Haven't played around with it but it has the shape of a Tivo remote with the figure 8. I'm sure I'll love it :D What are the chances of another woot offering?

I have been looking around at remotes and I am leaning towards the Harmony 670. It looks like Amazon has the lowest price at $122. Does this sound like a price worth jumping on for the 670, or are there any other sites I should check?
Also, should this remote suffice for controlling Onkyo705 receiver, HD DVR, Toshiba A3 and Panasonic 58' Plasma?

It should. I just bought the Onkyo 605 and set that up as well as my sony 55 LCD and Toshiba A3 in no time. The selection for DVR is huge so I see no worries for you as well. Enoy.

Yea...I just added the Toshiba A3 to my Harmony. Took all of 5 minutes include uploading to the remoste.

For that kind of money...I'd think about spending a little more and getting the 880 so you have a rechargable battery.

I just got my JP-1 remote programmed. These are the typical universal remotes sold in places like Wal-Mart and Radio Shack (usually under the name "One For All"), and sometimes given out by cable/satellite companies. If you're willing to learn how to do it and build or buy the appropriate cable, these can be connected to a PC and fully programmed with new device upgrades and protocols, learned signals, etc. Buttons can be moved around, macros can be set up, and if you have a device that doesn't have a readymade upgrade file, you can create them yourself if you have one of the learning models.

I spent $15 on the cable and programmed a $20 remote (that I already had anyway) to support everything. Many of the supported remotes are no longer made, but they can be obtained cheaply on places like eBay.

Here's the site if anyone is interested: http://www.hifi-remote.com/ofa/

Just an FYI. The Harmony 880 is $129.99 at Amazon now. It had been in the $144-150 range in recent days there.

Got the 880 for the $130. Couple of questions:

1. When I use it for DVR, the volume doesn't control the TV. I have the DVR remote set to control the TV. When I try to go through the remote setup with the 880 I can't because when I press Mute and Select simultaneously, it kicks me out of the setup. Other than having to switch back and forth between TV and DVR more, is there another way around this?

I thought I had a brilliant idea (if I may say so myself). I had the DVR side learn two new commands - Volume Up and Volume Down - set to the signal of the DVR when I press up and down (which controls the TV) and then set the volume up and down buttons on the 880... and no dice, does nothing :(

2. For watch DVD, I have it set to turn on the 360 and then wait 10 secs and Down Down Down select. Tried it with 20 secs also because the 360 takes a long time to start (had it go up after 10 secs and then after 10 more secs down down down). None of those work, I just get to the 360s menu and then I have to go into the DVD side manually. Anyone got this to work so that with 1 button, you're actually watching a movie on the 360?

Definitely a lot of tinkering involved. Just get me volume working on the DVR side and I'll be happy as a clam.

Here is a refurbished 880 at Amazon, for $139.99:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...YMP71EXCZ3BYXV

On this page, scroll down a little, and under the heading "Better Together", you can get the 880 AND the ps3 blue tooth remotes for $159.98:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846
That will cover all your concerns! :)

rotfl Don't mean to laugh, but if I were you I would have smash the thing with a sledge hammer by now. This is why I haven't bought one yet. I'd pay quite a bit for a remote that was very simple to set up, and actually worked. It just hasn't been invented yet.

The Harmony 880 sucks. My dad had it for a week and switched it out. It froze up, was hard to see, and wasn't intuitive. All about the Home Theater Master Universal MX-500. :up:

Admittedly the models may be different, and I can't speak to units "freezing up" (as tech toys, there's always some small percentage of defective units), but my Harmony has never been a problem, and setup was not difficult at all. The only part that was time consuming was personal--deciding what I wanted the six 'soft' buttons to do for each activity and how I wanted them laid out.
The only caveat I've had to offer for people who don't often use it at my house is that it apparently processes the commands in order, not all at once, so if you hit an activity, you can't immediately point the remote in the opposite direction.
There might be more powerful remotes, but for me, the Harmony strikes a very good balance between cost, ease of use, ease of updating, equipment library, and customizability.

I assume you mean some of the buttons are hard to see? The color screen is very clear. And while not everyone like the Harmony...not being "intuitive" is something I have never heard about the Harmony. That is my wife likes it. But to each their own...

Nope. I mean everything on the screen is hard to see. The icons are dinky. Even I had a hard time reading the stuff. As for the not being intuitive, I just didn't like the button layout. Plus, after being used to the MX-500 for so long (years), it was difficult to get used to. And, the Harmony seems to have "borrowed" from the design of the Tivo remote, they seem to have taken all the things that sucked from it, not the good stuff. :shrug:

Well you know if you don't like the icons on the scren you can remove them??? I switched backgrounds on the screen to that of a picture from pirates of the carribbean and lost the icons.

If I were to design the 880 I would prefer some of the buttons could have been bigger and easier to read...but overall I love the remote

I had my main remote narrowed down to between the 880 and the Mx-500. After research and playing a little, went with the 880. I'm very happy with it. Is it perfect? No, no remote in this price range it. But I'm very, very...happy with it. Have even tied it into my Lutron wireless light sytems and included lights in each of the activities (macros). Works sweet.

There was good stuff?? I hate that peanut.

But there must be something missing for GatorDeb. The 880 should be controlling the volume properly, no?

Yes...during set up, the walk thru asks you "what controls the volume". You tell it and it should be taken care of.

One thing I don't like on some Harmony models is how they have a row of 4 buttons with, from left to right: stop, reverse, fast-forward, and play. This seems very un-intuitive to me because it goes against most remotes I've used where reverse is to the left and FF is to the right, with play in the middle and stop and pause below it. The 659 has a more traditional transport button layout and would probably be my choice if I was to get a Harmony.

We tried that too, but it was still difficult to see the wording. I think part of it may have had to do with the room, as there was absolutely no light control. There are ridiculously huge windows in this room, with no coverings. Still, I wasn't very impressed with the thing. I'd rather have the bulk of the MX-500. :)

Amazon has the MX-500 for 66.xx shipped!

ZOMG! I already have one. I think it's slightly too big for a bedroom remote. I'm looking at HTM's smaller units for there.

They've also got the Logitech Harmony 550 for $70. Which one is better? Right according to Logitech, the 550 can control 15 devices where the MX-500 only does 10.

Thanks for the info. I may have to pick one up for the living room. Does anyone know if either of these will work with a generic RF adapter? Like this??

http://www.smarthome.com/8045i.html

That is sold by Electronics Expo (electronicsexpo.com). I recently bought something from them, shipped within 2 days, got it the next day. They are located in New jersey.

I don't know, I think I'm getting past my MX-500's capabilities. Sure, it is easily controlling about a dozen devices including lights and TV setups in 2 rooms; and I can use it without even glancing at the buttons; and it's so powerful I control one device bounced off my TV screen and through a glass door at a distance of 24', without really pointing it anywhere particular.

But the 15 main macros just aren't cutting it anymore. Sigh.

Unfortunately, the model I want isn't available anymore. Maybe I can find one somewhere. If I can remember the model number.

Jeez. I don't think I'd ever use more than about 5 macros on mine. I guess different strokes for different folks.