Which is the best IR Blaster for home automation?

[petes]

Guys - I am looking out for a IR blaster that does the following things:

1) Supports Alexa/ Google home.
2) Have the ability to setup macros/ routines. Eg: Saying single voice command should perform multiple actions.
3) Should have the ability to change TV channels by their names. Eg: Saying "Change channel to Star Plus" should perform relevant action.
4) Have Learning feature from other IR remotes.

I have Oakter which lacks many of the above features.

Any other device that fits my requirement?

Thanks!

 

[HTuser]

You can contact Rupesh (The Home Cinema, Electronic City).
They have implemented Home Automation setup and also using IR Blaster in that for switching ON Projectors, AVR, Media Player etc.
Scenes are using to start the demo room setup - lights, AVR, Projector, Amp, Subwoofer, media player etc.

I believe the IR blaster they used can also learn.

What I heard is if you create too many scenes - like Star Plus, Star World, Star Utsav etc. to change channels, some times false selection may happen and wrong channel will be selected. But few favorite channels alone configured may work. Just talk to him and see.
If possible you can also make a visit to their experience center.

 

[audiohunt]

You can try harmony hubs if u want premium quality or you can have cheap Chinese versions with relay n blaster ,I have both n they both work great ,harmony hub is more versatile covers lots of equipments.

 

[petes]

You can try harmony hubs if u want premium quality or you can have cheap Chinese versions with relay n blaster ,I have both n they both work great ,harmony hub is more versatile covers lots of equipments.

Any particular website for buying Harmony Hub at a reasonable price?

 

[audiohunt]

I got it from us , you can try on Amazon or buy bangood but it's better to try getting from abroad it's a small package.

 

[insane79]

You can try harmony hubs if u want premium quality or you can have cheap Chinese versions with relay n blaster ,I have both n they both work great ,harmony hub is more versatile covers lots of equipments.

harmony hub won't work with alexa now as it now has a IP checker & will not work in india.

Its not officially launched here yet so no alexa support.

Does your harmony hub work with alexa?? please confirm.

 

[audiohunt]

harmony hub won't work with alexa now as it now has a IP checker & will not work in india.

Its not officially launched here yet so no alexa support.

Does your harmony hub work with alexa?? please confirm.

No haven't confirmed on work on Alexa but feel should work and found it as an excellent all in 1 solution for my HT as works on myJVC projector,marantz 8802,mcintosh,shield TV and ease of use tremendous.

 

[insane79]

No haven't confirmed on work on Alexa but feel should work and found it as an excellent all in 1 solution for my HT as works on myJVC projector,marantz 8802,mcintosh,shield TV and ease of use tremendous.

yes all that will work, it won't work with alexa now if the Hub is not launched in that country officially. Its all over the logitech forums which has got people furious. It was working earlier till just 1-2 months back.

 

[superczar]

yes all that will work, it won't work with alexa now if the Hub is not launched in that country officially. Its all over the logitech forums which has got people furious. It was working earlier till just 1-2 months back.

I never found the Alexa skill particularly useful, primarily because there is no way to map anything but activities to it.
I use a different method to link Alexa and my Harmonies - It's called habridge ( https://github.com/bwssytems/ha-bridge ) - worth a try for anyone who wants to link Alexa to unsupported hardware

 

[Dr.Lakshay]

I use broadlink rm mini and feel it's very good. It can learn any remote and works great with alexa. Can't compare as I haven't used (or felt the need to use) any other.

 

[petes]

Broadlink is getting good review in many forums. Will check that out, thanks!

 

[insane79]

I use broadlink rm mini and feel it's very good. It can learn any remote and works great with alexa. Can't compare as I haven't used (or felt the need to use) any other.

hmmm, does alexa work well with Broadlink? they also have another device for rf control for devices right?

 

[Dr.Lakshay]

hmmm, does alexa work well with Broadlink? they also have another device for rf control for devices right?

