Logitech removes features from Harmony Remotes!

[chasw98]

I have had Harmony remotes for more than 4 years now and up until yesterday I have been very happy with their functionality. They have allowed me to have a complex system that the family could operate.

Logitech has deemed it neccesary to remove the capability to send multiple commands with one button. What this means is that when you press play for your DVD player to start playing, you could also have your X-10 controller dim the lights. Not any more you can't! Say for instance you need to switch the input on your TV set and your AV receiver at the same time for a given input. Not any more with a Harmony remote!

Apparently Logitech felt it was too much of a feature to provide support for so the latest software and firmware updates have removed this portion of the remotes functionality. Bottom line, they need more money and have removed a feature to make themselves more profitable. It does not matter that you bought the remote and it is explained how to use this functionality in your manual. They have removed it. If this is an important or neccesary feature to you then do not buy a Harmony remote!

Think of it this way. If you took your car into the dealer for service and when you got it back, instead of an AM-FM radio, all you had was an AM radio, well, you get the point. There are a lot of users extremely upset on the Harmony forum that are asking for this feature to be reinstated. I will just have to wait and see how Logitech handles this issue as to whether I will switch to another brand of activity based remote or keep using a crippled Harmony.

Chuck

[aud19]

Wow! I'd say that will get more than one or two customers, not to mention installers, more than a little upset.

[Nolan B]

My experience with Logitech and Harmoney had been VERY bad since I first got my 1000 4 months ago. The list of glitches and promised firmware updates which never come is like nothing I have ever experienced.

I know the specific issue you are talking about. While its not a fix for the widespread, if you make a big enough stink over it with tech support they can send you the old firmware.

[chasw98]

To me, it is more that they have taken away features that existed when I purchased the unit. What will they change next that exists today? I do not see any features being added. As I cimb the corporate ladder I will keep posting what my results are with Logitech support. I have an incident number now and am going to move up to level 2 on Monday morning.

I was considering getting a 1000 but right now on the Harmony users forum, people are very displeased with the unit and in particular the support. The promised firmware has been delayed numerous times and there are very obvious bugs, not to mention workability in the unit. I would guess approx. 10 to 1 against it right now on the forum. But if people are happy they don't complain so that can be taken with a grain of salt.

Hopefully I can get the old firmware and software to allow me to run my remote the way I bought it and not in the 'crippled' state is in now.

Chuck

[chasw98]

Here is a copy of the email response sent to me by 'Mark S.'

"
Thank you for contacting Logitech Customer Support. You will find the answer to your question below.

We will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you within 120 hours. Note: This is for administrative purposes only. You can re-open this incident at any time by replying to this email.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.

You can also update your question by clicking on the following link:

http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/logitech_en_amr.cfg/php/enduser/acct_login.php?p_userid=chasw@uniweld.com&p_next_page=myq_upd.php&p_iid=1688738&p_created=1177251255

Brief Summary

---------------------------------------------------------------

Button Mapping Issue



Discussion Thread

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Response (Mark S.) - 04/22/2007 02:35 PM Dear Chuck,

Thank you for your recent inquiry about your Harmony Remote

The macro functionality that you were able to program was not a supported feature at any point in time for the Harmony remote. To avoid any type of confusion we had decided to remove this from the Software all together. However, due to massive customer feedback we have decided to re-introduce this feature as a supported option. This functionality will be available at the end of July 2007.

If you would like further information and other tips on customizing your remote please visit the FAQ portion of your Harmony member website. To access, Click "Support", then click "FAQ" while logged in your harmony member page.

We hope that we were able to assist you in resolving this issue, however if you are still experiencing any difficulties with your Harmony Remote, please feel free to contact us again. Please click the link below for our support hours and contact information.

http://members.harmonyremote.com/EasyZapper/Help/FAQShowById.asp?FaqId=864&Language=enu

Regards,

Harmony Technical Support



Question Reference #070422-000453

---------------------------------------------------------------

Product Level 1: Logitech

Product Level 2: Harmony Remote

Product Level 3: H659

Date Created: 04/22/2007 07:14 AM

Last Updated: 04/22/2007 02:35 PM

Status: Waiting

M/N: 659

PID or S/N: cx non coop

P/N : 866121-0001

Operating System: Windows XP

Logitech Software: Harmony remote

Version: 7.2

Downloaded latest SW:

HarmonyFlaskAgentId: 621



[---001:002033:59735---]"

If I click on the first link, it takes me to a login page where my email address is filled out automatically and correctly. When I enter my password, I am told that my password is invalid so this does me no good whatsoever. Thanks Logitech!

