I haven't decided what I'm going to use permanently yet.
Right now, I'm using these:
- Gyration MCE remote borrowed from a friend at work. Works well, but uses some kind of RF receiver so I can't use my Home Theater Master MX-500 with it. It is nice that I can use it with no regard for orientation and the mouse feature is useful.
- Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse borrowed from work. Nothing unusual.
- RF remote included with Lian-Li PC-C39 - Absolutely horrid remote, and since it is RF, the receiver itself is also completely useless.
FWIW, I have used a Harmony 700 and Harmony One in the past, but not with a HTPC. I wasn't happy with either one. I found them to be too laggy for my tastes when used with a DVR. I wasn't 100% happy with the tactile feel of the buttons either.
Concerning the 700, I didn't care for the media hard buttons (i.e. TV, music, movies) as it created two methods for accessing the same thing. Not a big complaint, but I also feel that the remote felt far too cheap for the price I paid. Within a week, it developed creaks and squeaks. I also didn't care for the USB plug used for charging it.
I really didn't like the touchscreen on the Harmony One. On my MX-500, I can use the soft keys (i.e. by the LCD) without looking at the screen, but I had to look at the screen to press buttons on the touchscreen. I would also much rather have the tactile feedback of a button than the beeping heard when touching the screen on the One. Build quality was better than the 700, but it also cost considerably more. In comparison, my MX-500 cost $80 and is a tank. It's been tossed, dropped, sat on, crushed, squashed, etc... and is no worse for wear. With either Harmony remote, it felt like one good drop would do them in.
I had no issues getting either remote to do what I wanted, but the software was frustrating at best. First, the very day after I got the 700, the data got corrupted and I had to rebuild a device and all related activities. It took me 30 minutes. I find it inexcusable that they have not included a method to back up your data and that it has to be done via the internet. At the time, their answer was to create a duplicate account, but that means placing a request any time you want a backup. On the other hand, when I got the One, it took little effort to modify the settings to suit the new remote.
Initial setup is vastly simpler on a Harmony, and if you're fine with it out of the box, good for you. If you're a tweaker, that's where I found it frustrating. Every change requires connecting, tweaking, updating, unplugging, testing, verifying the results, and doing it all over again if it still isn't right. I'm a picky SOB though.
I'm also not a fan of rechargeable batteries in remotes. Aside from hybrid batteries, the likes of NiCAD, NiMH and Li-ION suffer from constant drain, even when not used. The first two can develop problems when charged haphazardly and Li-Ion batteries are costly and are not completely exempt from irregular charging cycles.
In the end, after tweaking things, I had both remotes working perfectly. The macros worked nearly 100% of the time and they fired off quickly. However, since I use discrete codes (i.e. discrete on and off vs a on/off toggle) the assistance interface was of no benefit and I never seemed to be able to make it completely go away.
They're fine remotes for what they are. With regardless to the Harmony One, I felt I was paying for features I not only didn't need but did not want. For the 700, it appears handicapped to meet a price point, and that price point was too high IMO; it needs 6 soft keys and needs to feel more like the One in terms of quality. Hell... 6 soft keys and plain AA batteries (reducing cost and hopefully price) and it would be near perfect for me.
The trouble is, there really a no other options at that pricing level that includes the ability to download updates into the remote, which is extremely important if you want to easily incorporate discrete codes into your macros. If you use something like the URC R50 - which I imagine is a very good remote in every other way - you would have to go through the trouble of teaching it new codes that don't already exist in one of your other remotes by means of an IR blaster or another remote (e.g. JP1 enabled remotes are cheap.) Chances are, the codes are all there for anything manufactured before the remote, since URC has an extensive code database (supposedly the best), but the trouble comes 5 years down the road (as is what happened with me and my MX-500.)
