Universal Remote Controls

[rccarguy]

I am fully aware of the concept of a universal remote control, but they are never as good as using the correct remote controls for each item, and are a compromise at best.

Absolute nonsense. Quite the opposite.

I could put all the supplied remotes on the table, good luck figuring out which to use. 20+ remotes

 

[rccarguy]

This thread was started by people who want to do something with the WiiM that they can already do with literally thousands of other home devices. We can already change the volume on the WiiM by phone, tablet, hdmi arc, a Fire Stick remote, manually OR by using the supplied WiiM remote. Having the ability to do it with universal remote controls would surely only be of benefit to WiiM's reputation for usability.

Yup I use this, fantastic remotes.

The stock Wiim remote is lousy, I chucked it in the parts box.

The IR squeezebox remotes are MUCH better

Pardon our interruption...

 

[QuarryHunslet]

Absolute nonsense. Quite the opposite.

I could put all the supplied remotes on the table, good luck figuring out which to use. 20+ remotes

You are entitled to your opinion.

I have never had any difficulty with remote controls, and when I have had more than one of the same type in use in one room, I have simply added a small label to each one, so I knew which device it worked.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

The stock Wiim remote is lousy, I chucked it in the parts box.

The WiiM remote control is excellent.

 

[rccarguy]

You are entitled to your opinion.

I have never had any difficulty with remote controls, and when I have had more than one of the same type in use in one room, I have simply added a small label to each one, so I knew which device it worked.

That's because you never had a good universal.

The WiiM remote control is excellent.

Nah it's rubbish. Squeezebox one is much better. See the link above

 

[rccarguy]

You are entitled to your opinion.

I have never had any difficulty with remote controls, and when I have had more than one of the same type in use in one room, I have simply added a small label to each one, so I knew which device it worked.

How many remotes do you have to pickup, put down, button presses for the following

Switch on bias light
Switch on the TV, switch it to input 2
Switch on the AVR, switch it to HDMI input 1
Switch on BD player
Navigate BD menu
Adjust volume on the AVR

One remote does all that the steps involved is one button press, and I can do the bottom two things without switch menus.

Can you do all that in the dark without looking for each specific remote, and each specific button

 

[QuarryHunslet]

That's because you never had a good universal.

I had a Logitech universal remote control, and hated everything about it. I only got it to work a Topfield PVR using a different set of codes to my other Topfield PVR in the same room.

I did set a few other devices to use it, but the experience was so bad that I ended up using it only with the Topfield.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

How many remotes do you have to pickup, put down, button presses for the following

Switch on bias light
Switch on the TV, switch it to input 2
Switch on the AVR, switch it to HDMI input 1
Switch on BD player
Navigate BD menu
Adjust volume on the AVR

One remote does all that the steps involved is one button press, and I can do the bottom two things without switch menus.

Can you do all that in the dark without looking for each specific remote, and each specific button

I have no requirement to do most of those things, and if I did, I certainly wouldn't be doing them in the dark.

 

[rccarguy]

I have no requirement to do most of those things, and if I did, I certainly wouldn't be doing them in the dark.

You don't watch movies?

 

[rccarguy]

I had a Logitech universal remote control, and hated everything about it. I only got it to work a Topfield PVR using a different set of codes to my other Topfield PVR in the same room.

I did set a few other devices to use it, but the experience was so bad that I ended up using it only with the Topfield.

Yeah those were pretty crap. I had one for a while - got rid of it.

My universals control three rooms, each room specific source/amp/display, so they're setup with ease of each system. Phones do replace streamer remotes for most things but Wiim devices should have IR receiver window and provide IR codes to upload. Or the remotes are dual IR/BT.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

You don't watch movies?

I very rarely watch films, and if I did, it would be in a room with the light on.

I used to have a Denon 5.1 surround system, with an additional 2.1 speaker system connected for additional rear surround.
This didn't get used very much, and lay idle for many years, and has recently been given away to a friend, although I have kept, and am currently using the subwoofer with my Ultra.

 

[rccarguy]

Deleting my posts hmmm

 

[QuarryHunslet]

Deleting my posts hmmm

No, moving the discussion out from the feature request thread.

 

[Danny Linguini]

I very rarely watch films, and if I did, it would be in a room with the light on.

I used to have a Denon 5.1 surround system, with an additional 2.1 speaker system connected for additional rear surround.
This didn't get used very much, and lay idle for many years, and has recently been given away to a friend, although I have kept, and am currently using the subwoofer with my Ultra.

