Logitech discontinue manufactore of Harmony Remotes.
Logitech discontinue manufactore of Harmony Remotes.
Author
Discussion

Lucas Ayde

Original Poster:

3,920 posts

184 months

Monday 12th April 2021
quotequote all
Surprised not to see a thread here about it:

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/10/22377015/logite...


They say they will continue support but I would be surprised if that goes beyond a couple of years. Also, wouldn't expect any great efforts to add new control codes as kit comes out.

Strange decision - The cloud-centric nature of Harmony is the part that's going to be costing them money ... now the remote sales will be generating zero revenue, but the costs will still be there.

Also, the cloud-centric nature means that at some point the controllers are going to effectively be bricks whenever Logitech shut down their servers. Maybe the remotes/hubs will continue to work with whatever final configuration they had but unlikely they can be reconfigured after that. I do remember when cloud problems effectively killed my Harmony hubs for a day a while back.

hyphen

26,262 posts

106 months

Monday 12th April 2021
quotequote all
That's a shame.

Hopefully they will opensource their database of codes?

RichTT

3,266 posts

187 months

Monday 12th April 2021
quotequote all
That's really very annoying indeed. I specifically built my media setup in the living room to hide everything and use the harmony as an IR repeater and macro remote.

Are there any alternative solutions?

dazmanultra

446 posts

108 months

Monday 12th April 2021
quotequote all
I use mine integrated with Google home, it’s really handy to say “ok google, turn on the TV” and it will turn TV plus receiver plus sky all on. Also handy using my phone as a remote.

Disappointing but unfortunately with these types of products it’s the nature of the world we’re living in these days, where you can’t buy something and expect to use it indefinitely :/

hantsxlg

904 posts

248 months

Tuesday 13th April 2021
quotequote all
Yes.. sad news. I've had harmony remotes for 20 odd years. I hope they open source the servers and/or a small agile competitor launches, possibly by buying some assets from logitech on the cheap...


sociopath

3,433 posts

82 months

Tuesday 13th April 2021
quotequote all
Logitech are a pain for doing this, they did it with the squeezebox, probably the best streaming solution of its time, after they'd bought out the original company they shut it down.

At least they still work and have a band of enthusiasts keeping them going

dvs_dave

9,040 posts

241 months

Wednesday 14th April 2021
quotequote all
Odd decision. Regardless of whatever streaming services are out there, there is no other viable way to conveniently control a multi-source, multi-component home theatre system. And loads of people have such setups. HDMI CEC is still ste and nowhere near where it needs to be to make the universal remote redundant.

Is there a new CEC standard in the works that Logitech know about that will finally do what it’s supposed to?

Murph7355

40,338 posts

272 months

Wednesday 14th April 2021
quotequote all
dvs_dave said:
Odd decision. Regardless of whatever streaming services are out there, there is no other viable way to conveniently control a multi-source, multi-component home theatre system. And loads of people have such setups. HDMI CEC is still ste and nowhere near where it needs to be to make the universal remote redundant.

Is there a new CEC standard in the works that Logitech know about that will finally do what it’s supposed to?
Whilst there'll be plenty of people out there with "legacy" systems, I wonder how many new setups are being done like this at the consumer end. Logitech must have looked at the numbers before pulling the plug.

I started out 15yrs ago with a Mac Mini running an IR set up that I could programme so that one remote (any remote) could control all kit. Over time, it became less and less relevant.

In the last few years I have:

- my main TV is Android so the TV remote covers TV, Kodi (for local media) and all streaming requirements. CEC/HDMI ARC covers the control of the surround receiver through the TV remote perfectly well (TV is Sony, receiver is Denon. There were a few tweaks to settings needed to get it working nicely but it's there now)

- other TVs in the house have Firestick 4k's. Again, CEC (or TV brand equivalents) covers requirements more than well enough. No receiver on these TVs. I generally use the TV's remote on these as they cover TV functions better than Amazon's.

CEC on an older Samsung TV is a little clunky, but perfectly usable. On a similar vintage Panasonic it's much cleaner. It even works well enough on a very old Philips (so old it's 4:3).

I think CEC/ARC/etc is already at the point where for most people it covers the vast majority of the bases. And I suspect with newer and newer kit, it will get smoother. Logitech's decision may be confirmation of this...

paralla

4,694 posts

151 months

Saturday 17th April 2021
quotequote all
Ours went in the bin when the new TV with CEC/ARC HDMI remote can do 90% of what needs doing with the AV receiver and Virgin box.

OldSkoolRS

6,982 posts

195 months

Saturday 17th April 2021
quotequote all
I hope mine lasts for a good few years yet: My AV rack is outside of the room and when watching films on the projector I can't use CEC/ARC (even if it was reliable enough, which it mostly isn't with my particular combination of equipment). The Harmony I have converts to RF and then the remote unit converts it back to IR and sends that signal to the gear on the rack.

