Anyone using Unfolded Circle Remote Two (formerly YIO Remote Two)?

[wicked]

I've been on their waiting list since August of 2022. I've emailed for info and got this response March of 2023 -

Hi,
Yes, we'll be releasing Remote Two. Kickstarter backers will get their rewards in May and reservations made on our website will be processed afterwards on a first come first served basis. We'll be sending out emails to reservation holders, when their reservation was processed.

Best regards,
Unfolded Circle Support

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

I've been on their waiting list since August of 2022. I've emailed for info and got this response March of 2023 -

Hi,
Yes, we'll be releasing Remote Two. Kickstarter backers will get their rewards in May and reservations made on our website will be processed afterwards on a first come first served basis. We'll be sending out emails to reservation holders, when their reservation was processed.

Best regards,
Unfolded Circle Support

Yes, posted a video on this but haven’t had time to post. On vacation this week.

 

[SuperNES]

What do you all think about the new to be announced Remote 3? I too have been looking for a replacement to my Harmony. I almost purchased the Remote 2, but I am now considering the Haptique RS90X. It's also on Kickstarter.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

What do you all think about the new to be announced Remote 3? I too have been looking for a replacement to my Harmony. I almost purchased the Remote 2, but I am now considering the Haptique RS90X. It's also on Kickstarter.

I'm planning to also grab the Remote 3. I've been really happy with the Remote Two, and the Remote 3 ticks a couple more boxes in terms of usability. I am able to control my entire system with the Two, but a couple of the new buttons on the 3 will make that "in-hand" experience just a little better.

They needed to find a way to fund a new round of remotes, and are able to incorporate a fair amount of user feedback into a new design at the same time. I think that's a win/win and a great decision.

I will be doing a livestream on the AVNirvana YouTube channel this Sunday with Marton from Unfolded Circle to discuss the announcement.

 

[dlasater]

What do you all think about the new to be announced Remote 3? I too have been looking for a replacement to my Harmony. I almost purchased the Remote 2, but I am now considering the Haptique RS90X. It's also on Kickstarter.

I received my upgraded reservation email yesterday and will be participating in the kickstarter.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Hey everyone, happy Father's Day. We're about 30 minutes away from our live stream with Marton from Unfolded Circle!

AV Nirvana Live: Unfolded Circle Joins to Talk about Its New Remote 3!

On this episode of AV NIRVANA Live, Unfolded Circle joins the stream to talk about its Remote 3! Tune in to learn more about the new hardware and get a chanc...

www.youtube.com

 

[Petch]

@Travis Ballstadt Keen to see what the home assistant integration with lumagen via rs232 looks like. Keen to use something like this. Is the code shared on github? How’s it work, an addon or just something like a nodered automation? Is it open source?

Beyond basic controls, I’d like to see aspect ratio events for when I eventually build a masking system.

As i commented on youtube I’ve considered building an esp32 based module for my lumagen that uses mqtt, but time is a big limit for me. Building off others work is always easier (assuming they open source it).

 

[randman]

I'm a long time user of the Philips Pronto TSU9400 remote. Great remote, and I've been able to use it as long as I have since I have a software development background. Thus, I've been able to write my own IP & RS-232 two-way integrations to work with Marantz, JVC, madVR Envy, Kaleidescape, HomeSeer, etc. I've been using it for nearly 17 years, but it's still the most powerful solution that I know of, at least for folks with a software background (even more powerful, IMO, than dealer-required remotes like the Control 4). Its hardware is a little dated (not as high a resolution screen as latest remotes, and its Wi-Fi performance a little less than 100% reliable). However, I haven't seen a good replacement for it yet (at least for me).

Now, the Unfolded Circle remote looks interesting. At least hardware-wise. I'm concerned its software looks to be quite immature?

