Logitech Harmony Remote Discontinued
While Harmony remotes are and continue to be available through various retailers, moving forward Logitech will no longer manufacture Harmony remotes.
We expect no impact to our customers by this announcement. We plan to support our Harmony community and new Harmony customers, which includes access to our software and apps to set up and manage your remotes. We also plan to continue to update the platform and add devices to our Harmony database. Customer and warranty support will continue to be offered.
This is real shame. I love my Logitech Harmony remote, and have bought them for my family in the past as well. This isn’t to say that the Harmony was awesome, just that it was better than any other option I’d tried.
But this demise has probably been a long time coming: a lot of people have fewer devices hooked up to their TVs now, many bundled remotes can control multiples devices, and technologies like HDMI-CEC have helped eliminate some needs for universal remotes.
For one, there are many other companies that maintain databases of IR remote control codes, not just Logitech, so those codes are not disappearing off the face of the planet just because Harmony is going away. Some of those databases are also open to the public, like this one on GitHub. There are also some other universal options that, like those from Logitech, have those codes in a database and do not require individual programming — Logitech’s Harmony line seems to be the default pick among buyers’ guides, but Joanna Stern’s choice was the Ray Super Remote and TechHive likes a Caavo model. Most importantly, the universal control problem is slowly fading as HDMI CEC becomes more widely used and different remotes can be used with different equipment.
Previously:
3 Comments RSS · Twitter
Great, I just bought a Harmony Hub three months ago, I guess now it has an expiration date. The thing is, I don't want a universal remote, I want a simple way to get voice assistants to send IR signals. I'm probably not aware of all of the options, but the Harmony Hub is the only device I've seen that does that without a lot of effort, and without additional remote control devices I don't want, that will just get lost under the couch.
I'm also not sure if HDMI CEC actually does what I want, because right now, I can say "turn on Netflix", which causes the lights to turn off, projector to turn on, receiver to turn on, volume to be adjusted, and my Nvidia Shiald to start, at which point I can further adjust the volume by saying "volume up" or "down". Is there any other option that allows this with pretty much zero setup effort?
I found the Sofabaton U1 as an alternative to my aging Logitech Harmony One. Its a whole lot cheaper (~$50) and doesn't require a computer or the internet, just your iPhone. Not perfect but useful.
Find the details here: http://www.sofabaton.com
Update: I just found out about the Broadlink RM4 Pro. Sadly, it lacks support for Bluetooth remotes, but it does 80% of what the Harmony Hub did.
