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Foxbat
Supporting Founder Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in General Home Theater Equipment
Well, I don't know about you, but I have a Harmony Universal Remote and it works great for controlling all the devices in my Home Theater. The problem is the Harmony remote we have is old, experiencing polymer degradation (i.e., its soft-touch case is "sticky" to the touch), and it's on it's second replacement LiIon battery. At some point the battery will die again and I'll be bringing out all the old remotes from hiding.

Also, our tech-adverse friend loves the Harmony 580 (I think that's the model number) that controls her TV, Satellite, AVR, CD player, etc., but she's afraid that she's going to kill the Mute button the further we get into the 2024 Presidential Election. To be fair, she mutes all commercials, so political ads are not her only target for "Mute"…

I have been keeping an eye on the Universal Remote market, especially those that allow for Macro Commands (switch on the TV, switch to Local OTA tuner, tune to Channel xx.ss, switch on the AVR, set input to ARC/HDMI 1, set audio to Dolby Digital, and set volume to 20%) that can be assigned to a single "Watch TV" button. I haven't seen anything promising until Sofabaton showed up.

So I will ask SatelliteGuys, does anyone here have one of the Sofabaton remotes? Does it work as well or better than the Harmony remote? How difficult is it to program? Does it have a good build quality?

Here's a review that came out last month from Tom's Hardware:
6 Replies · 1221 views
Stuart Sweet
I'm also very interested in this answer. A lot of interest in these products right now from Solid Signal customers.
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Foxbat
HDMI and CEC is great if your equipment is recent and talks with everything else, but my tech-adverse friend is not going to like me telling her if the $55 remote dies, she has to replace her entire entertainment center. Maybe not the Denon, but most everything else is over ten years old.
harshness
I'm also very interested in this answer.
It appears that the only way to find out if something is supported is to try it.
K
I have a U1 model from a couple years ago. It does not have the Hub. Been a while but I recall setup was pretty simple via the iPhone app. I didn't have any need for macros so didn't venture in there. Seems to be similar build quality to what I recall of the Harmonys. I was never fond of the Harmony software so I found this easier.

But honestly, I use the Sony TV remote the vast majority of the time.
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Foxbat
Sorry to resurrect my old thread, but I had fun with the Sofabaton U2 remote last week, getting it programmed to control the menagerie of devices in our summer vacation home. My brother had donated the 50" Sceptre HDTV years back, and it keeps on going, so fortunately, it was in the device database. The AVR is a Denon AVR-S760H, the satellite is a Dish ViP 211k, the Blu-ray player is a Panasonic BD-35, and there is a Roku 4K Stick plugged into the Aux2 port on the Denon.

My biggest gripe with the U2 is the lack of Activities that I was so used to with the Harmony remote. There is a Macro capability where you can string together IR codes to get the Entertainment System into the correct configuration, but again, not very editable so you're deleting and recreating the Macro, so it's a pain.

Another disappointment wasn't Sofabaton's fault, but the Roku Stick doesn't do Bluetooth or IR, just proprietary Wi-Fi from the Roku voice remote. It works and all, but gosh darn it, now we're back to having multiple remotes on the end table.

The final letdown for me was not being able to program in all the functions for the Denon. The Harmony can select the different Surround modes via an IR Code that the Harmony can send, faster than cycling though the different Surround modes via the Movie or Music buttons. The App used to program the Sofabaton U2 does not list those Functions, so you can't assign them to a free button (which on the U2, aren't many). Since the Denon Remote doesn't produce this code, you can't use it to "Learn" that code with the U2 remote.

One thing I did find useful was the ability to have the Front Deck speakers available as one of the U2's Devices. That made it much easier to control than using the Denon Remote, pressing Zone 2, selecting the audio input, and setting the volume, then remembering to put the remote back into Main Zone to control the living room volume. If I'm outside on the deck, I'm still going to use my phone's Denon App and control the outside speakers that way as it's communicating via the Cabin LAN, no line-of-sight to the IR receiver needed.

With the U2, there is a Power Button which is used to control the power of the selected device, and a TV Power button which controls the power on the TV. One oddity I found was needing to verify for every device that the Device Power was the Power Toggle for that device, and that the TV Power was set to the Sceptre's Power Toggle code.

Once everything was set up, a little tuning of missing functions was performed. Example: The U2 remote does not have an ⏏ button for opening/closing the tray. So I assigned the "E" button on the keypad to "Eject" by learning the ⏏ button on the Panasonic remote.

