Thread: Harmony remotes - replacing 880

Originally Posted by John Kotches

navychop:

You're still in the early phase with it. Give it another day or so and then share some thoughts

OK, let's compare the two Harmony remotes. First off, both are set up for the Dish ViP722 satellite receiver/DVR, an Onkyo TX-SR805 AV receiver, Oppo 83 optical disc player, VHS (never used, just 'left over'), JVC 61" HDTV, Sony DVR 500 (not actually connected anymore) and a VGA connection for laptop use of the TV screen. Both are programmed identically thru the Harmony site. I just copied over the 880 settings to the One. Originally, I set up the 880 by listing what devices were going to be controlled by the remote. Harmony automatically set up all the "activities" (more on this later). I did redefine the bottom two outboard keys as DVR & SEARCH. These options exist on the touch screen, I'm just used to pressing at that location. Defining the keys is easy, you just look down a list of keys and select which function you want it to perform. You can also teach it new IR signals if need be.

For the Harmony One, initial selections (& some later choices) are made on the touch screen. On the 880, the display was not touch sensitive, you would press a button next to the displayed choice you selected. The touch screen is nice, if rather fond of fingerprints. With Harmony, when you pick up the remote, it comes to life (motion sensitive) and you select an activity on the screen. Activities, which you can name, can be things like DISH - Watch DVD/BD - Radio - Listen to CDs - Watch TV (bypass AV receiver) - Sony DVR - VGA conn. The Harmony site placed these activities in an order I did not care for, so I changed the sequence. VERY easy to do. Initially, three activities are presented on the screen. Later, six onscreen options are available for controls. Also, you can have multiple screens, just scroll right or left. I made Dish the first option, as the most used and the most MiL friendly.

Once you make a selection, such as Dish, you aim the remote at your equipment for a few seconds. Then you see new selections appear on the screen. At this point, most actions you take will be with hard keys; very few choices you want will require the touch screen. I will comment that I think the 880 came to life when picked up ever so slightly faster than the One.

The 880 is more peanut shaped, but the One has a comfortable notch that works just as well for keeping a firm grip. The 880 could sit in it's charging cradle ever so slightly askew and you would not know it until you tried to use it and the batteries were dead. This never happens with the One. It's contact with the cradle is firm. The Harmony One screen is slightly larger, brighter and easier to read. Both are quick to get comfortable with if you are familiar with the standard Dish remote layout. Both have a center diamond that is straddled by volume and channel controls. The 880 has some thin buttons around the screen and dropping down below it. There are no thin buttons on the One. The Activities button, in particular, is much easier to use on the One. This button lets you go from watching Dish, for example, to watching a DVD, without turning off and on the TV set. For those of us with TVs that have a mandatory 90+ second cool down time, this is a mandatory feature.

The Play, Stop, FF, skip and similar buttons are laid out differently. I'm having some difficulty in adjusting, but frankly, they are laid out more logically on the One.

You can adjust the touch screen sensitivity, but I haven't had the need to. I'll note that the 880 was poor at maintaining the time. You could adjust the time, but it always defaulted to a.m. You can adjust the time manually on the One also, but I haven't had the need too; the One seems to keep good time.

I definitely prefer the One over the 880, as do my wife and MiL. But I still use an 880 on my bedroom TV.

Anybody still reading this far? I hope this is of some use; feel free to ask any questions.