It's works really well with alexa as well as Google home but I personally prefer alexa. Except once in a while it doesn't work but that mostly is because of the WiFi connection being weak or Internet not working from the ISP. It doesn't work on lan.
Yes they do have one for Rf+ir too which goes by the name of rm Pro.
I did once buy orvibo cube controller but it was so bad that I returned it within a day.

 

[anuragn]

It's works really well with alexa as well as Google home but I personally prefer alexa. Except once in a while it doesn't work but that mostly is because of the WiFi connection being weak or Internet not working from the ISP. It doesn't work on lan.
Yes they do have one for Rf+ir too which goes by the name of rm Pro.
I did once buy orvibo cube controller but it was so bad that I returned it within a day.

Hello doctor, If you are still using broadlink rm mini, can you do a small favour for me?
I am considering buying this for controlling my cassette decks (namely Harmon Kardon 4600 and Yamaha KX 321). Need to confirm whether both these decks are listed in broadlink's cloud IR database and can be added for use.

 

[Dr.Lakshay]

Hello doctor, If you are still using broadlink rm mini, can you do a small favour for me?
I am considering buying this for controlling my cassette decks (namely Harmon Kardon 4600 and Yamaha KX 321). Need to confirm whether both these decks are listed in broadlink's cloud IR database and can be added for use.

In Broadlink mini you can save the functions from the the oem remote directly. No need to check any database. It works with all ir devices. No exceptions.

 

[anuragn]

In Broadlink mini you can save the functions from the the oem remote directly. No need to check any database. It works with all ir devices. No exceptions.

Thanks for replying.
Actually I forgot to mention in my previous post that I don't have the OEM remotes for both the cassette decks.
That's why I requested you to check

 

[mbhangui]

Thanks for replying.
Actually I forgot to mention in my previous post that I don't have the OEM remotes for both the cassette decks.
That's why I requested you to check

I have this Broadlink mini. Broadlink's internal database is as good as nothing. So if you don't have the remote, broadlink will be useless. In this respect Logitech Harmony remotes have a vast database. So if something comes up in the classified, grab it.

 

[prateekatasniya]

You can contact Rupesh (The Home Cinema, Electronic City).
They have implemented Home Automation setup and also using IR Blaster in that for switching ON Projectors, AVR, Media Player etc.
Scenes are using to start the demo room setup - lights, AVR, Projector, Amp, Subwoofer, media player etc.

I believe the IR blaster they used can also learn.

What I heard is if you create too many scenes - like Star Plus, Star World, Star Utsav etc. to change channels, some times false selection may happen and wrong channel will be selected. But few favorite channels alone configured may work. Just talk to him and see.
If possible you can also make a visit to their experience center.

Which ir blaster do they use?

 

[mail2sumanth]

I personally use Harmony hub. It’s one of the best. As many of you stated, Alexa skill is not available in India. I recently saw one of the demo rooms using Eglu automation. I have also used Zook which has everything you asked for, integrates to Alexa.

There is one more device that most of you missed is Alexa itself by using Fire tv cube. It has inbuilt voice based channel selection and also controls other devices over IR. But the down side is the price, it is bit costly.

 

[mbhangui]

I personally use Harmony hub. It’s one of the best. As many of you stated, Alexa skill is not available in India. I recently saw one of the demo rooms using Eglu automation. I have also used Zook which has everything you asked for, integrates to Alexa.

There is one more device that most of you missed is Alexa itself by using Fire tv cube. It has inbuilt voice based channel selection and also controls other devices over IR. But the down side is the price, it is bit costly.

This reminded me of something. Amazon does have a big database of AVRs in the firestick remote. I have lost remote of my Marantz CD player. Now most manufacturers keep the IR code common for their own devices. e.g. my philip remote for hi-fi system worked also for the TV and vice versa. Tomorrow I will purposely try out all the Marantz AVR in my amazon firestick device and if it is able to switch off the marantz cd player, I can then use the firestick remote to train the broadlink mini device.