Just a little follow up - I am looking into non logitech based alternatives to provide a similar level of functionality (ie aggregated IR control of AV gear from Roon and a remote and probably eventually more too) based upon a combination of other readily available cheap devices.
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I really dont want to resort to me TV or AVR remote they sucks. The family wont know how to do anything without Harmony, they have no idea what remote does what or how to change inputs and turn on devices for things. This will end in tears in my household.
If I ditched harmony currently, I would have to dig out 6 remotes and also loose control of my hue lighting which is something I consider integral to AV (switching/dimming lighting groups for watching TV/movies etc).
Anyway, I have some bits arriving tomorrow so will see what I can do with them to fully replace harmony (control, home automation integration and remote).
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Thatâs great to hear. Thank you for taking the time to do this and Iâll be staying tuned.
I was reflecting how capable Harmony is - IR, WiFi and Bluetooth are all used to watch movies in our sitting room, and the range of equipment Logitech currently supports is vast. Not a simple task to replicate.
Our second Harmony hub in the kitchen uses IR to control an old Linn Classic and Deep Harmony for Roon. Itâs Deep Harmony that successfully joins the ancient and modern seamlessly, and without it things would be very clunky. The tablet has two screens that we use incessantly to select audio: I use the Roon Control app, and my wife uses a simple HABpanel to choose from playlists I maintain for her. openHAB and MQTT were simple enough to set up for that specific purpose, but itâs still reliant on Deep Harmony to link in and automatically power up the Linn when Roon starts playing something my wife has chosen.
Looking forward to hearing what you find out.
I still in denial over Harmony. Waiting for greif, rage and acceptence⌠Hmmm must have forgot one of the five stages of Harmony loss.
They have had many years to build up that database. There are many WiFi IR senders available which while they do not have as big a database, do however have IR learn capability. I know IR learn is a fiddly process, but its a once off. Beyond the FireTV, I cannot offhand remember what other remotes use BT. I think really it is used for the voice control to Alexa, so I guess a similar thing exists for google home.
I have to wonder what will happen to that IP and IR command data - just gather dust I guess - such a waste.
Just read https://www.reddit.com/r/logitechharmony/comments/k0dkgs/was_just_told_by_retailer_that_logitech_is/
End of the Logitech remotes.
The problem with learning IR remotes, is that the remotes donât necessarily have the discrete codes, e.g. switch on a specific input rather than just toggle through them. Our Sony TV, for instance, toggles through inputs on the remote but does in fact have a discrete code available in Harmony for each state.
I see Amazon has a few Broadlink hubs that offer control from phone apps, which is part of what Harmony does but no actual physical remote. I never used the Harmony App other than setting it up as its awful and I dont want to take my phone out, unlock to use it. If ARC and CEC control where reliable enough across devices then I guess one remote would work well.
Sofabaton looks good, but only seems to be available in the US.
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Yes - you leave that problem to organisations to deal with - the likes of broadlink etc. But, their database is a fraction of the size of logitechâs. Also they tend to deal with the problem at a manufacturer level rather than a device level which makes sense, but can be a problem with newer devices that have more inputs or functions than broadlink knew about (at least until someone tells them and they get around to updating).
For eg with my TV, I select LG and get option 1âŚ4 for remotes rather than with Harmony where I tell it specifically OLED B7V.
I also suspect that most of the broadlink active functionality is in the app and not in the device, whihc means probably cannot leverage existing macros and instead have to provide a full activity/command sequencing and all the associated management UI etc.
I do know of one remote in the works, but as far as I can tell it is going to be pricey and is a long way from being available.
@Simon_Arnold3 - agree I hate trying to use an app for remote control as there are no physical button to feel your way around while looking at a TV screen or whatever nor any tactile feedback (my iphone can do this - app authors just never exploit it annoyingly).
