Universal Remotes

Home Theater General HT Discussion & Setup
1

Curious if anyone has good recs for universal remotes. Quickly googling i see a lot of hype around the various logitech remotes which seem to be generally well regarded. Also curious on opinions of price tier. for example if I’m just interested in consolidating basic functionality is there a benefit to grabbing a 300+ dollar remote vs a cheaper sub 100?

for me personally I’m trying to consolidate power and volume control on
my TV
android TV
and Topping e30

at this point I’m mostly concerned with the above functionality but I’m also ignorant of any further functionality that may be compelling.

4

universal remotes only really work for anything with infared as well as having to be for common products so no hope for topping and very little hope for an android box

1 Like
5

I use a 10+ year old Logitech Harmony 700 with my Violectric. I checked if they have the Topping E30, it wasn’t there but they have the D50S. Otherwise it is a learning remote so it will learn each button and function from the E30, as I was able to get it to learn an obscure Loxjie D20 remote.

I think you might be able to find a Harmony 665 at Best Buy for like $50 new.

1 Like
6

thanks guys appreciate the input. will probably try a 665 out and return it if it cant work with the e30

7

I use the

> Harmony Companion

all-in-one on my main system. I find it responsive, very easy to program, and very easy to use. My partner, who has little interest in HT or Hifi stuff, picked up the remote and got all the way into Netflix to watch shows with no problem. She even commented how easy it is to use.

I also have a Harmony 700 on the secondary system. It’s still working after 8ish years. However, after 4 years or so I had to replace the rechargeable batteries. Standard AA work in it just fine. The 700 is as easy to use for the system, but it’s not as easy to program. Still not hard, but you have to program it with a PC whereas the companion you can use a pretty simple smartphone app. Two other differences: 700 is IR only and can only control up to 6 devices, I believe. The Companion either isn’t device limited or has a very high number of devices with 6 macros accessible from remote compared 3 or 4. The companion also can do IR, RF, and WiFi. The 700 is partially backlit, the companion is not. But the companion has a smartphone app for complete control. There is a more expensive companion variant with a backlit remote.

1 Like
8

In case this helps someone out there in the future…there appears to be a similarly priced competitor to the Harmony Companion system I mentioned above:

https://hometheaterreview.com/caavo-smart-remote-hub-reviewed/