Hello, does anyone have any up to date information whether the Logitech Harmony 1000 can control the PS3 as yet, I thought there was going to be an upgarde to the PS3 software to allow this.

Also how do people rate the Logitech Harmony 1000 please, or could I do better?

Thanks very much.

The 1000 is a pain in the ass, and no IR remote will EVER control the PS3 without an adapter of some sort. The USB dongle for the PS2 gives some basic functionality, and unless you want to buy a device that emulates the bluetooth remote for real money, it's what people do.

I've just "upgraded" from a Harmony 885 to a 1000. I bought the 1000 secondhand on eBay, figuring that, if I didn't like it, I could sell it again and get most of my money back.

The 885 is a very nice remote, that replaced a top-of-the-range Pronto. I wasn't sure if I could adapt to the touch screen on the 1000, but I'm going to keep it. There are just enough "hard buttons" on the 1000 to allow me to control all the regularly used functions on a PVR, with a little bit of creative thinking when I programmed it. The touch screen is excellent for favourite channels, etc.

Bottom line - if you want a remote with lots of physical buttons, go for the 8-series or the One. If you are prepared to re-learn your approach to remotes, try the 1000.

WRT the PS3, I bought a cheapo IR PS3 remote and dongle from Currys for £10. I taught the Harmony all the codes, and it works my PS3 perfectly for video playback. The only thing it can't do is turn the power on and off - not a real problem for me, and certainly not worth messing about with bluetooth modules or IR/bluetooth convertors.

To my mind, the 1000 defeats the object of Harmony, ie any blithering idiot with a list of kit can program it. The 1000 is a skilled task, and the software is not inutitive for that kind of level of programming. Pronto and RTI do it so much better. I use a lot of 885s and 895s, great as a lower priced but still efficient universal. Sold 1 1000, have regretted it ever since.

Sorry, I don't see where programming a 1000 is any harder than programming an 885. AFAIK, the software is the same. Sure, you can get more creative with the 1000, but it'll function adequately without giving it any more thought.

When I got my 1000, I told the software that I was replacing my old remote, and it did the business of loading my existing 885 configuration to the 1000 with no problems at all. A couple of hours tweaking the hard buttons to control my lighting and the PVR functions of Sky+ and a Humax 9200 (1 minute advert skip on the right arrow, 15 second rewind on the left arrow, planner/playlist on the mute button and lights on the previous button), then 30 minutes to add favourite channel icons, and I was good to go.

I agree that a Pronto is ultimately better, but programming one of those is a hobby that'll keep you tweaking for months. Fair old price difference, too. I traded my Marantz RC9200 for a basic mono pronto, and enough cash to buy the 885 and the 1000.

There are currently no remotes that control PS3 this is because it works off bluetooth and all remotes work from IR maybe in the future

Never in the future. The dongle as above is the only IR product, it gives play/pause, chapter skip, menu, for disc playback, and TBH most people don't need more.

Thank you all for the help, I am going to demo a lgitech harmony One, with a dongle on the PS3 to see how it works. I have to do something otherwise my wife will go nuts. Thanks again.

Why would you do that?

I install and program a fair number of Prontos and Nevos. I bought an 895 to try. No-one in my family could get on with it; too fiddly and not enough flexibility. From a programming side I just found it too restrictive also. Other than its low price I struggle to see the appeal.

Join the Harmony disharmony club! I hate programming them, though a fair number of my clients get on OK with them. Hardly worth comparing to a TSU9400 in any way, though of course it is 1/3 of the price, and feels like it too.

Sometimes I wish I hadn't!

Somebody on a forum, IIRC, made me an offer for the Marantz, so I sold it. TBH, I found it a bit of a pain to use with Sky, so I was using the "Pronto" to switch inputs and to control volume, and the Sky remote to handle the Sky+ box.

The 885 worked really well, but, after 2 years, some of the buttons got a bit iffy.