[chasw98]

I have just posted a response sent to me by 'Mark S.'. It just so happens that I was on the phone with Anthony who is a level 2 support operator. He has told me that this feature was never supported and it just so happens that I have my original manual and CD handy, so I had to vehemently disagree with him. He has also given me the name and number of a Level 2 supervisor whose name is Mike. I will be calling him on Monday morning. I spent a good 45 minutes on the phone with Anthony. He has assured me that an update wil be available in July. When in July, he could not tell me. If the update does not apear in July, he does not know what I can do to resolve this situation. Although Anthony has sounded very sincere, I am still very doubtful that Logitech will put the feature back in a timely fashion. I hope I am wrong and it still rases the question of what will they disable in the remote next?

In the meantime I am collecting phone numbers and names and will continue to try and resolve this problem sooner than July.

To be continued.....................

Chuck

[David Meek]

Jeez, it takes 3 months to put code back in that they just removed? :roll:

[Burke Strickland]

...it takes 3 months to put code back in that they just removed?

It's going to be SUPPORTED this time, so they probably need some time to hire someone who knows how document how to program macros before they release the code. After all, they wouldn't want to get any embarrassing publicity over something in their product that they couldn't properly support. :>)

[Alaric]

It's going to be SUPPORTED this time, so they probably need some time to hire someone who knows how document how to program macros before they release the code. After all, they wouldn't want to get any embarrassing publicity over something in their product that they couldn't properly support. :>)

A little late for that , isn't it?

[chasw98]

Here is a reply another user got on the Logitech forums -

"Logitech recently released a number of enhancements to the setup and customization software, which are intended to improve the customer experience by simplifying existing functionality. One major change that was made involved the customization of both physical and custom labeled buttons (LCD commands). This change has ensured that customers can specify the name and location of a command on the Harmony screen.
In order to deliver this first phase of enhancements it has been necessary to remove the functionality that allows a customer to assign multiple commands to a single button press. However, we do plan to re-introduce a refined version this functionality, which is currently scheduled for release by the end of July 2007. In the interim, the on-line user manual will be corrected to reflect current functionality.
On behalf of Logitech I do apologize for any inconvenience that this temporary loss of functionality may have caused you.
Regards,
Larry
Harmony Technical Support Supervisor"

I talked to Larry today and got the same story. He is just a regular customer service rep. I talked to his supervisor for another 30 minutes and got a different story. They all sound very sincere. In all likelihood this is driven by a department further up the food chain and they will do what they want to do and the *&%$ with the customer. They will add and remove features at will in the name of upgrading with absolutely no notice and restore (or not restore) those functions at a later date. If you are a person who tends to update their equipment quite frequently, you will find that over the course of a year there is a good chance that all of your functions and features will never all work at the same time. In talking to the customer service supervisor today he said that they took away the ability to have the favorites on the remotes while they updated the code for all the remotes. That took about 3 months and was finally restored in December 2006. Now here in March 2007, 3 months later, they take away the multiple mapping to a single key and that will definitely not be coming back until the end of July (if we are lucky). What feature they will disable after that?

Chuck

[peterS]

lol that was the only selling point of the harmonies... I dont get it

[chasw98]

Well, somewhat good news! I have spoken with Peter, who is apparently the top guy at customer support, and he is having the engineering department build a special configuration for me to accomadate the loss of multiple commands for a single button. They are to be in contact with me later today and let me know when to download the new configuration to my Harmony. If it works, he said the possibility of offering it to any other affected customers is being looked into.

He spoke of mis communications amongst departments and admitted that Harmony/Logitech had made a very grave error and misjudged their customer base. They are currently putting a plan in place to avoid this kind of error in the future.

Chuck

[Vinny]

lol that was the only selling point of the harmonies... I dont get it

I know, I was going to buy that for my dad's retirement gift for couple months later(they are still not used to use receiver and rather use TV's speakers).

