We’ve highlighted a few alternatives to Logitech’s popular, but now-discontinued series.
Logitech has halted production of its entire line of universal remote controls, leaving Harmony Hub users in the lurch. What happened to the Harmony Hub, and what options are available to users now? There are, thankfully, some options. Everything you need to know will cover.
What Did Happen to the Harmony Hub?
With its Harmony brand of universal remote controllers, Logitech dominated the industry for years. The Harmony Hub, a product created for both home theater aficionados and owners of smart home gadgets, was the company’s final product.
The Harmony Hub, which debut in 2014, is a little puck-like device. And it uses Bluetooth and IR technologies to connect to your existing home cinema devices. The Hub then connects to your home network through Wi-Fi. And then can operate via the supplied remote control, the Harmony Hub smartphone app, or the Alexa speech assistant on an Amazon Echo device.
The Harmony Hub, like previous Harmony universal remotes, may programme to conduct multi-step, multi-device tasks. It also has the ability to control smart home devices such as Philips Hue smart lighting and the Google Nest smart thermostat. It’s particularly popular among home theater enthusiasts, who use it to operate all of their equipment.
Logitech stated in April 2021 that all universal remote controls, including the Harmony Hub, would be discontinued. Officials from the company indicated that they wanted to focus on their main business of computer mice and keyboards, which were booming in the COVID-19 pandemic’s work-from-home environment. Logitech remotes were the most popular units on the market, therefore many of them astonished and unhappy.
The Best Logitech Harmony Hub Alternatives
While Logitech has stated that it will continue to serve Harmony users, no new Harmony Hubs are producing or sold. Users will compel to find a replacement for their cherished Harmony Hubs to operate their home theater systems and other gadgets sooner or later.
What are the current alternatives to the Harmony Hub? While there are no devices that can accomplish all of the functions that the Harmony Hub did, there are three possible substitutes that can.
Amazon Fire TV Cube
The Amazon Fire TV Cube is essentially a beefed-up version of the company’s Fire TV Stick. The Amazon Fire TV Cube combines all of the streaming video functionality of a regular Fire TV device with the smart speaker capabilities of an Amazon Echo. You can use the supplied remote control or the Fire TV Cube’s voice commands to control all of your home theater equipment, just like you would with an Amazon Echo device.
The Fire TV Cube, unlike an Amazon Echo device, displays results and other information on your TV screen. The Fire TV Cube, for example, may display lyrics onscreen when you’re listening to music. It features 4K HDR playback, the standard Fire TV user interface, and access to hundreds of streaming video and audio providers as a streaming media player.
The built-in IR blaster on the Fire TV Cube allows you to control other devices in your home theater setup. The Cube is controlled by you, and your other equipment is controlled by the Cube. It also supports HDMI CEC for devices that are directly connected to your TV. It uses HDMI to connect to your television.
Broadlink RM4 Pro
The Broadlink RM4 Pro, which resembles a puck, is similar in appearance to the Harmony Hub base unit and shares many of the same features. It connects to wireless devices via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and it controls classic home theater equipment via IR and RF.
The RM4 Pro (and any connected devices) controll via an Android or iOS app on your smartphone. It doesn’t have a remote control. The RM4 unit connects to your TV via HDMI.
The RM4 Pro can also use as a full-fledged smart home hub. You may use it to operate all of your other smart home gadgets, such as smart lighting, smart plugs, and so on. IFTTT is supported by the RM4 Pro if you want to develop custom macros and routines.
Caavo Control Center
The Caavo Control Center is another Harmony Hub option. It’s a reasonably cost alternative, albeit you’ll need to join up for a monthly membership to access all of the offered services.
IR control is not available in the Caavo Control Center. Rather, it serves as a 4-port HDMI switch. Connect all of your home entertainment equipment to the Control Center through HDMI. It will detect your equipment immediately during setup. It can also connect to Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
Everything controll via the Control Center’s accompanying remote control or the remote control’s built-in voice control. There’s also an onscreen display to assist you navigate all of your devices, as well as search for and display all of your watching options across many devices and services. Simply mention the name of a TV show, channel, movie, or actor. The Control Center will display the results onscreen without requiring you to switch between devices and services.
The Caavo Control Center, however, is now out of stock. And it has been for some time due to COVID-related supply chain difficulties. However, firm executives say they’re working to remedy the issues, so inquire about availability in the future.
If You’re a Harmony Hub User, What Should You Do?
You don’t need to do anything if you already have a Harmony Hub installed and working in your home theater system. It should continue to function normally until Logitech discontinues support for it at some point in the future. The Harmony Hub system, like many smart devices, is cloud-based, and if Logitech’s cloud servers go down, you might leave high and dry.
Consider any of the choices outlined in this article if you need a new controller for your home theater system or if your Harmony Hub stops operating. None of them are nearly as good as the Harmony Hub, but they’re all useful tools for controlling your system.