Six years back I came up with a cheatsheet with the Denon and TV remotes, and a matrix saying what Inputs for the Denon and TV need to be to watch/listen to the various sources. I need to generate a new cheatsheet that uses the Sofabaton U2 and incorporates the Roku remote as well.
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dfergie
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!
Last reply · posted in TV Shows
Hard getting used to the new younger Gibbs, Mark Harmons son had the right look but I understand he didn't want the role.
Still I'm enjoying, pretty good job with Franks.
61 Replies · 4163 views
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"MysteryMan"
Best episode ever.
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dfergie
I liked the retcon for the change from NIS to NCIS...
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Jimbo
Best episode ever.
I actually think the very first episode was One of the Best ...
S1 E1 Yankee White
Where it all started in what was it, 2003 ?

edit:
Sorry, I got the shows mixed up, were talking Origins ...
I've liked Most of them once we've gotten past the 1st 3-4, getting to know who was who took a bit in the beginning.
It's a bit harder seeing we already Know the person, then go back and see how they became that person.
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KAB
KAB
Mark Harmon is coming back as Gibbs in Origins, for the full season. Just saw, Dinozzo too, on NCIS . That will be an interesting writing project.
dfergie
Really good one with OG Gibbs bookending it...
TheRatPatrol
Last reply · posted in TV Shows
Anyone else watch this show? Any guesses as to what was in the box Gibbs gave to Abby that was on her desk? It look liked it was glowing.

I also heard that someone was leaving the show at the end of this season. Any guesses as to who thats going to be?
2130 Replies · 214624 views
Jimbo

Howard ...
You don't like Tony, or Tony as the Director (he's only been there for 30 seconds now) or you don't like NCIS ?
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Howard Simmons
Howard ...
You don't like Tony, or Tony as the Director (he's only been there for 30 seconds now) or you don't like NCIS ?
Tony as the director.🙄
Jimbo
Tony as the director.🙄
Would you rather have LaRoche ???
dfergie
I liked this episode and a toned down Tony...
H
Last reply · posted in FTA Receiver / Equipment Support
I just received 6 receiver 2 port mini Multiswitch and it work great, no external power need it, and you can connect 6 receiver instead of 4 on most Mini Multiswitches... If anyone is interested in where they can get one PM me....
IMG_1786.webp
3 Replies · 50 views
Titanium
Have you tested using external power? Over the years, have found unpowered polarity switching to be unreliable. Especially problematic when used with DiSEqC motors or switch stacking.
H
No I have not. I just got it the other day and it is connected to six receivers working just fine. What I do is non power mini multi-switches work best with LNBF's and with LNB's
H
It also has a IPS and a OPS switch on the side of it with a power led light showing when is on. It seems to be very nice build switch
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in Internet Television (IPTV) Discussion Forum
Wasn't exactly sure where to post this. Just had a customer come in inquiring about internet. He has HughesNet and had heard good things about mine. He asked if we provided email addresses and it kinda caught me off guard. I said he should be able to keep whatever email he had been using....my sister in law is still using a BellSouth email addy and they haven't been around here for many years. He said he had gotten a letter from HughesNet stating that they had until Nov 16th to save, move, forward, whatever, their Hughesnet emails because they would lose them after that date.

I have never heard of a company simply mass-deleting email accounts (the customer still has his HughesNet service). From what I understand, in the past, the company who was ditching their email service simply sold the customer base to a company like Google.

Anyone else getting this letter. He said he would show it to me tomorrow when I go out there and set up his internet.
5 Replies · 68 views
Foxbat
Doing a Google of the HughesNet Email notice, it seems that HughesNet has been trying to eliminate hosting emails since 2019. And with HughesNet filing Chapter 11 back in August, it would be a smart move to switch to a more stable Email provider. Even AT&T farmed out their Email to Yahoo! years ago.

SpaceX's Starlink and the Cellular 5G Home Internet solutions have pretty much relegated HughesNet and its high latency, low bandwidth Internet service to History. If Earth had shorter days, maybe a Geostationary Internet Solution might have stood a fighting chance…
dishstaller
Well, I helped him set up a gmail acct....I actually wanted to see what the new process is for setting up a gmail acct since it had been years since I set mine up. Anyway, I showed him how to forward the emails he wanted to keep over.
navychop
If Earth had shorter days,

Wouldn't we then die of old age sooner?