[aud19]

Good news Chuck, sounds like they may have smartened up :T

[chasw98]

Unfortunantely it took the 'squeaky wheel gets the grease routine' but if it helps other users get some satisfaction and Harmony to wise up, in the end it will be for the good. Just wish they had offered me a free 1000 for all my pain and suffering! :E

Chuck

[Pez]

I must be missing something because I cant believe what I reading in this thread. If I understand this correctly did Logitech remove the ability for the remote to perform a macro, ie hitting one button to turn on all (or selected) components??? If thats the case how in the world did think that was not a vital feature of a universal remote???

I had been thinking about getting a Harmony remote but if this is how Logitech operates I would never buy one and would steer others away. Without macros no one but me would be able to operate my system in my house. Looks like I am stcking to my MX-500 for the foreseeable future.

[chasw98]

If I understand this correctly did Logitech remove the ability for the remote to perform a macro, ie hitting one button to turn on all (or selected) components???

You read it wrong. What has happened is that Harmony has removed the ability to use a hard key to control 2 or 3 different components. An example would be when you have selected the activity 'Watch A DVD' and your system turns on and sets itself up to watch a DVD and the DVD starts playing. 10 minutes into the movie you get hungry and want to get up and fix yourself a sandwich, but the room is dark and you can't see anything. So you press the pause button on your Harmony remote and it 1) pauses the DVD, and 2) brings up the lights by pressing 1 button. After you make your sandwich and return to watch the movie, you hit play and the remote does 1) starts the movie playing, and 2) dims the lights. What is happening is that in the Watch DVD mode the remote is programmed to play the DVD and dim the lights when you hit the play button and vice versa when you hit the stop or pause button. Other examples might be to switch the inputs on your TV and switch the input on your AV receiver or pre/pro at the same time from 1 button.

Chuck

[Pez]

I see. I knew I had to be reading it wrong. I have never used a Logitech some I wasnt familiar with that feature. Thanks!

[chasw98]

For the last two days Logitech has tried to get my remote working back the way it was before they disabled some functions. It took them 2 days and 2 tries but I have to say it is all working just the way it should now. If anyone else has this problem with their Harmony remote, I believe Logitech will do the programming needed to get the remote back the way it was. In the end they were quite helpful and did follow through on their promises. PM me if you need names and numbers of contacts.

Chuck

[Kevin P]

FYI - one of the Logitech employees whose name was mentioned earlier in this thread emailed requesting that last names of Logitech staff not be posted. First names only are ok.

I edited out the last names that I could find.

Thanks for your cooperation.

[OttoMatic]

I've never used multi-commands on hard buttons, and I didn't know there was a way to do it (Harmony 890). Is it also possible to do this on the soft buttons?

Personally, I'm glad that Harmony changed the user interface for programming the remote, specifically as it addressed the idiotic implementation of the soft button organization. The user was never allowed to order soft buttons in any kind of logical order -- regardless of how the user set them up, they would be reordered by device, and then alphabetically under device.

The important thing was that Harmony listened to costomer complaints to resolve the issue that I, and many others had a problem with. It took them a while to fix it, but if they sent out an earlier, buggier release, there would be people bitching up and down about that.

No, as far as I can tell, your complaint was resolved by Harmony within three days? That's damn good customer service, even if you did have to make a bunch of calls. One of their firmware engineers jumped through hoops to satisfy one user. Good job by Harmony, and I look forward to seeing this new version of firmware!

[-=GS=-]

Wow sounds like excellent customer support if you ask me. I think I will get that Harmony 550 I've been eyeing.

[Nolan B]

FYI. Zwave is being completely dropped from the Harmony 1000. If you bought it for that reason I would suggest calling and asking for a refund.

[jim777]

FYI. Zwave is being completely dropped from the Harmony 1000. If you bought it for that reason I would suggest calling and asking for a refund.

WTF! I wanted a 1000 for that feature... I was thinking of controling lights or something. I guess I'll have to hack something custom with IR, it'll cost a few bucks instead of a few hundrens..

[chasw98]

Here is the latest news from Logitech concerning the renewal of firmware.

"Response (Anthony - Supervisor) - 07/09/2007 10:44 AM
Hi Mr. Witt,

Earlier this year you contacted Logitech regarding the removal of functionality from the Harmony remote software. At that time, we communicated that the ability for multiple IR commands to be assigned to a single button was scheduled for release by the end of July 2007.

In response to feedback from other customers, Logitech will also be introducing additional button & remote customizations. This functionality will allow Harmony customers to create a sequence of up to 5 commands to any devices included in a given activity and the creation of up to 10 sequences.

