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Frustrating experience with software and remote


John Doe

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This not going to be a great post. Like many other I read here, I am extremely frustrated with the product, especially the software. So far to me it feels like a waste of money. Especially when I compare it to the Logitech Harmony remotes and software. The Logitech hardware and software works and is easy to use. You set up an activy, enter the steps and inputs, end done. The 1S software is unstable and not clear at all on how it works at all. Nor is the remote. It often does not connect to my system or the software will not detect it. When it detects it, it often crashes when it tries to sync.

Next to the above: Starting the activity's is horrible and not workable. When setting up an activity I would expect button A to turn on my TV Apple TV and set the TV input to HDMI 2. When pressing button B, I expect the TV to turn on, when it's not already turned on already, and switch to HDMI port 1. In both cases nothing happens and it's unclear how to set this up also. The buttons don't work like the activity buttons on and Harmony.
It's really unclear how to make switches between activities. Even when the TV is turned on, pressing the activity buttons does not do anything! It's unclear how to set the input on the tv in the remote behind an activity What are the activity buttons for then??? 

When looking at the video's I was expecting a device that would be easy to use and work. So far the promise made is not kept and this remote is a waste of money!

Fix the software and make it actually workable or setup a refund page so I can send the device back!

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Yeah, right now you can't make the activity buttons do anything but switch the remote's persona. They have said one of the top feature requests is to make it so that the activity buttons can send commands like you are looking for. It's also been said that the primary current focus is fixing bugs in the app. I fully agree that it is a frustrating experience right now. Even when there's something I know it can do I have a hard time remembering what to click on to get to the right screen. I have chosen to make the little 'i' (info) button perform the action of switching inputs since I don't really use an info button otherwise. So I have to select A, B, C then press i to get my A/V equipment to switch. Not as clean as desired but I'm holding out as it is promised to be fixed. Another useful feature that's been mentioned is adding support for alternate actions on long presses.

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If you've got a remote already, you signed up to be a beta tester of the hardware and software.

If you signed up to be a beta tester, thinking it wouldn't come with associated issues, you probably misinterpreted what a beta entails because the word is basically just used interchangeably with "early-access" nowadays.

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On 2/25/2023 at 9:06 AM, dnalloheoj said:

If you've got a remote already, you signed up to be a beta tester of the hardware and software.

If you signed up to be a beta tester, thinking it wouldn't come with associated issues, you probably misinterpreted what a beta entails because the word is basically just used interchangeably with "early-access" nowadays.

Indeed. Especially if you were a kickstarter backer, we tried to make it very clear that the reason we were kickstarting was because we wanted to work on the software with input from the community. Those of us on the development side all actually kinda dislike the Harmony style of forcing you to do actions when you hit the activity button and were very happy that our remote didn't do this. If there weren't blowback from the community that we left this out, we'd still be going forward with that choice, because we like it more. That blowback, though, is great and extremely useful, and it helps us make a better product. 

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44 minutes ago, Nathan said:

Indeed. Especially if you were a kickstarter backer, we tried to make it very clear that the reason we were kickstarting was because we wanted to work on the software with input from the community. Those of us on the development side all actually kinda dislike the Harmony style of forcing you to do actions when you hit the activity button and were very happy that our remote didn't do this. If there weren't blowback from the community that we left this out, we'd still be going forward with that choice, because we like it more. That blowback, though, is great and extremely useful, and it helps us make a better product. 

The advantage of being a smaller company is that you can make design decisions that empower users to create their own custom setup. For instance, I prefer how being able to have macros on the activity buttons, since that makes all the buttons equally powerful. Other people prefer not to. Having the option is the real strength. I can even see a case where someone wants to convert other buttons to "activity" buttons. For instance, someone with motor issues might not be able to do "long presses" with a remote, so giving them the ability to map activities to other buttons (like the number buttons) might be better for them.

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I have to agree it's a bit difficult coming from years of using a Harmony.  What I still can't wrap my head around is how you are supposed to set up which HDMI port is being used.  I see no way to do that.  You pick a device, and that's as granular as it gets. 

My out of box was not good either.  For the longest time, I could not get the remote to do anything.  Removing and replacing the batteries, spinning them after insertion for better contact, and just plain fiddling finally got it to light up.  Next problem is that my Win10 PC could not see it when attached.  Changed cables, rebooted a few times, and after 20 minutes of troubleshooting magically I heard the little tone that a new device had been connected.

I have still much work to do, as right now all it will do is turn on the TV and the Roku.  No other buttons work.  My receiver never does switch on.  So no volume control, no home or menu key, no way to actually operate things.

Honestly, this was my first kickstarter but I was aware the Skip was a work in progress.  But in the attempt to make things easier, it's the opposite for me.  The advice is to choose another option for the brand.  I'm not sure anyone thought about how many variations that can combine if you have multiple parts to your system, and when there is no info as to the abilities of each choice, this seems like it's going to take a long time.

And came back to add another bit of weirdness.  When my remote was activated, the dates shown were exactly one month ago - 1/28/23

 

Edited by festusian
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  • 2 weeks later...

@festusian Make sure your receiver is setup as an A/V device to control HDMI inputs. Mine could be added a few different ways but the others didn't give me control over changing the HDMI inputs. One of the confusing things to me is what device type to pick and why that's even needed. Apple TV can also be added as at least a couple different device types. If it generates different button mappings it would be more intuitive to me to select the device by name then ask me what type it is (aka how I use it).

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  • 9 months later...

It is counter-intuitive to me that what category is picked to find the device changes how the buttons are mapped and what options are available. I thought it was just a multilevel search to help you find the device easier. Were you able to find your exact model receiver in both categories?

When customizing remote buttons and other behaviors I would expect all of the options on the device to be available no matter what category was chosen.

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