🙄
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Foxbat
Wouldn't we then die of old age sooner?

🙄
Still the same number of years, just more Sunsets…😉
K
Even AT&T farmed out their Email to Yahoo! years ago.

I still have one of those although I've been trying to wean myself off it.
Bobby
Supporting Founder Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in DISH Network Support Forum
This is a thread that will keep you apprised of 4K events that will be showing on Dish channel 540. Keep looking here for information.

As of today, 9-27-17, there are no scheduled events posted for the next 2 weeks. That is subject to change on a daily basis.
761 Replies · 166953 views
Bobby
MLB, Brewers at Dodgers, Wednesday 10-14, 5PM PDT, Channel 148-02.
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Bobby
MLB, Brewers at Dodgers, Thursday 10-15, 6PM PDT, Channel 148-02.
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Bobby
CFB, Notre Dame at BYU, Saturday 10-27, 4:30PM PDT, Channel 148-03.
Bobby
NASCAR, Freeway Insurance 500, Sunday 10-18, 12PM PDT, Channel 148-04.
Bobby
CFB, Ohio State at Indiana, Saturday 10-17, 9AM PDT, Channel 148-01.
CFB, Arizona State at Texas Tech, Saturday 10-17, 12:30PM PDT, Channel 148-01.
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Former member 209992
Last reply · posted in SatelliteGuys Support Center
For some reason, the satelliteguys.us site is loading a lot slower than usual on both Chrome on my Asus laptop and Safari on my iPhone.
I'm also seeing longer appearances of the blue bar at the top and the "3 blue bars" loading symbol.
Is anyone else also having the same problem? Thanks in advance.
524 Replies · 17842 views
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Foxbat
Yeah. It's probably something going on with the MacBook as my iPhone has been pretty snappy.
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Scott Greczkowski
I have been optimizing the site the past few days... and got us here now. :) We are rocking now!

Screenshot 2026-10-15 144737.webp
Foxbat
Yeah. It's probably something going on with the MacBook as my iPhone has been pretty snappy.
I rebooted my MacBook Air and it's zipping right along. Sorry, but it was taking over 20 seconds to load pages, with the pulsing blue bars so it was munching on something.
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Scott Greczkowski
Remember folks... just like DNS... its always Foxbat. :D
Foxbat
Remember folks... just like DNS... its always Foxbat. :D
WTF… …What the Foxbat!😱
dishstaller
Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Can't help but wonder if a worker overlooked checking the harness. I rarely ride a roller coaster anymore but when I do I check the harness myself pretty aggressively.
Can't imagine what the son is going through.

22 Replies · 181 views
Jimbo
Back on the Goliath Roller Coaster ... I'm interested to find more details as well ...
Like where on the track did this happen (somewhere I read that it was on the climb up the top), which is impossible ...

They really need to take that ride and add at the very least, seatbelts ...

The Park is opening back up on Friday, the ride will Not be opening ... personally, I would keep it closed until different type of restraints can be designed and installed (over the winter).

I find it hard to believe that this ride is even allowed to be running with the restraints that exist at the moment, there are other rides that use the same type and they have been shut down across the country.

You got to believe that every ride has at least 2 types of restraint systems in place.

I wonder what and when we will hear from the Manufacturer ... and whatever governing bodies control these ...

Just think, this is a Major Amusement Park .... I would not have any problem getting on the Roller Coasters I have rode ...

Imagine what these County Fairs and others like them, I would not be caught Dead on one of them ... they get put up and tore down every other week, where is the safety for those rides ... No Thank You.
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Jimbo
navychop
I would not be caught Dead on one of them

Yet IF you were on one, you might be caught dead.
dishstaller
Had no idea there were that many redundancies built into those restraints.
Jimbo
Had no idea there were that many redundancies built into those restraints.
It makes sense, however, I would want more types of restraints, so if one doesn't work, the other does ... the restraints coming over the shoulder I would have expected ... with a Seat belt as last resort.

Fwiw, I inquired with what they use on Coasters at Cedar Point, various Coasters, different restraints according to what the car and track requires ...

NONE of the Coasters at CP use THAT particular system :)
I'm glad to see ...
dishstaller
with a Seat belt as last resort.
According to the article, when you see a seat belt on a ride like this, it is basically used as a way of making sure the rider isn't too large/fat to safely ride the ride.
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
· posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network
0 Replies · 9 views