Emotiva Remote Control Upgrade/Replacement

[hemster]

Feb 16, 2017 19:12:00 GMT -5 Percussionista said:

On the opposite side of the fence from the fancy Harmony's, et. al., there is the Sony RM-VLZ620, which can control 8 different units. It has no screen, it's a generic learning remote, though it does have built-in codes for a lot, likely older equipment. I'm quite sure there is nothing from Emotiva. I own three of these gizmos, one for each room with a bunch of gear (actually, one is an older model). The learning function is very easy, you go button by button and it's pretty quick. Batteries last forever ;-)

I looked around on Amazon, and BOO this has been discontinued. I bought it for under $20 in 2015. It's still listed now from third-party sellers but they all want $35-40!! There are other similar Sony remotes (and other brands), but I would have to do some research. This particular one, and its predecessor, originally had zillions of very positive reviews, and I concur.

UPDATE: There appears to be an almost identical Sony unit, for controlling 7 units, about $18 + shipping, model RMVZ320. Like mine it has dual IR emitters so is quite strong even from a distance, and it too gets a great review score. For sure you will have to use the learning mode for Emotiva.

Agreed that some of these types of remotes can be great value if all you need is a few units to control simply.

However, if you need delays and macros (to do things intelligently) then you need to step up to something like a URC or Harmony or similar. 

[Percussionista]

Feb 16, 2017 19:29:43 GMT -5 hemster said:

Feb 16, 2017 19:12:00 GMT -5 Percussionista said:

On the opposite side of the fence from the fancy Harmony's, et. al., there is the Sony RM-VLZ620, which can control 8 different units....

UPDATE: There appears to be an almost identical Sony unit, for controlling 7 units, about $18 + shipping, model RMVZ320. Like mine it has dual IR emitters so is quite strong even from a distance, and it too gets a great review score. For sure you will have to use the learning mode for Emotiva.

Agreed that some of these types of remotes can be great value if all you need is a few units to control simply.

However, if you need delays and macros (to do things intelligently) then you need to step up to something like a URC or Harmony or similar. 

No argument here. I do note that the VLZ620's that I have do have system control buttons for doing sequences of up to 16 commands, but the method for setting delays is quite hokey, and not very usable if you need something like a several-second delay. The RMVZ320, for 7 units, omits these system control buttons ;-)

[cawgijoe]

Feb 16, 2017 17:40:51 GMT -5 melm said:

Feb 16, 2017 8:56:46 GMT -5 cawgijoe said:

I have a Harmony One that is several years old and have been thinking about replacing it. Using it less and less especially when I add or replace equipment and have to spend time reprogramming it on the computer.

The Ray looks very cool.

Can you give your impressions and any plus/minuses? Would be appreciated.

Sure. I got mine in June and replaced a Harmony 1. I still use another Harmony in the home theater. The Ray is about the size of a small cellphone. There are hard buttons to wake the unit, control volume, and mute the audio.

It has a large database of devices, including Emotiva. It also controls my fairly new LG OLED set.

No computer is used... as soon as you have set your equipment up it auto-backsup to the cloud, and if you ever have to start from scratch, you enter your account details and in a few seconds everything is restored.

If I remember, it's running a variant of the Android OS, and it's quite responsive. You can customize the remote controls, adding or taking away buttons you don't need. It's XMC remote is very complete.

Here are the negatives. Unlike the Harmony, devices aren't turned off when you switch to another activity. That's coming, and the software already has the buttons that control this, but it's not functional yet.

The remote is very smooth (glass and metal) so it slides around a bit on my home theater chair.

Company is very responsive. They answer mail quickly. The remote even has a support section where you can type a note to them right from the remote. You can also control a Nest thermostat and there is a Sonos remote built in too. It all seems to work quite well.

As it is really a small computer, there are endless possibilities.

I ordered mine through Amazon, but they are on back order at present. I think they are available direct from Ray at the same price.

I'll be glad to answer any more questions. I like it better than my Harmony, it's smaller, prettier, and has equal control.

But my Harmony has always worked fine, except for the minor pain of plugging it into my computer for any changes.

-mel

Sold out everywhere.

I contacted Ray and they also said they were sold out and then gave me this cryptic message:

"Please stay tuned for some exciting news which we will share with you as soon as we can."

Interesting....stopped selling....may be reorganizing or being sold to someone else:

www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/2/9/14568182/ray-enterprises-universal-remote-shut-down

[melm]

Bummer. I really like mine... competition is needed.... my guess is they are looking for additional, funding...
they responded to a setup question I had yesterday... so they must still be around..

Mel