Harmony 900 Remote

[HDJulie]

We recently purchased the Harmony One remote & love it. Our living room & dining room are separated by a dual fireplace & we have tv's over each side with the DVR's, etc in a built-in entertainment cabinet on the living room side. So the DVR (HR20-700) that we use to watch on the dining room side is controlled through RF & we have 2 DirecTV remotes for it -- one on the dining room side & one on the living room side & that DVR is hooked up to both TV's. We also have an HR22-100 that is hooked to the living room TV & it, the living room TV, & the home theater are controlled by the Harmony One. But, when we want to watch something recorded on the HR20, we have to use 2 remotes -- the One to control volume, etc & the DirecTV remote to control the DVR.

Best Buy has the Harmony 900 on sale for $299 & we have $75 in reward zone certificates so I was thinking about getting this one. However, I believe I've read that the Harmony RF remotes can't control the DirecTV DVR's natively & require an IR Blaster. This would mean the DVR would have to be in IR mode, correct? Which would defeat the purpose. I want to use the DirecTV remote on the dining room side because we don't need an expensive remote on that side so the DVR has to stay in RF mode. Am I right about the Harmony -- it can't control the DVR while the DVR is in RF mode?

[Yoda-DBSguy]

The harmony 900 comes with a rf to ir blaster kit.

It works exactly the same way your origional; harmony works; however with the addition of the blaster it allows the remote to control user selected devices via rf.

You'll need to set the directv receivers to IR mode from within their menu. Use the included blaster(s) in front of the components which allows the remote to send rf signals which in turn the blaster(s) convert back to IR for their use.

This is exactly the senario that the new 900 was made for....

[Chris Blount]

I had the same issue as you. I need two remotes to control my satellite receiver from two different locations.

You are correct. The Harmony 900 does NOT control the satellite receivers natively (in RF mode). You must use the blasters for any type of RF functionality.

I purchased the Harmony 900 a few months ago to replace an older Harmony remote. Quite frankly I love it! At first I thought I wasn't going to use the RF portion but now I can't live without it. It controls the home theater perfectly and the blaster's range is fantastic.

Here is my little mini-review if you like to read it: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=2295738#post2295738

I still need two remotes but the tradeoff in functionality in other areas was worth it.

If you have the coupons to get it for that price, you might want to grab it anyway. It's a nice remote.

[HDJulie]

I did get the 900. I was able to return the One for a full refund so I only needed $50 more to get the 900. However, I am having buyer's remorse. I just tried to use the number buttons while in the Guide & the remote locked up & then rebooted. It also does not like that I am NOT using any blasters. Can you tell it to turn off RF if it is not being used?

[HDJulie]

I think I fixed my 900. I had to tell it how to do the channel numbers. It seems to be working now. Still a hassle that it wants to update the IR Blasters every time I update the modem but all I have to do is hit cancel so I guess I can live with that :-).

[HDJulie]

I saw on the AVS site a mention about The Next Generation Remote Control Extender.

Remote Control Extender at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C1Z0HA/ref=s9_simi_gw_s0_p23_t2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=06SQXHPMV6J7W2816P6G&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846)

I'd like to get that to use in the DirecTV remote in the dining room side so that I can put the DVR back in IR mode, use the extender with the DirecTV remote to control the DVR from the dining room, then use the Harmony 900 to control the DVR from the living room side. The problem is the other DirecTV DVR also on the living room side. I don't think I can control both through IR from the 900 because any command sent for one would also affect the other & one DVR is directly underneath the other in an open-shelf cabinet. So I'm thinking I could use a 900 blaster for the living room DVR which would make it RF from the remote to the blaster, & use IR on the other DVR from the 900. Would that work?

[Yoda-DBSguy]

I saw on the AVS site a mention about The Next Generation Remote Control Extender.

Remote Control Extender at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000C1Z0HA/ref=s9_simi_gw_s0_p23_t2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=06SQXHPMV6J7W2816P6G&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846)

I'd like to get that to use in the DirecTV remote in the dining room side so that I can put the DVR back in IR mode, use the extender with the DirecTV remote to control the DVR from the dining room, then use the Harmony 900 to control the DVR from the living room side. The problem is the other DirecTV DVR also on the living room side. I don't think I can control both through IR from the 900 because any command sent for one would also affect the other & one DVR is directly underneath the other in an open-shelf cabinet. So I'm thinking I could use a 900 blaster for the living room DVR which would make it RF from the remote to the blaster, & use IR on the other DVR from the 900. Would that work?

You can control both with IR. The HRx series receivers have 8 selectable IR codes; one can be set to a different IR code then the other. The harmony 900 as well as the directv remotes can be programmed to control both receivers with a different IR code set to each. That in conjunction with the RF battery kit you linked will work; I've done that exact thing here before myself.

[HDJulie]

Thanks. I found how to change the IR code on the DVR & DirecTV remote & it seems when I'm ready to add the DVR to the Harmony, I'll just tell it to confirm the IR so it knows which code to use.

[HDJulie]

The next generation remote control extender works great. However, like an idiot, I didn't realize that since I was controlling both the TV in the dining room & the DVR in the living room with the DirecTV remote, that using this would cause the remote to no longer work the TV through IR :-0. So now, the remote will control the DVR in the living room while the DVR is in IR mode, but I need another remote to turn on the TV in the dining room since I don't have an eye for it from the spaceship.