Today, I’m going to show you the unboxing, setup, and installation of the logitech Harmony smart control. We have these voice assistants from Amazon and Google and have played around with controlling our lights, switches and even our cameras with voice control but only a few companies…have ventured to get alexa and Google home to control our TVs and our entertainment center.
If you have been following my channel, you have noticed that one gadget at a time, I’ve been trying to do home automation … with this upgrade, this is mostly for novelty but it has its benefits… Just like in my intro… occasionally, I want to watch TV and I cannot find the remote or I’m doing kitchen work and my hands are full… or you have one of those buffalo wings or fried chicken dinner nights that your fingers are too messy to use the remote…so having to be able to control your TV hands free using Alexa or Google assistant is a plus.
By the way…I don’t have a smart TV and it only has 2 HDMI inputs..so if I want to use the chrome cast or my Amazon Fire stick, I needed to unplug my kid’s Xbox so that I could be able to plug it in to my TV…so, on this video, I’ll show you also that I bought an HDMI switch with remote that I’m going to program with the Logitech Harmony.
I’ll include the links of the products that I used for this upgrade down below.
Logitech Harmony Smart Control – amzn.to/2ozYPL0
Amazon Echo “Alexa” Devices – amzn.to/2F5iHQh
Amazon Fire Stick – amzn.to/2GUesmX
So, let’s get started…
I have the harmony smart control which includes the harmony hub with app that turns your smart phone into a powerful universal remote..and this hub works with google assistant and amazon Alexa..
It can control devices behind cabinets or walls.
It can control up to 8 devices…
It is easy setup with your smart phone…
and compatible with IR/bluetooth game consoles.
So your smart phone will be the remote when you use the app but it also comes with it own remote control which stays in sync with what you have done in the app.
So, let’s open this up..
We have the Harmony hub..
We have the setup guide..
Then, we also have a traditional remote control
We have the IR mini-blaster
USB cable
Lastly, an AC adapter..
We will take a closer look at the Harmony hub itself. This is the brain of the controller. On the back, you will see a reset button, a micro USB slot for power supply and two sockets for IR mini blasters…the package comes with one but it has another one just in case you need another infrared extension to control another device in a different area where the main hub cannot reach.
The Harmony smart control also comes with a remote control which is configurable through the app. Also, whatever changes you made on the app, it will also be sync with this controller.
Time for installation… the IR blaster will be placed on top of the console to control the TV and the HDMI switch which I’ll show you later on. I don’t have a Smart TV and also only have 2 HDMI inputs…so I needed an HDMI switch for my other devices…the main harmony hub will be inside the console to control the DVD and my DVR and cable receiver.
We have the power supply and the plug for the IR mini blaster and all we need to do is plug in the main hub.
Then we need to download and open up the app…click on setup a new hub…which it will automatically search for WiFi network..type in your password…then connect…
We then need to sign up for an account…then click continue..
click accept for the user agreement…then it will download any updates which can take a while…
When you start the app…it will show you information about the remote, the hub and the IR blaster…it will give you a better idea on how to setup and proper placement.
Next, the hub will automatically find devices that it can control…like on mine, I have the google chromecast and the fire stick…click next to add them… then it will guide you to add other devices like your TV, DVD, receivers.
You can type in the brand and the model number of your device like on this case…cable receiver..then click add…
You do the same thing with your other devices that you want to control up to 8 of them.. logitech has a database of 225,000 devices that are compatible with the harmony hub…but if you have a device that it is not on it’s database, you can easily program the hub to be able to control it like my HDMI switch..
So you type in the brand and the model number if there is any…
I have th annke…I’ll put in hdmi5x switch as the model number and click add…it will prompt you and give you choices from its database which this brand is not added so I’ll click my device is correct to manually program it to work with the harmony hub.
Click continue…and choose the best type of device it is..mine it is a HDMI switch…you need to have the remote of the device so that the hub can copy and control the device.
Just follow the instructions to copy the remote control’s buttons to the harmony hub.
Now, let’s add an activity…which is to watch TV…select the devices that we want to include on the activity which the app usually checks off already…click next…
Then either turn on the device if it is not on and click my devices are on…
Then select an input..which I’ll use the switch…so I’ll select “do not set input” on the TV and select input 4 for the switch which is where my cable receiver is connected..click yes if the TV and the receiver turned on…then the hub will save the activity…
So, just repeat the process to add more activities like watching a movie which will be the TV and the VD player…. or play amazon fire TV and so on and so forth…the hub takes you step by step in setting up…so just take time in setting up the hub correctly so that it will not give you problems later on…
You can also set up the included remote control and it will sync with the app on your phone if there are any changes. It uses the harmony hub to control the devices and not the devices themselves like the other universal remotes…so this remote is specifically for the harmony hub..
Now, setup is complete..you might need some more tweaking of your devices but as long as you follow the app’s instructions during setup, then everything should work ok…
It is time to setup the harmony hub to amazon alexa which is pretty easy..just go to the alexa app and search for harmony from the skills menu..
Click enable and it will go to the logitech page where you need to log in to your harmony account. When logged in, just click authorize…
Setting up with Google Assistant is pretty easy also…
When you open up Google home, there will be a link for you to follow to link your account..
Just click authorize…the only thing about google assistant is that you need to say “ask harmony” before every command..making sure your voice command is for the remote control and not for something else…which with Alexa, she will sometimes get confused…
This system is not perfect and just like with other universal remotes, if one device didn’t respond or you manually turned on or off one device, then it will mess up the whole sequence..but overall it is fun to be able to control your entertainment center just by using your voice.