ejn1 Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 Curious what system would folks recommended for the most simple one room HT control with a universal remote? HT has typical projector, AVR, DVD, Sat Receiver setup most likely without IP control capability. Owner is not tech savvy at all and wants something reliable and simple. Was curious whats dealers and other folks typically recommend in this simple scenario. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 1 minute ago, ejn1 said: Curious what system would folks recommended for the most simple one room HT control with a universal remote? HT has typical projector, AVR, DVD, Sat Receiver setup most likely without IP control capability. Owner is not tech savvy at all and wants something reliable and simple. Was curious whats dealers and other folks typically recommend in this simple scenario. If he wants to do it himself then go for Harmony. If he wants to pay someone I would say go with an EA-1. there is really not a better deal in automation out there. It’s perfect for one room setups but powerful enough for whole home (I use it for whole home). South Africa C4 user 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted July 3, 2020 Author Share Posted July 3, 2020 Just now, therockhr said: If he wants to do it himself then go for Harmony. If he wants to pay someone I would say go with an EA-1. there is really not a better deal in automation out there. It’s perfect for one room setups but powerful enough for whole home (I use it for whole home). I could give him an old HC250 and SR250 also I thought and just have a dealer remote setup... But just checking if C4 really is best option in this scenario, maybe Savant or others have a simpler 1 room setup. Owner will likely not want to setup anything themselves... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 23 minutes ago, ejn1 said: I could give him an old HC250 and SR250 also I thought and just have a dealer remote setup... But just checking if C4 really is best option in this scenario, maybe Savant or others have a simpler 1 room setup. Owner will likely not want to setup anything themselves... Since the homeowner doesn’t want to do anything themselves an EA-1 is perfect. There isn’t another “pro” system out there that can compete with it. ejn1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unsocialtoaster Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 20 minutes ago, therockhr said: Since the homeowner doesn’t want to do anything themselves an EA-1 is perfect. There isn’t another “pro” system out there that can compete with it. Agree with therockhr, go with an EA1 and SR260. Don't go with an HC250 as they will be limited to OS2.10.6 South Africa C4 user and msgreenf 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted July 3, 2020 Author Share Posted July 3, 2020 5 minutes ago, Unsocialtoaster said: Agree with therockhr, go with an EA1 and SR260. Don't go with an HC250 as they will be limited to OS2.10.6 agree.... If they wanted to test the system was thinking HC250 for free as the OS doesnt really matter just for HT control i dont believe. They would probably get the EA1 if they go that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakelay Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 Harmony is ok but not as great as they sell it. I had to take one of my TVs off of our Crestron system since we’re on component and none of the TVs I wanted had component inputs. I wanted to give ‘programming’ a try just for kicks. The elite works ok but a few annoyances - has to reset the hub and the remote a few times - sometimes without a reason and other times because there was an update. There was no way to skip the update and just use the remote - I had to update. Nothing like trying to hop in to watch something and find out you can’t for 5-10 minutes while the firmware updates. Not all of the templates controls operate the equipment the way one would expect and the transport keys are a bit sluggish and I don’t love operating our AppleTV with it. It’s not terrible but not great. Can’t wait to try out our new C4 system this week! I also had trouble learning in some commands from remotes - specifically the directv color buttons (odd they didn’t import correctly with the template). We really only use the red button for deleting items in the DVR without having to go into each item and select a menu option. The user also has to select from ‘activities’ and ‘devices’ for different control options. Could be confusing for someone who just wants ease of use. Again, not a bad setup but definitely not bulletproof so if they go that route they should just know that. For someone with NO technical skills, they would probably pay Best Buy to set up the Harmony and program everything with mediocre results so an EA-1 might be a better choice anyway and not as expensive an option in comparison for all the reasons people mentioned above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejn1 Posted July 3, 2020 Author Share Posted July 3, 2020 9 minutes ago, Jakelay said: Harmony is ok but not as great as they sell it. I had to take one of my TVs off of our Crestron system since we’re on component and none of the TVs I wanted had component inputs. I wanted to give ‘programming’ a try just for kicks. The elite works ok but a few annoyances - has to reset the hub and the remote a few times. Not all of the templates controls operate the equipment the way one would expect and the transport keys are a bit sluggish and I don’t love operating our AppleTV with it. It’s not terrible but not great. Can’t wait to try out our new C4 system this week! I also had trouble learning in some commands from remotes - specifically the directv color buttons (odd they didn’t import correctly with the template). We really only use the red button for deleting items in the DVR without having to go into each item and select a menu option. Again, not a bad setup but definitely not bulletproof so if they go that route they should just know that. For someone with NO technical skills, they would probably pay Best Buy to set it up and program everything with mediocre results so an EA-1 might be a better choice anyway for all the reasons people mentioned above. I started with an older Harmony system years ago and threw it away... Then rented a home in the UK with a bulky Marantz RC9500 (I think thats the model) and that was the first remote i ever tried that really could replace all of my individual remotes. Then went C4 and never changed. I think the EA1 combo is a good option for sure. My guess is that folks will probably be sold by the dealer into Savant given the fancy remote (that's backlit) but not sure. I dont think best buy / Magnolia are C4 dealers anymore btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 A HC-250 and SR-250 is a decent option but that is still more work to maintain than other options. I would go with Harmony. I had Harmony remotes at all eight TVs in my house but I have now replaced four of them with C4 but I still miss a lot of the benefits of the Harmony including a colour screen, soft buttons, full transport buttons, ease of setup. C4 doesn't have a remote with a colour screen and with sufficient buttons. The Neeo looks pretty but it has too few buttons and is very expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 Curious what buttons are missing on the 250/260... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted July 3, 2020 Share Posted July 3, 2020 The SR250/260 have all the buttons but they don't have soft buttons or a colour screen. My 11 year old daughter doesn't like them as she says "those like like they are from the 1980s" - she prefers the Harmony remotes of a Harmony Ultimate or even an older Harmony One. The Neeo looks very cool but, IMHO, it is crippled by lack of buttons. My TV watching is mainly sports and I use hard buttons to skip 10 seconds, and to skip 120 (or 150 ) seconds. I don't want to have to look down to the remote to do that. I HATE this trend of very few buttons on remotes, whether it is a very expensive remote like Neeo, or a dirt cheap remote like for FireTV or Roku. I quite like the 250 or 260. Time2Jet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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