To ensure that the restored functionality fully meets your expectations, and that the new functionality meets the needs of other Harmony customers, Logitech is extending the test cycle. As a result the release date has been changed to the end of August 2007.

On behalf of Logitech I apologize for the delay, but hope that you understand why we have made the decision.
Please let us know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Harmony Technical Support"

What is this saying? Don't look for it until the end of September. In speaking with Anthony, the reason that engineering is delaying the release of the software until the end of August 2007 (instead of July 2007) is to get it right the first time. When I mentioned that if they missed the release date by a day or two at the end of August, then it would not appear until the release day at the end of September thereby giving them an extra month to make it work, he agreed. Previous updates that have caused problems for Harmony's engineering department have taken up to 6 months to be released. So I, for one, will believe it when I see it and I hope that they release it in August.

Chuck

[chasw98]

I have spoken with Peter at Logitech today. He had promised to call me on August 20th to update me on the release of the new software that will allow hard coding buttons to multiple commands. He says the software release is being delayed until September 9th, 2007 because of some issues that they are having in making it compatible with all versions of software that currently exist. From the earliest release of Harmony software to the latest release, I am told it will all work without an upgrade. Peter also tells me that not only will you be able to hard code multiple commands to a single key, but that there are features are being introduced and upgraded in this release. I hope it is released when Peter says it will be. We shall see. It grows closer!

On another note, while I have been waiting for the software updates since April, one of my Harmony remotes has died. Logitech has offered to replace it at no charge to me. Score some points for Harmony! :T

Chuck

[cobbpa]

Wow Chuck! Just curious, how is that replacement justified? Was it in relation to your communication with them, or just because it died?

Any clue how easy it will be to do this coding? I haven't tried it before, but from what you've said it sounded like it wasn't so simple before, or maybe I just thought that since I didn't try.

[chasw98]

Wow Chuck! Just curious, how is that replacement justified? Was it in relation to your communication with them, or just because it died?

Any clue how easy it will be to do this coding? I haven't tried it before, but from what you've said it sounded like it wasn't so simple before, or maybe I just thought that since I didn't try.

The unit that has problems still works. The screen is unreadable and the volume up control is not working correctly. I just asked if they could repair the unit and was told that a new unit would be sent to me in 2 - 7 business days. I beleive that they feel sorry for me because I have called them back every time they made a date with me for the upgrade and I am still waiting. Who knows, maybe they will offer me a beta testing job!

As far as coding, it is not really coding. You go to the Harmony website and register with the unit you own. Then they have various wizards that help you set it up. But you are also able to make the units do more tricks once they are set up with the proper devices and such.

[OttoMatic]

Hi chasw98,

Has there been any update to this? I didn't notice a change on the Harmony software.

Thanks.

[chasw98]

Hi chasw98,

Has there been any update to this? I didn't notice a change on the Harmony software.

Thanks.

Yes, there have been changes. I talked with Peter on September 7th and he said the new software was just starting to go out on their servers. He said it has appeared to be working well with very few complaints.
I had waited a week or so before I used the new software. I had to update the Harmony software as soon as I contacted the web site, even before logging in.
The interface is very uncluttered. I took a screen shot.



Harmony has still managed to allow some very sophisticated universal remote programming while keeping it relatively easy to navigate and uncover the features and functions you want. As far as hard coding a button to do multiple commands, they came up with a better mousetrap. You can now build what they call a 'sequence', sort of a macro for dummies. You choose a name for the sequence and then you tell it what device and what command to perform, then you do it again for a different device or the same device and so and so forth. You can build up quite a few commands per sequence. I do not know the limit. You may then insert this sequence in place of any button on the remote, hard key or soft key. I do not know if you can call a sequence from within a sequence. I haven't tried that yet.

So far it looks like Harmony is trying to regain its price/performance crown. I do not know how good the customer service will be from here on out, but I do believe that they might have learned to listen to their customers a little bit. As much as a big corporation can.

[OttoMatic]

Hi there,

Thanks. I did notice that change a while ago (was it only Sept 7th?). Anyway, I like the idea of the "sequence"; that will be very useful for me. But how do I create a sequence? I looked throughout (apparently not well enough) and I can't seem to find it. I did confirm that I have the latest PC-side software (7.3.2).

Thanks!