I thought about getting a Nevo, but worries about software support and DIY put me off. Also, I'd tried an HP iPaq with built-in Nevo a while ago, and found it very inflexible, especially considering the price.

I guess that my ideal remote would be a Pronto with a high res screen, more hard buttons (with screen labels, like the 885), and some decent software that took much of the drudgery out of programming.

Perhaps just likehttp://www.pronto.philips.com/index.cfm?id=1457
the new prontos Chris and I use. The software is pretty useful, and there are loads of layouts on remote central for it. I daresay a polite PM, and I'd send you some configs to adapt. Everyone's kit is so similar that's very easy to do.

No help with this thread ..... but that is wrong.

I have an ATI Remote Wonder I use with the PC (which is where all my music lives) that works via RF. Which is very handy as it means it works from the garden (I also have a set of RF headphones with similar range).

Interesting.

Tried to google for a UK supplier and price - is it actually available for an end-user to buy? Saw several links that suggested it was only available through a trained dealer, who presumably programs it as part of an installation.

This is what really put me off buying a Nevo. Despite buying around £5000 of kit from him, my local dealer wouldn't sell me one with the software for me to do myself.

Because the PS3 does not have a IR receiver, it is not directly compatible with the Harmony remotes. However, you can still create activities to turn on your other devices for those activities and set them to the correct inputs. There is a workaround to get some control over the PS3 using your harmony. There are some IR receivers, namely the one that could be purchased for the PS2 (before the IR receiver was built in to the PS2), that can be connected to the PS3. This would allow you to control just about everything except power on and power off.

Yeah, I think they learned from Philips experience with the Prontos.

So very many of the problems people had with Prontos were programming related. I've lost count of the number of Prontos I've seen where it's little more than an expensive All-in-One that no-one except the owner understands how to navigate.

Having said all that I've seen some appalling dealer programming too

MAW will probably confirm, there's much more to programming than throwing on some buttons and adding a few codes. Some owners are more than capable of producing a clear, logical, easy to use program that works and that can be used by a novice to run a system. Many more find it's a bigger job than they expected.

Lol!

OK, so where can I buy a 9400 to program myself?

They are readily available from eBay in the USA, but I'd prefer to buy here in the UK, if the price is right.

I've asked about programming these on "Remote Central", and been informed that it's no harder than programming the older models to do the same thing, although there are more in-depth features that require some learning. I was able to program my Marantz RC9200 without too much difficulty, it was just very long-winded.

I sent you a PM, clockworks.

Sorry, missed the PMs - for some reason I'm getting notified about posts I've subscribed to, but not when I get a PM.

edit: PM notification option wasn't set - it is now!

I spotted an unused Pronto 9600 on eBay last week, made what I thought was a pretty low bid, and won it. Slightly less than the price of buying direct from the USA. Fortunately, my pay rise came through, backdated to April, so I could afford it. It's a shame that the European retail price is so much higher than in the USA, as with so many high-end products.

A week later, I've got it up and running, just a couple of minor pages left to do. It works beautifully.
The software is way easier to use than the old ProntoEdit that came with my serial Marantz. I think I got stuck about 4 times, but a quick search on Remote Central soon answered my questions.
It's certainly a lot more involved than setting up a Harmony, but anyone with patience and the ability to construct a flow chart is in with a chance of success. I've probably spent around 40 hours on it so far (I was on holiday this week), so I can see why the professionals charge for the service. If you haven't got the time to spare, professional help is definitely the way to go.

The thing I like the most about the current software is the range of graphics included as standard. The older software was severely graphically challenged, and the user really had to create their own, either from scratch, or by adapting stuff from Remote Central.

Still several thing left to do:

Learn Prontoscript, to make the scroll wheel do something useful.
Investigate the potential of the wifi connection.
Add favourite channel icons.

Chris and MAW: Thanks for pointing me in this direction.

Wot you want to do with the wheel? Prontoscript from scratch will give you a hobby for the long winter evenings! But lots of fun things to do. RSS feeds are popular, I use one for weather forecasting, and have one for market data.