Recently gave in to the temptation to get Harmony Remote Hub. I had burned my hand on OneRemote as an early adapter, a battery devouring Bluetooth Universal remote with a pathetic Mobile Application. I hardly ever could use it effectively. And that had been back of my mind when ever I thought of universal remotes.
What harmony reviews told me is once the Harmony is setup, it just works like a charm. And I learned that it has integration with other pieces I have in Home automation arena and an integration with IFTTT and Smart Things was the major motivation to finally leave the deck.
And the reviews also forewarned me about the nightmare of setting up the device. I conveniently ignored that and ordered it on Amazon. Few days later the Hockey puck was sitting on my table and I was staring at it!
True to the advice from reviewers on net, setting up the device was a nightmare in a way I did not expect. My TV and Receiver got set up in matter of minutes as the make and model number was available. But then the trouble started.
It said that it supports Airtel DTH Box, the drop down to select the device had Airtel, but there was no clue what I had to enter as the specific Model number. The Airtel Box comes with no Model number none what so ever. So back to google looking for some clue. People told me there are no easy way around, I have to enter each key one after the other! But the continued research paid off. I found that I should enter HD DVR! Thanks Dhillon!
Then it was easy. I could also add the channel logos also for the workflows so that when I choose the icon, the channel is selected.
The icing on the cake was there was an IFTTT integration with Harmony which I could use so that when I tell Alexa (Amazon Echo) "Alexa, trigger Asianet", My TV and Settop box and Receiver align to play Asianet!
I am yet to do a full set up as I have postponed it until I move to my new abode, I will some day update about that, hopefully soon!