This is why I am looking at generic remotes. The one I have bought actually seem surprisingly decent for its price, its an air mouse, media, volume page up/down navigator, numbers and a qwerty keyboard on the back (handy for typing in search). It even has a backlight which is handy so overall is more functional then the companion remote. Not as nice feeling as the logitech remote, but certainly usable and comparable with many remote that come with even expensive hifi gear.
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Apple TV does, I think. We have two of those (one wired to a router with VPN in to the US). So three of our sources (Apple TV 4K x 2 and Fire TV) I think use BT.
Thatâs interesting. I did wonder about getting a Riitek i25 at one point just for keyboard entry as I agree that text entry by remote for searching is a tedious business. Never got round to it, but given your research interest in this kind of device, I may just get one anyway and have a play.
Iâm intrigued to understand how youâd route the remoteâs instructions to Roon (unless your Roon Core is within remote control range). And I guess itâs problematic to get Roon to control the other equipment, which is really cool. Are you thinking about using a Pi-based Roon Controller to acting as a replacement BT/IP/IR hub?
The current extension runs on an R-PI. Unless Roon provide a mean of hosting extension in a possible ROCK 2, then this will remain my primary target for hosting extensions. The real question in this case then become about whether the integration (remote handling) can continue to run in docker via a device mount, or whether it needs to run natively on the R-PI host.
Either way, it isnt something I am concerned about (and did it once before ages ago to get FLIRC remoted working before working on harmony integration). For now, just getting stuff to work again. The biggest barrier isnt this however, it is access to a useful IR codes database - this is the real loss of withdrawing logitech harmony from the public. Not loosing the product, but loosing the IR database. There is someone I will get in contact with which may provide a means to resolve this, but I know it will be at a cost and that cost may make a free product impossible and tied to an expensive integration vendorâs hardware pushing it out of reach for many.
There is someone else I know of who are designing a harmony elite style remote which might be a possibility in the future, but it looks a long way off and TBH I am not a fan of its industrial design.
Quite honest;y, many problems would be solved if Logitech were to put their codes database into the public domain or at least available for relative cheap end user access via an API (dollar a month sub for eg). With access to that, then the remaining technical problems become quite easy to resolve.
Shield TV also uses BT for remote
They did release there squeezebox code and server to open source when they canned that, so their is a glimmer of hope they might do it again, its a way to not really piss of customers but ditch the product.
I doubt we would see this in the public domain being a cloud backed service and that there is a proprietary RF link between the remote and the hub - ie not something that will translate to other hardware.
It just isnt really something that translates into public domain. OTOH the codes database is useful, but really hard to control by a usage license.
Also, quite honestly I would not use any of their software, as while I think it does have many good ideas (activities, attempt to maintain a virtual device state, sequences, timing delays etc, though I cant comment in the TV channel aspects as I just dont use that), I think too much of it is either minimally implemented or even badly implemented (for eg) the IR sending code in control tower devices is raw IR sending done properly in a safe and smooth manner unlike the minimal cheap way logitech seem to have done it. I think their command code setup and learning UI is excessively fiddly and really horrible to use. Even basic device setup could be done so much better from a user perspective.
They did still leave MySqueezebox live after they pulled the plug, not quite the same but it still hosts services for the devices. So who know. Itâs obviously not the same as Harmonies by we can live in hope.
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First of all thanks for the extension, just awesome. Just one question, over the weekend I had to change my Harmony Activity, specifically the âPower Settingsâ for my DAC.
Reset the extension configuration and reconfigured, now I have lost the âPowerâ icon from the ROON UI, all other features work fine. Any idea why I would lose the âPowerâ icon?
The Harmony Activity works fine and I assume the issue is related to my power settings for the one device I changed.
Thanks
It sound like the source control is not associated with the Roon output any more.
- Check Deep Harmony settings for the activity and ensure that âuse source controlâ is set to âyesâ.
- Check Roon zone â device settings to ensure a source control is associated.
Under device settings I only have the option to associate volume control and external source is set correctly.
Thanks