Since Harmony is effectively dead, my parents need a new remote control. They have a basic set up with smartTV, soundbar, BluRay player, satellite & Roku. Otherwise. They don't have a hugely smart house. The problem I'm seeing on the outset is most recommended options don't control a Roku.

Sofa baton or used Harmony

The sofabatons I'm seeing don't support the Roku sticks. I'll look for a used harmony for them I guess.

In my living room we use a sideclick which is a small remote that attached to the side of your Roku remote. We programmed the TV and receiver power to that (separate buttons unfortunately) and then programmed the volume buttons to the the receiver. For 99% of our TV watching that gets us through everything since we pretty much watch everything through the Roku.

Best option might be going with 2 remotes, i know it sucks to train parents on multi remotes. 1 smart remote for everything except roku, and then the roku for just controlling it when watching it specifically. Both roku and the smart remote should be able to both control sound if you set it up via CEC through TV if it supports it, else i would just set the smart remote to control sound only.

I just roll with two remotes at this point. It's not anymore difficult, really.

AppleTV remote controls power, volume, and navigation. TV remote controls the input. If the Apple remote can control inputs (maybe it can?) then it's effectively a universal at that point.

AppleTV is also better than Roku by a mile. I would just swap them and go with that.

Just picked up a SofaBaton to replace the harmony that my dog ate. It's ok, and better than nothing. But still miss my harmony. Drives me crazy that they discontinued it.

I bought a second used Harmony a few years ago in case my main one dies. It is indeed astounding that Logitech killed it off. I'm thankful they at least have left the service running for now.

YouBet said:

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I just roll with two remotes at this point. It's not anymore difficult, really.

AppleTV remote controls power, volume, and navigation. TV remote controls the input. If the Apple remote can control inputs (maybe it can?) then it's effectively a universal at that point.

AppleTV is also better than Roku by a mile. I would just swap them and go with that.

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AppleTV remote can't control inputs but seems most TV's switch automatically these days. i.e. if we're watching cable and I push a button on the AppleTV remote to turn it on the TV will automatically change inputs. I know our 12 year old Sharp did it and our brand new Samsung does.

htxag09 said:

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YouBet said:

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I just roll with two remotes at this point. It's not anymore difficult, really.

AppleTV remote controls power, volume, and navigation. TV remote controls the input. If the Apple remote can control inputs (maybe it can?) then it's effectively a universal at that point.

AppleTV is also better than Roku by a mile. I would just swap them and go with that.

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AppleTV remote can't control inputs but seems most TV's switch automatically these days. i.e. if we're watching cable and I push a button on the AppleTV remote to turn it on the TV will automatically change inputs. I know our 12 year old Sharp did it and our brand new Samsung does.

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Auto input switching is annoying as hell when you have devices that auto wake to update themselves. Turned that garbage off years ago.

Interesting. Have never had an issue with it switching inputs when I didn't want it to.

htxag09 said:

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YouBet said:

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I just roll with two remotes at this point. It's not anymore difficult, really.

AppleTV remote controls power, volume, and navigation. TV remote controls the input. If the Apple remote can control inputs (maybe it can?) then it's effectively a universal at that point.

AppleTV is also better than Roku by a mile. I would just swap them and go with that.

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AppleTV remote can't control inputs but seems most TV's switch automatically these days. i.e. if we're watching cable and I push a button on the AppleTV remote to turn it on the TV will automatically change inputs. I know our 12 year old Sharp did it and our brand new Samsung does.

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I don't think this works for different devices though? I have AppleTV in HDMI 1 and Xbox on HDMI 2. Apple Remote can't make that switch. I need tv remote to do that.

Right. What I'm saying is if I'm on Apple TV (hdmi 1) and turn on my Xbox (hdmi 2) or cable box (HDMI 3) my tv will automatically switch. I'm not doing it with the remote. Still use two remotes, but limits the need to use an input button on a remote.

htxag09 said:

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Right. What I'm saying is if I'm on Apple TV (hdmi 1) and turn on my Xbox (hdmi 2) or cable box (HDMI 3) my tv will automatically switch. I'm not doing it with the remote. Still use two remotes, but limits the need to use an input button on a remote.

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Huh. Mine doesn't do that. Maybe it's a setting. I'm on a flagship LG OLED so I assume it could do that....

It will be in the menu somewhere called something like automatic input switching or detection or similar if it has it. Basically any device sending a power-on or wake up signal over the hdmi will cause the tv to change to that input even if you are actively using the current one.