Are you my twin brother from another mother??

I had (have) almost the same situation. Had a decent 5.1 system - my wife used it more when her kids had friends over than I ever did. After the kids grew up and moved out, it sat idle for years. I ended up replacing it with a Bose soundbar and sub a few years ago, which greatly improved sound for everyday watching and still provides suitable punch for the occasional loud movie (without having to switch anything!), but kinda sucked at music. That’s why WiiM Amp Pro (now Amp Ultra) and paradigm floorstanders just for music. And I am a happy camper.

Anyway - to the point of this thread … some years back I also tried a Logitech ‘universal’ remote (the one with a little display screen) that was supposed to be the best of the day, and hated everything about it. Setting it up to do the basic TV input switching that the (then) cable remote did easily was an exercise in futility. I simply could not get it to do all the functions I needed to regularly perform. That whole experience was almost singularly responsible for turning me off to the whole home theater scene, especially DVD’s. Well, that, a very badly behaved HDMI interface on my 5.1 receiver, and new living room furniture that made good placement of the surround speakers nearly impossible. Everything has since gotten cut down and simplified so all of my watching is controlled with the Apple TV remote (if it ain’t on one of my subscribed streaming services, I don’t watch it), and my iPhone for music. Hell, my DVD player doesn’t even play BD’s. All it does now is keep the dust off a little square of my TV stand. That’s what getting old does for you.

 

[Burnside]

I like my Harmony hub/remote and use it on a daily basis. Even have it sort of almost working with Home Assitant and my WiiM Amp Ultra, even have it swapping to control my Ultra to a limited degree. Bit of a cludge to set up (and admittedly to use) but what else do I have to do in retiral, apart from lingering here?

 

[dtc]

Some comments ...

A high end remote (like Home Theater Master from Universal Remote Control or Crestor) can control pretty much everything in your system, as long as the equipment handles IR and/or RF. They are incredible flexible, but the do not typically handle Bluetooth. These remotes require a lot of programming and most of the companies who make them do not provide the programming software to end users. You have to buy the remote from a authorized dealer and then pay them to program it. That easily goes over $1,000 and you have to pay to redo the programming if you add new equipment. For most people that is just too expensive.

Logitec had a nice semi-programmable remote but it was pretty basic. It was hard to do very specific macros. In the end, I think that keeping up with the codes for new equipment and providing help to end users was just a too costly for their price point.

With the sophisticated software on a HTM remote I can do pretty any IR code on a supplied remote and most manufacturers have specific commands for specific actions that are not on the remote. For example, a lot of equipment has specific commands for selecting each input and each output for multiple zones. You do not have to just scroll through the options to get to the one you want. Unfortunately, for cable I can set everything up but I still have to use the Xfinity remote to control the set top box.

Unfortunately, the cost of high end programmable remotes is just too much for the average user and it seems like the overhead to support these for end users is just too much for current companies.

I am afraid very programmable universal remotes are a thing of the past for most people.

There are inexpensive IR/Bluetooth universal remotes, but they typically do not support sophisticated macros. I think providing support for those may be too small a market for Wiim to support, but anything is possible.

 

[QuarryHunslet]

I had a Logitech Harmony 525 Universal Remote Control, and when I first purchased it I was fairly keen to control various things with it.

There were quite a few annoying things about it, such as the really annoying illumination where it lit up very brightly when you went near it, or picked it up, or touched a button. It stayed lit up for ages, and really ate batteries, 4off AAA which might have lasted for a couple of months of light duties if you were lucky, and probably about a week with rechargeable batteries.

For a so called smart programmable remote control, you would have thought that there would be an option available to turn off the annoying and unnecessary illumination, but no.

At the time, I had the following devices connected to my TV

Humax PVRs 6 off
Topfield PVRs 2 off
Panasonic DVD/HDD/VHS combo
PlayStation PS3
Denon AV Receiver

There may well have been other items connected, that I have simply forgotten about.

I now only have the Panasonic DVD/HDD/VHS combo remaining, all of the other items have been disposed of.

The main reason for purchasing the Logitech Harmony 525 was to control the second Topfield PVR using the code set from a different Topfield model, and thus allowing them both to be independently controlled in the same room.

Fortunately, the Humax PVRs had an undocumented feature where the remote codes could be changed from a choice of six available sets, and hence the six Humax PVRs.

I had a small table next to my chair, where I laid out the twelve remote controls for the above items, including five identical Humax remote controls, numbered 1 - 5, this made for very simple operation in every day use.