Even something simple like pausing a film or altering the volume would mean having to go outside of the room and aim the (original) remote at the rack, so I'm disappointed that time is running out for my current setup as I hate the idea of having my gear in the room again.

robbieduncan

1,992 posts

252 months

Saturday 17th April 2021
quotequote all
We have 4. It’s an excellent solution to make every tv work the same way

VEX

5,257 posts

262 months

Sunday 18th April 2021
quotequote all
Pro-control is going to be our alternative.

Been watching them for a while, ordering our demo / test unit this week.

It is supposed to be custom install only, but there may be ways around that for friends.

V.

98elise

29,986 posts

177 months

Thursday 22nd April 2021
quotequote all
Shame. I've also had Logitech remotes for years. Easy to set up and customer service was ace.

When our first one had problems their call centre talked me through a few checks, then sent me a replacement just based on when the remote was first activated on their system.

sjj84

2,396 posts

235 months

Thursday 22nd April 2021
quotequote all
Disappointing. Just added a hub to mine to improve it further. Hopefully it'll keep going for a few years yet.

I had an old remote that I hadn't used for years, the battery had swelled which was a known issue. Logitech replaced it no quibble despite it probably being 10 years old at the time.

hyphen

26,262 posts

106 months

Friday 23rd April 2021
quotequote all
paralla said:
Ours went in the bin when the new TV with CEC/ARC HDMI remote can do 90% of what needs doing with the AV receiver and Virgin box.
Instead of the bin and so landfill site, perhaps offer working items for sale, give away free, or give to a charity shop and so on smile

paralla

4,694 posts

151 months

Friday 23rd April 2021
quotequote all
hyphen said:
paralla said:
Ours went in the bin when the new TV with CEC/ARC HDMI remote can do 90% of what needs doing with the AV receiver and Virgin box.
Instead of the bin and so landfill site, perhaps offer working items for sale, give away free, or give to a charity shop and so on smile
My experience of selling or giving away second hand items in the past has been terrible.

People not turning up at agreed times to collect. People repeatedly asking questions where the answer is contained in the ad. People offering a fraction of the asking price even though the asking price is already minimal. People giving me personal accounts of their tragic lives (disabled, learning difficulties, terminally ill, delete as applicable) as justification for being more deserving of my give-away item than anyone else.

I do take things to charity shops as they never haggle or try to negotiate when receiving free items but they were closed due to covid restrictions when I was finished with the remote. I also threw away a perfectly good Blue-Ray player the same day since streaming services mean it was no longer required. I did give the old 40' TV to a friend.

Edited by paralla on Friday 23 April 10:58

MJNewton

1,934 posts

105 months

Friday 23rd April 2021
quotequote all
I have mixed feelings about the disappearance of the Harmony remote... Have been using them for 15+ years and actually always enjoy the obligatory 24 hour set up period, and by that I mean literally spending what must be 24 hours setting the thing up so it's so in-tune with how you want your kit controlled that it practically does what you want in advance of you even having to think about pressing any buttons.

However, having undertaken some major extension work I packed all the AV kit up and moved the TV temporarily in to a room with no aerial and just a Fire Stick as a single source. I say 'temporarily' but 18 months on we're just moving stuff back but in that time the family have grown really fond of just using the basic Fire Stick remote to control the device and TV and I must admit we were all a bit hesitant to go back to the Harmony for some reason. We've actually settled on using the new TV's remote which controls the Fire Stick and AV receiver just fine, and with no setup whatsoever I am beginning to wonder if I really did enjoy the Harmony setup process afterall or whether it was my OCD keeping me going.

Funny how you get used to things over time, and used to not having too for that matter. It's not all good though... I'm having to re-justify why we've got a full surround system and not a soundbar 'like everyone else'. Sigh. It's as if it is in any way acceptable to wire up speaker sockets in an extension and then not use them - whatever next?!

h0b0

8,712 posts

212 months

Friday 23rd April 2021
quotequote all
VEX said:
Pro-control is going to be our alternative.

Been watching them for a while, ordering our demo / test unit this week.

It is supposed to be custom install only, but there may be ways around that for friends.

V.
As a long term Harmony user, I was saddened to hear they were stepping out of the market. It would be great if Pro-Control can fill the gap being left behind. It even looks like Pro-control were fans of the 900 remote as I was.




I would suggest if they can't make this a consumer level product then that is a poor reflection on them and would not be a true successor to the Harmony product line.

Mr Pointy

12,563 posts

175 months

Friday 23rd April 2021
quotequote all
h0b0 said:
I would suggest if they can't make this a consumer level product then that is a poor reflection on them and would not be a true successor to the Harmony product line.
There's a world of difference between supporting a consumer product & a professional one installed by someone who has been on the training course. It's a canny business decision to not sell direct to the end user.

wombleh

2,120 posts

138 months

Friday 23rd April 2021
quotequote all
Good timing as one of the kids dropped mine recently and the back is popping off. Seems a strange choice as don’t think there’s anything to replace it?