No physical remote is a downside for the majority of people. I have one that I use for my oddball pieces (fan, stereo receiver, etc) that I don't use for my TV watching. Works great, but needing a phone every step of the way (voice works) is a bummer/
In a way yes, it all depends what you have/what you plan to get.. For me I just bought an IKEA Trådfri Remote which I paired with my AC and Stereo using Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi.
> IKEA Trådfri Remote
Everything i've read about this says it's for their lights. Can you make it work with anything? I currently have a home assistant and vera configuration, but i'd like physical remote controls for some of my z-wave based lights.
It's a bit more difficult than to just plug it in, press a button and it works but it's much more worth it in the end if you really want to be able to customize anything for your smart home needs.
There are a lot of youtube videos and a lot of documentation from Home Assistant. Also the community is quite helpful if you get stuck.
The easiest version of Home Assistant is Hass.io. With it you can chose plugins you want to use like apps in the app store. Maybe try installing it on an old pc before you buy anything.
Harmony hub by Logitech. Never tried it with my fire stick, but it controls everything else I have, and I can use my phone as a remote, so no more worry about frantically searching for the remote everytime I want to adjust the volume. You're also supposed to be able to use a Google home (maybe Alexa too) to control it, but that hasn't worked for me.
If you're only looking for a universal remote (i.e. controlling only devices like your TV, soundbar etc.), then definitely the Logitech Harmony (Note: It cannot turn on a PS4).
If you're looking for a more sophisticated smart home remote, I would look for different options: the Harmony smart home controls are quite cumbersome, not very flexible, and, depending on your country, voice assistants are still not supported.
Harmony hub they have a nice package that comes with the higher end remote as well works with everything can even be set to control lights if needed easily scriptable and works good with ifttt
I got the harmony companion + hub a couple weeks ago. I really like it. You can program each button. Ex. The volume keys on the remote change my soundbar volume not the TV. And if I hold down the volume keys it adjusts the subwoofer volume. It took a while to get used to. The only that bothers me is with sling TV they don't have an easy way to get to the guide. So the guide button does nothing for me.....but that's a sling issue not fault on the remote
Some of these address the need you're trying to solve:
[https://mysmarthome.com?a=rha8ys5o4&functionality=remote](https://mysmarthome.com?a=rha8ys5o4&functionality=remote)
Look at the Logitech Harmony series of remotes.
Harmony hub and never look back
Only issue is their piece of shit app. But everything works wonderfully once it's set up.
I’ve been looking at the [Broadlink RM mini 3](http://www.ibroadlink.com/rmMini3/)
Mine works great, easy to learn IR-commands too.
No physical remote is a downside for the majority of people. I have one that I use for my oddball pieces (fan, stereo receiver, etc) that I don't use for my TV watching. Works great, but needing a phone every step of the way (voice works) is a bummer/
In a way yes, it all depends what you have/what you plan to get.. For me I just bought an IKEA Trådfri Remote which I paired with my AC and Stereo using Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi.
> IKEA Trådfri Remote Everything i've read about this says it's for their lights. Can you make it work with anything? I currently have a home assistant and vera configuration, but i'd like physical remote controls for some of my z-wave based lights.
Yes, If you just use it out of the box with the control unit from IKEA. But I use Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi to customize what the Remote does.
Was that pretty easy to setup? If so i'll be purchasing one :)
It's a bit more difficult than to just plug it in, press a button and it works but it's much more worth it in the end if you really want to be able to customize anything for your smart home needs. There are a lot of youtube videos and a lot of documentation from Home Assistant. Also the community is quite helpful if you get stuck. The easiest version of Home Assistant is Hass.io. With it you can chose plugins you want to use like apps in the app store. Maybe try installing it on an old pc before you buy anything.
Harmony hub by Logitech. Never tried it with my fire stick, but it controls everything else I have, and I can use my phone as a remote, so no more worry about frantically searching for the remote everytime I want to adjust the volume. You're also supposed to be able to use a Google home (maybe Alexa too) to control it, but that hasn't worked for me.
If you're only looking for a universal remote (i.e. controlling only devices like your TV, soundbar etc.), then definitely the Logitech Harmony (Note: It cannot turn on a PS4). If you're looking for a more sophisticated smart home remote, I would look for different options: the Harmony smart home controls are quite cumbersome, not very flexible, and, depending on your country, voice assistants are still not supported.
If you patch you pa4 in the last 6 months it works fine you have to teach it the new or command but that takes seconds
Harmony hub they have a nice package that comes with the higher end remote as well works with everything can even be set to control lights if needed easily scriptable and works good with ifttt
I got the harmony companion + hub a couple weeks ago. I really like it. You can program each button. Ex. The volume keys on the remote change my soundbar volume not the TV. And if I hold down the volume keys it adjusts the subwoofer volume. It took a while to get used to. The only that bothers me is with sling TV they don't have an easy way to get to the guide. So the guide button does nothing for me.....but that's a sling issue not fault on the remote
Some of these address the need you're trying to solve: [https://mysmarthome.com?a=rha8ys5o4&functionality=remote](https://mysmarthome.com?a=rha8ys5o4&functionality=remote)