My only problem with the HDR is that the codes supplied for the remote by Humax don't work for my Panasonic Viera TH42PX71 TV. Humax tech support say they have no codes other than the ones in the manual, and a brief search on the net shows that I am not alone in having this problem.

so, can anyone recommend a universal remote that works well with the HDR, for a maxiumum budget of around 125 pounds?

The Logitech Harmony One looks to be able to control the TV and all my other devices, is that being used by anyone?

I would recommend just a Harmony 555: http://foxsat-hdr.wikispaces.com/Other+Images

Although you might find the colour buttons annoying because they are situated at the bottom of the remote (needs a shift of the hand to use) rather than the middle...

Whilst I'm not lucky enough to have the Humax HDR (only the FoxSat) I have used the Harmony 555 to use both this receiver and a Humax freeview PVR. The Harmony devices are a little tricky to setup if, but once you're there you won't regret it.

I recently upgraded to a Harmony 785 because I found that the printed button text on the 555 wore away after a couple of years. At around £80 it's about £30 more than the 555 but is well worth it due to a larger, colour screen and the ability to recharge on its own base station.

The OneForAll URC range start at about 17 quid for a URC7556. Save yourself the money

Glen.

Most of the Harmony units are great, although the 1000 is a little disappointing for me (the one with a touch screen) as you have to go through quite a lot of navigation to get where you want to be. But my wife is happy with it.

I still have a 688, which is my preferred unit. A friend has the 1 and is happy with it, but I have not played with it.

The advantage of the Harmony remotes over the 'universal' remotes is the Activities function. Much more than a macro, it can control all your a/v equipment (and lighting controller in my case) with a single button press. So 'Listen to CDs' will turn on different kit to 'Watch Satellite' or 'Watch PVR', and it's intelligent enough to know the state of each bit of kit so that changing from Satellite to PVR will not send a power signal to the TV (for instance). The codes for the HDR seem to present on the Logitech site as well (well done all those other owners), so it's relatively simple to set up.

That's interesting, thanks all. I have a rat's nest of remotes now, and this looked like the occasion to go with a universal remote, and it's reassuring to hear the positive comments and people like Al B are staying with the same manufacturer. I like my gadgets (I used to be a programmer) and can get the Harmony One for a decent price via a friend, so it just looked to have more toys. I'll maybe have to do a bit more comparing.

Glenmcfar, thanks for the advice. Last time we had a young Jack Russell in the house it ate everything including a remote control, so I can see where your money-saving philosophy is coming from!

Hi, I use a Harmony One and find it an excellent piece of kit, and they are down in price now.

Another vote for Harmony One here!

I have an 885 which is excellent. Tried a 1000 but found it a bit of a triumph of style over practicality TBH.

The Harmony one looks nice too.

Once you've gone down the route of something like these, I doubt you'll be dissatisfied. They take a bit of getting set up right, but once done, you'll only need 1 remote for 99% of the time.

Another vote for the harmony remotes from here. I have the older 655 model - they take a while to setup correctly and get them exactly how you want them but mine effectively changes from an HDR remote into a bluray remote into a remote for my wurlitzer! TV, HDR, surround sound all switched on and off in one button press, channels and inputs all set - magic. Complex enough to satisfy a techy and easy enough for the wife to use - would never go back to a code based all in one remote.

Incidently I moved the HDR away from the default position of switching on first as I found it actually came on more reliably when moved down the list - don't know why but the sensor seems a little sensitive. A few of the functions like Opt+ are not listed on the logitech web site but you can simply teach the remote this and any others that might be missing and then upload them to your profile.

I have just a little experience of universal remotes but I have always found that they never quite replicate all the functions on the original remote. Do the Harmony remotes include ALL possible functions of the Humax Freesat DVR?. If not there is little point in adding another one to the pile beside my chair.

Incidentally I am quite impressed with the Humax remote's ability to control my TV, DVD, and Onyx AV Amp. This facility is rarely mentioned.

It wont do all of them but you can program the missing functions. Im also very happy with the controls ability to control different machines. It controls my TV, DVD and DVD/surround system perfectly.

I only need the Humax remote now, the other 3 are put away.

It is always a compromise... What tends to happen is that the Harmony 525/555 will replicate the useful buttons that you use everyday. The rest of the buttons can be 'soft'ly assigned to the 4 buttons LCD display panel... My pic gives an example of how the buttons can be assigned...