My main home automation is HomeKit, and I also use HomeSeer for more complex automations. I installed Home Assistant a few months ago, and I have it running in a VM. I was thinking of maybe switching from HomeSeer to Home Assistant, but I put the migration on-hold, since, it would be a lot of work doing the switch, and at the end of the day, my home automations would work the same way in Home Assistant as HomeSeer. So, no big benefit gained (if I were to pick between HA and HomeSeer from the beginning, I might pick HA, but since I've already been using HomeSeer for years, I've stuck with it).

Home Assistant does have better home theater device integrations than HomeSeer, though. But truthfully, the highly touted device integrations will just get me a fancier way to turn on or off the lights when I do pause or play on what I'm watching (I already have HomeSeer turning off or on my lights whenever I power on or off my Home Theater, but other scenarios like lights on/off in response to pause/play don't work well for me, since often times, I don't actually want the lights to turn on or off when I hit pause or play; for example, I might hit pause to answer a text message, but no need to turn on the lights).

So anyway, even though I have Home Assistant installed and running, I haven't had a strong reason to use it. Until possibly now....

I signed up for the Remote 3 kickstarter today.

Question is: IF Unfolded Circle actually supported communicating directly via IP to devices (such as Marantz processor, Kaleidescape, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield TV Pro, JVC projector), would you still use Unfolded Circle remote with Home Assistant, or would you just bypass Home Assistant and have the Unfolded Circle remote communicate with the devices directly? I'm a little wary of adding HA as the middle-man. I'm concerned about reliability and performance. Does using HA add delay or lag? How about commands that need to support repeating (such as volume up/down, cursor keys up/down/left/right)? Does Unfolded Circle support some hold-and-repeat method for sending IP commands for keys that need to be repeated?

Finally, if one wanted to program integrations to a device directly (so the remote can talk to the device via IP), what programming language is used? I write integrations for the Pronto using Javascript. Wondering what Unfolded Circle supports (I did a quick search, and couldn't find the answer).

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Now, the Unfolded Circle remote looks interesting. At least hardware-wise. I'm concerned its software looks to be quite immature?

I installed Home Assistant a few months ago, and I have it running in a VM.

Home Assistant does have better home theater device integrations than HomeSeer, though. But truthfully, the highly touted device integrations will just get me a fancier way to turn on or off the lights when I do pause or play on what I'm watching (I already have HomeSeer turning off or on my lights whenever I power on or off my Home Theater, but other scenarios like lights on/off in response to pause/play don't work well for me, since often times, I don't actually want the lights to turn on or off when I hit pause or play; for example, I might hit pause to answer a text message, but no need to turn on the lights).

So anyway, even though I have Home Assistant installed and running, I haven't had a strong reason to use it. Until possibly now....

I signed up for the Remote 3 kickstarter today.

I'm a novice when it comes to programming this stuff, and I don't know any actual code, so I'll do my best.

Question is: IF Unfolded Circle actually supported communicating directly via IP to devices (such as Marantz processor, Kaleidescape, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield TV Pro, JVC projector), would you still use Unfolded Circle remote with Home Assistant, or would you just bypass Home Assistant and have the Unfolded Circle remote communicate with the devices directly? I'm a little wary of adding HA as the middle-man. I'm concerned about reliability and performance.

I would probably continue to use Home Assistant, simply because everything is in there and reliable and aside from power up/down activity launchers, all my automation happens within Home Assistant, and it's been rock solid - controlling lighting, etc., with Kaleidescape triggers or AppleTV media player status. If I were starting from scratch, I'm not sure if I'd use HA or try to do it all in the Remote, provided integrations were all available.

Does using HA add delay or lag? How about commands that need to support repeating (such as volume up/down, cursor keys up/down/left/right)? Does Unfolded Circle support some hold-and-repeat method for sending IP commands for keys that need to be repeated?

I've not noticed any lag in my daily use. However, the hold-and-repeat support is not yet there. Scrolling through Kaleidescape and adjusting volume performance could be improved. I'm curious to see how the new slider bar works for volume, but yes, I would like to see this capability implemented.

