I have given up on the Logitech hardware crap. I love the activity-based logic, but they have a very poor hardware quality. After discarding my third Harmony I'm back to using the pletora of original controls, but my parents, children, wife and parents in law are facing huge challenge and frustration when I'm not at home.
A cheap universal control does not solve the issue of selecting the right inputs. On the other hand, I would not like to be programming all the macros required to switch from one activity to another. Some people complain about Harmony bad software (yes, it is horrible), complexity and lack of customization. But for my last remote I programmed everything that I needed in about 30 minutes. Actually, everything that my relatives needed, since this remote is more for them than for me.
My needs are not extraordinary:
Yamaha receiver
Samsung TV
DirecTV Latin America SD receiver (Tompson, I think)
Samsung Smart BlueRay (not recommended!, my wife got it)
and the non-IR, non-interoperable-RF-remotes from these:
Wii
Xbox360
Roku
I'm also considering a WD Live, since none of the above meet my local NAS uPnP music and movie streaming needs.
Right now I'm looking at the Xsight. My objective is to spent at most $150, or maybe a little more if the product deserves it, but staying below $150 is preferred. I hear about the build quality if the URC remotes, but I hate the idea of clicking zillions of buttons to program the remote, plus having to program every macro neede to turn on/off the activities, plus the transition from activity to activity. I know that it is possible and there are work-arounds, but remember, the target audience is my mother in law. Actually, old eyes prefer hard buttons to tiny LCD icons.
What would you recommend? Is the Xsight good enough (hardware, software, programming and usage experince)? Are my fears on the URC remotes unfounded? Is my budget unrealistic? Are there other contenders that could better meet my needs?
A cheap universal control does not solve the issue of selecting the right inputs. On the other hand, I would not like to be programming all the macros required to switch from one activity to another. Some people complain about Harmony bad software (yes, it is horrible), complexity and lack of customization. But for my last remote I programmed everything that I needed in about 30 minutes. Actually, everything that my relatives needed, since this remote is more for them than for me.
My needs are not extraordinary:
Yamaha receiver
Samsung TV
DirecTV Latin America SD receiver (Tompson, I think)
Samsung Smart BlueRay (not recommended!, my wife got it)
and the non-IR, non-interoperable-RF-remotes from these:
Wii
Xbox360
Roku
I'm also considering a WD Live, since none of the above meet my local NAS uPnP music and movie streaming needs.
Right now I'm looking at the Xsight. My objective is to spent at most $150, or maybe a little more if the product deserves it, but staying below $150 is preferred. I hear about the build quality if the URC remotes, but I hate the idea of clicking zillions of buttons to program the remote, plus having to program every macro neede to turn on/off the activities, plus the transition from activity to activity. I know that it is possible and there are work-arounds, but remember, the target audience is my mother in law. Actually, old eyes prefer hard buttons to tiny LCD icons.
What would you recommend? Is the Xsight good enough (hardware, software, programming and usage experince)? Are my fears on the URC remotes unfounded? Is my budget unrealistic? Are there other contenders that could better meet my needs?