I was under the impression that the Xbox could be controlled by a remote, but couldn't be turned on or off because it lacked the several things.

I even did my homework on this prior to tonight and the only way I found it would work is with a mod that puts a receiver to the power cables.

I have an Elite (as you all know). I know Harmony makes a special 360 remote, but I didn't think you could control the power. Is this new or am I excited over nothing?

[TTR Dr Payne]

its not exactly new, no. Controlers have been able to control the 360's power ever since it came out. The Remote that you can buy for the 360(came with it at launch) controls, the power, i have this remote

made by Nyko and it controls the 360s power aswell(from the XBOX Guide Button on it at the top)

[Player911]

Hmmm. Well thats awesome. I bought the Harmony 880


It has always worked great and being able to turn on everything you need to "Watch TV", "Play Xbox", or "Watch DVD".

I'm just really happy that it works.

[paintba||er]

Doesn't that thing cost like $300?

[Player911]

Yes and No. If you buy it retail it'll run like $300. But a smart shopper can find it new in the box for around $120.

It might sound like a lot for a remote, which it is... but I was forced to kinda buy it. We have an 42" LCD HDTV with 12 inputs, Upconverting DVD, HD-DVR Motorola Comcast cable box, Xbox 360, and an Awia surround sound for games and movies.

My TV's remote wouldn't work with my Cable box, and vise versa. This forced at least 2 remotes, plus manually turning on the Awia surround because I lost the remote years ago.

My wife couldn't figure out the "Which input controls what" and "what controls the volume" (tv or surround), etc.

The harmony remote is awesome, put simply. You add all your devices through their online hardware database, then setup various activities (Watch TV, Watch DVD, Play Game).

Each activity has a setup, which you pick what turns on, their order, the input port, where the audio comes from, etc.

Setup takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. When your done, you have 5-6 activites. Press "watch Tv" and it'll turn on the tv, change the input source, and turn on the cable box. Press "watch dvd" and it'll turn off the cable box, switch inputs, turn on the surround sound and dvd player.

Its really cool and you can do lots with them. The color LCD is just a cool factor. The cheaper ones have grayscale screens.

[TTR Dr Payne]

thats a pretty nice remote. It is quite nice only having one controller, but i would never be able to convince myself its worth that kind of money. We have about 6 controllers for our main TV room. Annoying? Yes. $120 to $300 annoying? Hell no, lol

[paintba||er]

LOL I can see it being annoying to have that many remotes, but you can get a $10 remote that controls multiple devices...I don't really care if it has a display....

The Comcast remotes that came with my cable boxes control the cable box, (obviously) TV, and DVD player. I don't have any need for a remote for my 360 or PS3.

[Player911]

Well a normal remote would do most people. But my Olevia TV is a new brand and no universal remote will work with it except the one it came with. Unfortunately the universal remote that came with my TV doesn't work with my cable box, nor would it be able to do do most of the important functions.

The nice thing is that the codes are user submitted. If your harmony records a button for a specific device, it uploads it into the Logitech database.

Plus having the 8 softkeys is amazing. You can set any of the buttons for anything, favorite channels, favorite radio stations, most use functions, etc and those soft keys change depending on what activity your doing.

Was it hard spending that kinda money for that remote... yea; but once you use it and get used to it, I would buy it again if mine broke.

I have a 1 year old kid who throws the thing around. Its very durable and holds its own. It has mercury switches to light up the remote when you pick it up too. Pretty neat.

I bought mine for $85 a few years ago. If you look around for web specials you can find hella good deals for it. $85 is a lot better then $300, which makes it easier to swallow. Not hearing your wife bitch about 1 more thing, priceless.

[paintba||er]

LOL If someone threw around something of mine that was that expensive I would smack them in the face with a brick.

[IllBashU]

^ i doughty u would do that to your kid... especially if he is 1 year old..

[TTR Dr Payne]

your talking about paintballer there bash...hes not a normal human being.:tongue:

[IllBashU]

^ code didn't work well i see your point... *imagines paint's kid being taken away* *laughs* lol :tongue:

[Player911]

Hey guys. I just wanted to let you know for those that are interested.

Amazon has the Harmony 890 for $150

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000198861

It lists it as $250... but use this code at check out for an additional $100 off.
GPTWUNH9

Ebay lists them for around $350... so it'd be a good way to make a quick turn around and make an easy $200.