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    Harmony Pro and Homeseer

    I have been doing a lot of reading on both Homeseer and Harmony integration. My goal is to be able to use unified remote control to TVs/Cable boxes/AV Receiver and a multizone amp like Russound. I would appreciate some help here and simply to understand if my expectations are reasonable given Homeseer and Harmony integration level. More details on my setup or rather an idea of my setup:

    Basement:
    7.1 home theater setup and two sets of stereo speakers (don't need to be able to play different content in each set of speakers but would be nice)

    1st floor
    5.1 home theater setup up and and 4 sets of stereo speakers (don't need to be able to play different content in each set of speakers but would be nice)

    Thinking is there are 2 separate 2 zone AV receivers to drive the home theaters and an additional zone. Then using a multizone amp/controller like Russound to drive the other sets of speakers.

    Ideally I would like to be able to control sources like cable boxes, chromcast on a receiver and TVs through Harmony Pro (mutli-zone support). Unified remote is important to make this setup wife friendly. Is this even possible or my expectations are unrealistic? Since I would be using this with Homeseer the choices made through remote control should also be visible on a touchpad interface which I intend to have as a front end to Homeseer. For example if TV on the first floor is showing content from a cable box it would be great if this also visible on a touchpad interface. Thank you.

    #2
    Not sure I understand your requirements. I'm not overly familiar with the Harmony Pro because it needs to be setup by a professional (no DIY setups). Because of this, I don't know if this will work for your setup.

    The plugin should be able to connect to the hub, but since I've never encountered one, I can't be 100% sure of that especially since you need to now turn XMPP on and Logitech says that "voids your warranty" (Because they don't want to support it)

    Comment


      #3
      Ok, let's forget about the pro version then. I want be able to control a 2 zone receiver and a multi zone amp/controller using harmony remote. For example:

      1. Select a source plugged in to the multi zone amp and select zones on the multi zone amp and zones driven by av receiver

      2. Alternatively select a source on a two zone receiver and play it through any of the zones attached to the receiver and the multi zone amp.

      Being able to select a source and zones in an integrated intuitive way is what I am looking for. Thank you for your help.

      Comment


        #4
        Here's a decent comparison of the pro vs. elite: https://www.universalremotereviews.c...-elite-review/

        The hub and remotes appear to be identical so it seems likely only the firmware is unique for the Pro in order to allow 20 vs. 15 devices. Looks more like a marketing ploy to me. I bet the Pro hub also doesn't talk to the same consumer servers either to make sure the consumer gets locked out. I hate that BS.

        They say that the Pro supports multi-zone audio while the Elite does not but I had no problem adding a Russound CAA66 to my MyHarmony account and having it show up as a device within MeiHarmony. I don't have the Russound Amp so I can't really test it out but I'm pretty sure you could create events within HS to control it using discrete IR codes sent from the hub.

        If you can provide a detailed list of the devices you have (i.e. Manufacturer and Model) I'd be happy to look them up in MyHarmony to make sure they are supported. For that matter you can do the same by installing the MyHarmony app on your computer and adding a dummy remote. As a backup plan, you can always create a custom device, and learn the IR codes from the remote for the device. This is tedious and time consuming but does work well.

        Hope this helps,
        Ken


        "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by kenm View Post
          Here's a decent comparison of the pro vs. elite: https://www.universalremotereviews.c...-elite-review/

          The hub and remotes appear to be identical so it seems likely only the firmware is unique for the Pro in order to allow 20 vs. 15 devices. Looks more like a marketing ploy to me. I bet the Pro hub also doesn't talk to the same consumer servers either to make sure the consumer gets locked out. I hate that BS.

          They say that the Pro supports multi-zone audio while the Elite does not but I had no problem adding a Russound CAA66 to my MyHarmony account and having it show up as a device within MeiHarmony. I don't have the Russound Amp so I can't really test it out but I'm pretty sure you could create events within HS to control it using discrete IR codes sent from the hub.

          If you can provide a detailed list of the devices you have (i.e. Manufacturer and Model) I'd be happy to look them up in MyHarmony to make sure they are supported. For that matter you can do the same by installing the MyHarmony app on your computer and adding a dummy remote. As a backup plan, you can always create a custom device, and learn the IR codes from the remote for the device. This is tedious and time consuming but does work well.

          Hope this helps,
          Ken

          Thanks Ken. I have not bought any devices yet, I am in the planning stage and trying to figure out my options how to put it all together. Let me describe the setup I am looking for,any guidance is appreciated.

          My goal is to create a whole house audio system that covers the basement and the first floor. Including the basement is not a must have but would be nice.

          1. In the basement I have a TV watching area where I have 7.1 surround speakers installed. I also have another two zones where I have stereo speakers installed. I need an AV receiver to drive the 7.1 TV watching area. I can get a 2 zone receiver to cover the basement and a CAA66 to drive the 3rd zone or get a 3 zone receiver to cover the whole basement.

          2. On the first floor I have a 5.1 TV watching area. I have 4 more stereo zones including the outside patio. Here I am thinking of getting another AV receiver for the TV watching area and need to drive the other zones with something like CAA66.

          In an ideal scenario I would have 1 remote for the basement and one remote for the 1st floor. The remote would allow me to turn TV on, select the source for the TV say a cable box or a chromecast, select zones where I want the sound to go, adjust volume, change channels on the cable box etc. Thanks again for your help.

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