The other, more expensive Harmony remotes have a lot more buttons...

For me this is the least impressive feature - the remote doesn't work at all for my recent TV - and there seem to be quite a few Panasonic owners with problems. That's what's driven me to look at other remotes.

How does the Logitech handle turning on the humax and needing to wait 30 secs for it to boot up before switching to playing an mp3?

There's a power on delay... you can tell the remote that the HDR takes 30secs before it is ready to accept command on power-up...

Well I'm getting a Harmony One in the end, thanks everyone. And of course, immediately after ordering one, I managed to get the Foxsat remote to control the TV. Sorry to have doubted my shiny new machine!

But I should be able to cut down from 6 remotes to one

I got the Harmony One this morning - excellent.

For the Foxsat-HDR, using the database, it didn't have a command set up for the Media or Opt+ buttons, so I had to use the learn IR routine (very easy), but other than that it worked out of the box for everything so far for all my 9 devices.

It's much more reponsive than the original remote and much more tolerant of poor aiming.

Thanks for the advice.

On the plus side the skip ffwd stop pause play rec buttons are so much more usable than the Humax remote, really good.

On a 525 there are two buttons that are commonly used that don't have "proper" buttons - OPT+ and Media, of course they're assigned to the LCD button area fine and also assigned Media to the "Prev" button and Opt+ to the *. For the price these are excellent units.

One question to 525/555 users - do you have a problem with HDR not coming on when you start your watch tv activity, I've assigned the power toggle of PVR to the LCD area and when I press that it comes straight on - not sure what I've done wrong.

I have no problem with the HDR own play/ff/fr buttons (maybe I have small fingers!). I do have problems with the Harmony 525/555 colour buttons - being at the bottom of the device - as I need a shift of the hand or contort my thumb to press them...

Re: HDR not coming on. You might need to play with the power toggle (i.e. learn that raw command) or adjust the period or delay. My power on works 100% for the HDR - I will get my settings out for you, if you are interested...

A cut down version of the 525 is available (the 515 - can only control 5 devices instead of 12) from Amazon for 27 pounds if anyone is interested: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Har...0630400&sr=8-1

I had found with both the original remote and my new 555 that it required two presses of the standby button to turn the HDR on so I've now included a double power toggle as part of the activity for power on (not off) and this seems to work.

My problem is that use of the 555 is a bit unpredictable - for power off, sometimes the TV gets left on, when the HDR and TV should both be turned off. Sometimes it doesn't switch on the TV when HDR and TV should both be switched on. I've increased the inter-device delay to 1000ms but it still works only intermittently. [There's also rather a long sequence while the remote has to be kept pointing in the right direction.]

There are never any problems switching the TV on or off with its original remote or my earlier Sony universal remote.

son-t, I'm still trying to get my head round the 555 - what's the "period" (mentioned above) you can adjust - is this how long the command is sent for (like intensity) - if so, how do you set it?

Another vote for the Harmony One. An excellent piece of kit and I managed to pick it up for £85 (new) from eBay. The HDR is not currently in their database of supported products but is very easy to program.

On my 555 I increased the signal from the default 500ms to 700ms and now it power on reliably. I found this information recommended somewhere in the troubleshooting help files.

This is my setup of the 525 remote to work with the HDR.

1. The device was set up for the FOXSAT-HD

There's no profile for the HDR as it is so new and hence not in the database. The FOXSAT-HD has been out for a while now but I doubt that is in the database either. But I am using the profile I setup for this. So added the device for the FOXSAT-HD and it says the closest it has in its database is the Humax FOX-F2.

2. Learn extra buttons including the power toggle.

I had to learn this for the FOXSAT-HD, so it might still be the FOXSAT-HD's power toggle. With the HD I needed to send the power toggle 3 times in quick succession, as it does sometime need more than one power toggle to get it to turn on. But with the HDR, you only need the one.

3. The speed settings ('Adjust the delays' under the device)

Power on delay: 1500
Inter-key delay: 100
Inter-device delay: 500

You can order which devices are powered on first under an activity, and for 'Watch Freesat' I have: Freesat HDR, LCD TV, AV Receiver, in that order. But I don't think this works as 'advertised' as when everything is off and I press 'Watch Freesat', the TV comes on followed by the HDR and then the AVR! But maybe it does make a difference... especially on a different Harmony remote...