I'm a long time Harmony user, but becoming obsessed with speed/responsiveness. I have used a Harmony 650 for several years, and the lag is just no longer acceptable. I've optimized the settings as much as possible, but it's still just too slow.
Features I want:
- Control all devices in my home theater
- Activity based like Harmony remotes
- Customizable buttons that I can label. The Harmony 650 has a screen with 4 buttons next to it, so I can create any custom command I want and label it on the remote. The labeling is key, no WAF if I have to tell her "push the green button to toggle subtitles"
- I'm indifferent on IR/RF/Bluetooth, just want it to be very responsive
Does anyone know of a remote that offers these features? The Harmony Smart Control is close, but doesn't have the customizable buttons
I use a Harmony 650 along with a Flirc and there is absolutely zero lag (albeit on windows)
I'm also really fed up with the speed of my Harmony One.
As I understand it the delay is caused by the remote itself which creates an interkey delay even when the setting for that is at zero so I'm not sure how a Flirc would help. Scrolling through lists is really painful. I even tried a newer Harmony Ultimate but the speed wasn't any better and the ergonomics much much worse.
I've ended up using the Harmony for its activities to switch everything on etc but then reaching for my k400 keyboard to control Kodi (on my NUC with built in IR)
There has to be a better solution...
I don't know if this will help but on the Smart Remote thread they have been using Media center Extender as the device. Works really well and much less lag than the other options.
I use a Logitech Harmony Smart Control with a Flirc and its response is more or less instantaneous. (Comparable with my Logitech K400 wireless keyboard.) I use the built-in Flirc profile.
Apparently using a wrong profile is the cause for many people's complaints for lag and slow responses. So I'd advise to try different profiles.
Ah, that's promising, will give it a go tonight. Hopefully it's also effective with older remotes like the One!
Please report what was your experience after you have finished testing. I might buy flirc. It just expensive to order it here in europe but if it improves response it's worth buying.
Harmony ultimate + hp mce is quite slow.
Edit. Shipment would cost 45$ lol.
http://www.kiwi-electronics.eu/flirc-usb...r-receiver
I think this is cheaper for European customers than at the US store. Perhaps there are cheaper stores as well if you're not in the Germany/Netherlands/Belgium area.
Anyway, if your computer case already has an IR receiver, I'd try that one first.
Thank you. Will order soon. Case has ir receiver but it's not good.
I use a harmony 650 with a flirc also, on my firetv in my bedroom, and also have zero lag.
The harmony smart control with the hub is great, I use that on my chromebox in the living room. Love it. But I really don't think the remote control is your problem.
I use my 650 with a Flirc/Chromebox/Openelec, but I don't use the Flirc XBMC profile. I use a keyboard profile so that I have more buttons to work with.
(2015-02-13, 10:08)spoyser Wrote: [ -> ]I use a Harmony 650 along with a Flirc and there is absolutely zero lag (albeit on windows)
(2015-02-14, 00:20)rodalpho Wrote: [ -> ]I use a harmony 650 with a flirc also, on my firetv in my bedroom, and also have zero lag.
The harmony smart control with the hub is great, I use that on my chromebox in the living room. Love it. But I really don't think the remote control is your problem.
I think I'll upload a video when I'm home to see if my idea of lag is the same as yours. It's not that long, but there's just a slight delay after every key press before it actually happens on screen. Like someone else said, scrolling through a list by repeatedly tapping a directional button is kind of painful, especially if you compare it to something faster.
aaronb, i've been in the same boat as you for a very long time. I own just about every revision of harmony remote ever made along with many flirc and various ir adapters. That combination has NEVER achieved "0 lag" in my experience on any platform (linux/windows). For all of the harmony users claiming this please post the exact harmony profile and settings you are using so aaronb and myself can test for ourselves.
I also have a URC mx890 that did better than harmony but still has noticeable lag. What I finally broke down and did was abandon IR interfaces completely. I've moved over to an RTI T2i and RTI T2x, which communicate via zigbee to an RTI XP-6 control processor that runs a
"driver" which controls kodi/xbmc over IP via the json interface. This setup finally, after years and thousands of dollars, achieves true 0 lag. It is just as fast as connecting a usb keyboard to the machine and hammering on the down arrow as fast as you can.
If the users here who claim to have achieved this with a harmony setup would post their exact setups I would be ecstatic to abandon RTI and switch back to harmony due to price and a more open nature of the company. RTI is a terrible company that attempts to hide all of their software and programming behind a hideously overpriced dealer/programmer network requiring you to pay somebody hundreds of dollars to program your remotes for you, and you have to pay them to come out for every little change you may want to make in the future. I refuse to do this.
If you look hard and long enough like I did there are ways to get their software and program the remotes yourself, but it's very difficult to find and you will be on your own. The few forums out there with people who know anything about RTI are filled with installers attempting to protect their livelihoods by hoarding knowledge and refusing to help with the most basic questions.
In my living room, I'm using the harmony smart control with the recommended "Microsoft Media Center Extender" device and a positively ancient USB Microsoft MCE receiver. Kodi is running on a chromebox. This truly is instant response.
In my bedroom, I'm using the harmony 650 with the exact same "Microsoft Media Center Extender" device and a Flirc. Kodi is on a FireTV (non-stick). It's a bit slower response, but I attribute that to running on a firetv rather than a real computer. It's still very fast and not at all annoying to me.