any update? seems like alot of people waiting to get what was advertised in the first place.
3 Likes
+1. any updates on this?
1 Like
We just got the first draft working. Weāre sending it to Harmony to review.
1 Like
would i be able to get a beta version while youāre waiting for the review process to complete?
This will first have to pass initial review from harmony. Once we pass our internal testing then we will open it up for beta so that we can test it with other accounts before it goes live. @April will be compiling a list of users that are requesting harmony beta access. Thanks all for wanting to contribute.
Personally, I think I would pass on Harmony controlling Z-wave/Zigbee. It doesnāt do the things it supposed to do very well, to be honest. Harmony was sort of pitched as a controller that would intelligently control your AV devices, but in reality its just been a very clunky IR blaster. Like - given that just about every TV, receiver and source is network connected these days, why does it resort to only dealing with broadcasting an IR signal to get anything doneā¦ OpenRemote (with all its challenges) is actually further along.
I spent a LOT of time trying to get my Harmony Ultimate in my local ecosystem. The best thing I could come up with was having the Harmony flip local virtual switches to signal what āstateā it was in for ST. This sort of worked well for a while, but at some point it became enough management code that it was easier for me to just write proper devices for my connected things.
Along with others in this thread - I share hope that ST learns a little bit from the Harmony community! The open platform is great for me, and I think the team has done a good job balancing out people like me with the broader audience 
I tend to agree. What I want is for my ST to control my Harmony.
ST when Ron returns home Start Harmony Spotify
and then for my echo to control ST.
Alexa, SmartThings Harmony Play Spotify
Alexa, SmartThings Harmony TV Volume Up
That would be nice !
2 Likes
Agreed, IR systems donāt manage state at all. Hitting power on the remote only toggles on/off and does not keep track of when the TV is on or off. Harmony adds a state level but if you use a control outside of Harmony, it gets messed up. And there is no handshake to confirm a button was received. My family doesnāt understand why I canāt make it work perfectly. With using a dumb remote THEY know when power is on and off, why canāt I make Harmony know?
On the other hand, SmatThings is not that robust either but what choices do we have.
@april please add my name to the beta.
If you like a software-only remote, the kind that runs on a phone or tablet, Roomie remote gets good reviews and is supposed to have decent ST integration. One of the company execs posts in the ST forums occasionally and has both systems. Theyāve also written and maintain their own smartapp for ST, which speaks well to their interest in the integration. But you need a GlobalCache iTach IR blaster plus some paid software options to make everything work.
Personally, I prefer to look at the TV screen while using a remote, as does my housemate.
As far as IR, my own TV and my media player are both IR only, and Iām not planning on replacing either of them soon. They work fine, and just getting better HA integration wouldnāt justify the cost.
My housemate bought the Harmony Home Hub remote about a month ago, and maybe because our expectations were lower, weāve been really happy with it. We didnāt have a previous universal remote, so itās replaced TV, cable, ROKU, and media player. We like the form factor and the tactile buttons.
I like the fact that it has an IFTTT channel. So using Will Poirierās method, for the first time ever I have voice control to power the TV on and off. And I can use just one voice command to trigger multiple events in both ST and
Harmony, anything controllable through either ST or the Harmony channel.
Itās a long way from perfect. Or even very good. But itās way better than what we had before. And we got ours on sale for $99, so well worth it. My housemate is just happy he has a universal remote and can toggle the LR light on and off from the couch, which was his whole reason for buying it. 
Iād like more voice control and obviously better ST integration, but for our preferences and setup, itās been a good choice with a lot of value.
āAll home automation is local.ā
1 Like
Hitting power on the remote only toggles on/off and does not keep track of when the TV is on or off.
You might want to check to see if your TV allows for discrete on/off codes instead of power toggle. Discrete codes greatly simplify the state problem. Further, try mounting IR blasters directly to the IR receiver on your devices. Between utilizing all discrete codes and having blasters mounted Iāve found IR to be acceptably reliable. Harmony is heavily dependent upon IR control of devices, but it can do so reliably if you get the environment setup correctly.
I obviously prefer equipment with network connections, but even then very few systems make good use of it. For example, I have an Onkyo receiver with network control capabilities, but ST wonāt handle it and neither will Harmony. Basically all of my non-cloud network attached devices (projector, receiver, etc) are controlled via EventGhost because nothing else is flexible enough to offer control of local network devices.
Agree. Harmony has some stability issues, but maybe dealing with ST has softened me upā¦ The big wins for me with Harmony is it has a great - simple universal remote. It has great acceptance from the GF and visitors alike.
1 Like