Harmony Remotes - Going out of business?

So it looks like there is no stock for the harmony companion ? I found some articles related to the company discountinuing their remotes.

Has anyone else come across this?

I've noticed this as well regarding the companion. I'm in the market for outfitting a whole house with them and was surprised I couldn't find them in stock.

This is terrible news as the Companion is basically the only well designed remote on the market, lol.

I wonder what this means for hub users! The whole software stack is cloud based, which is awful.

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I was about to go the Harmony route but decided to go a different direction. Rather than combine multiple remotes into one, I set out to eliminate them. It took a few years of trial and error but I pulled it off. Now all the AV equipment in my home is controlled by FireTV remotes. A lot of what makes this possible are apps like Channels that have eliminated the need for input switching so a simple remote does everything I need it to.

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It seems like the sofabaton remotes are the direction to go now???

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I found the SofaBaton a great replacement for Harmony remotes and a lot cheaper.

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I have over the years used Harmony remotes... the One and the Elite and some others. But for several years now they've all been in a box because with the substantial reduction in things connected to my TV, thanks in part to Channels DVR, I no longer justify a big fancy remote. The last one I used that I preferred over the Harmony Elite was the Caavo.

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Will this remote work with Channels DVR? All the buttons that is?

It says it's bluetooth capable. But the doc says

Other Bluetooth
capable devices such as television keyboards are not supported. For more information, see these articles::

I use this remote for several devices, including a Shield that hosts a Channels client (DVR is on a NAS).

It is bluetooth between the remote and the hub, and then the hub sends out the IR to the actual devices.

I have not tried to map button to every possible option, but the basic Shield control does all I need.

It is possible to customize the buttons further per device though.

Are you able to add a device to communicate over bluetooth instead of IR? I want to control the Apple TV via bluetooth not IR.

The Channels DVR docs say you need to set it up as a computer device.

Harmony Hacks

Harmony Hub based remotes pair with streaming devices over bluetooth. By adding a Computer device to your activity, you will gain new commands that you can map to your remote buttons. When used, the Harmony Hub will send those commands to your device as keyboard keys.

*** EDIT:

Well I took a bet on this, and purchased it used. Hope it works. My hope is harmony doesn't cut this part of their business. If they do, hopefully they at least support it for a while?

@pdaphone I'll be happy to take that Elite off your hands if you don't want it! :slight_smile:

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This is true. Most other remotes are finnicky at best, including other non-hub Harmony remotes.

I've got 4 or 5 Harmony Companion remotes (with hubs) that I can send your way in exchange for lifetime Channels Plus. :rofl: :rofl:

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First lifetime sub goes to @jdel while holding me hostage with remotes so I can normalize them across my house :rofl:

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I still have some ancient harmony remote, silver 600 model? idk. Got it at GoodWill many years ago.
The software you have to install, always hated that, very janky and fails to sync alot.

However, it is awesome, to be able to dig that out, program, to use to test out the random electronics and things i find that are missing their remote, like DVD/VCR/Bluray players, tvs, etc.
Not gonna pay $ to buy a replacement remote for something that ends up being broken.

Anyways, I have not looked at harmony remotes in ages, but when i have, they are crazy expensive and Best Buy or MicroCenter only seemed to sell the most expensive models...which were way over kill for my wants and needs.

Sad to see them being discontinued.

Any good alternative products? Aside from the random China "internet programable Universal Remotes" one can find on Ebay/Amazon...that most often are crap.

Well, I hope they continue to support the existing ones because every device in my house both upstairs and downstairs depends on them. I can even control turning the Shield on and off with my voice via Google and the Harmony app. I'm going to be pissed if something bad happens.

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For me, they’re a major part of my home’s automation. So yeah, we’re leaning on them a lot over here.

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I assume your an Apple TV user too.

How do you deal with no voice searches?

I make Channels. What voice searches? lol

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Ha! I know you are.

What I was wondering, if you use harmony remotes on your Apple TV, I assume you don’t use Siri searches in Apple TV.

Nope, it doesn't work with Channels, so what's the point.

When you search in channels you have the ability to use voice.