Finally, if one wanted to program integrations to a device directly (so the remote can talk to the device via IP), what programming language is used? I write integrations for the Pronto using Javascript. Wondering what Unfolded Circle supports (I did a quick search, and couldn't find the answer).

I am not exactly sure, but the Unfolded Circle Discord chat has many developers working on custom integrations there, and the new configurator (late summer I believe) will make it easier to side load custom integrations to the remote, so I think the community will be able to grow more quickly, similar to the HACS community on HA.

Hope that helps, I'm very good at thinking in terms of ITTT, but when it comes to writing code, I'm illiterate.

 

[randman]

Thanks, Travis. HA does look pretty powerful in terms of home theater control (just trying to find other use cases other than lights on/off... :-) ).

I assume it's possible to use Home Assistant like you do now, but use infrared for specific commands, particularly for hold-and-repeat types of commands like cursor up/down/left right keys and volume up/down? For example, to control Kaleidescape, use Home Assistant for all commands, except for cursor keys, which would use infrared.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Thanks, Travis. HA does look pretty powerful in terms of home theater control (just trying to find other use cases other than lights on/off... :-) ).

I assume it's possible to use Home Assistant like you do now, but use infrared for specific commands, particularly for hold-and-repeat types of commands like cursor up/down/left right keys and volume up/down? For example, to control Kaleidescape, use Home Assistant for all commands, except for cursor keys, which would use infrared.

That's correct. I have had to accentuate the Kaleidescape HA integration since it doesn't have transport controls, it's more geared towards sending the trigger information for masking and lighting. I suppose I could swap out the K navigation and Anthem IP volume control for IR, but I like how reliable IR is, and I rarely move the volume more than a few clicks from my power on default, so it hasn't been a big deal.

I'm excited to get my hands on the new Seymour AV screen masking control system and get it integrated into the HA system to automate my screen masking based on content so I can put that remote away, too.

Additionally, I have my HA set so if any of the home theater media players in HA (Kaleidescape or AppleTV) report active playback, the lights throughout the rest of the house all turn off, the 2nd and 3rd floor climate controls go into an eco mode, and the motion sensor at the front door is turned on. When I go into pause, the general pathway lights on each floor come on in case someone is running upstairs, and then back off when playback begins again.

If I power the theater down after 10pm (the projector power setting is the actual trigger), it automatically begins a 'goodnight' mode for the whole house, which turns the pathway lights upstairs on immediately, turns the theater lighting off 30 minutes later, and adjusts the 3 HVAC zones accordingly.

It's pretty sweet, really. All with basic play/pause/on/off, the entire house is automated. We live in the future.

 

[dlasater]

HA does look pretty powerful in terms of home theater control (just trying to find other use cases other than lights on/off... :-) ).

I set up a Home Assistant Core about 6 months ago because I was waiting to acquire the Remote 2. Besides lighting, my favorite use of HA is with automated blinds (open after sunrise and close at sunset in family room / open in master bedroom when last person gets out of bed if the sun is up / close the blinds if someone gets into bed during the day). There is an HA integration for Sleep Number beds. I wish my espresso machine was a smart device. Of course, Automated blinds would work with the Remote 3 for closing the shades when your AVR input is changed to AppleTV for instance in a similar fashion to lighting control. Dido with thermostats. @Travis Ballstadt has taken it to a whole new level with motion sensors, climate controls, and lighting in other areas of the house with the theater remote. I look forward to exploring what I can do with the R3.

 

[randman]

Great ideas on your HA! So far, the only light related automation that I use is when I power on and off my Home Theater (specifically, my processor), in which case my lights are powered off and on. I haven't been happy with other light automation scenarios that I've tried for other scenarios (like pausing and in-pausing and how). Many times, I pause a show but I don't want to turn on the lights. What I really need is a way to tell if someone stands up, but the home theater is still in use, which will almost always mean that a light should turn on. Motion detectors are unreliable in this use case. Maybe need something like the lasers used with garage doors to detect when someone stands up. Or sensors in the seating. For now, I use a Flirc button (easier than using my remote or talking to Siri).