Caavo Control Center with Apple TV

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

Anyone have any good or bad experiences with the Caavo Control Center with an Apple TV?

It’s a bit of a unique device, basically a four-port smart HDMI switch and a universal remote that appears to be competing both with the Logitech Harmony and HDMI switches. It’s got intelligence, in that it appears to “watch” the HDMI signal and switch to it when it’s activated, and on the Apple TV does some limited deep linking integration with the Apple TV with a tvOS app called “Caavo Companion.”

It’s a nice wizard-guided setup, that in theory, can be handled by anyone with no technical understanding of how to set it up. It didn’t quite work that way for me. It was a pain in the ass to setup, including two lengthy technical support sessions (one for my Apple TV that ended up being a questionable HDMI cable and Ethernet switch, another for my Amazon Fire TV where for some reason I had to reset it up in the Caavo again), but it all seems to work now. It can auto-launch apps on the Apple TV like Netflix or CBS, and search across devices, albeit with some significant limitations. It has its own voice control that can control your devices like an Apple TV and your cable box, although it doesn’t integrate with Siri. It does seem to work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, although I didn’t set either of those up.

Curious if anyone else is using it? My main home theatre and bedroom setups are still controlled with Logitech Harmony remotes and I doubt I’ll change either because I like the number buttons for cable and the overall programmability of crazy macros and combinations. But in my guest bedroom, it’s a perfect “explain nothing and they’ll figure it all out” remote control for guests.

 

[Mellofello808]

I have been interested in getting one of these, but intimidated by the setup, and long term viability of the company.

In an ideal world they would get bought by Logitech and make the ultimate harmony remote.

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

I have been interested in getting one of these, but intimidated by the setup, and long term viability of the company.

In an ideal world they would get bought by Logitech and make the ultimate harmony remote.

The setup is largely self-guided and automatic. My issues were really odd; it wouldn’t auto-detect the Apple TV, which ended up being an HDMI cable that otherwise worked; the Apple tvOS app wouldn’t “see” the Caavo which ended up being an Ethernet switch that for some reason it didn’t like; and no matter what I did it wouldn’t launch Amazon on my Fire TV and re-running setup on that one device fixed it.

In many ways, once set up, it’s better than the Logitech remote in function. It’s much faster, and you can “hover” your finger over a button and it shows the function on the screen. In other ways, while the overall hardware is polished and professional, the remote itself feels a bit cheap in your hand compared to a Logitech Harmony. Also, the programmability of the Logitech allows for amazing flexibility. The Caavo is all set-it-and-forget-it and virtually nothing is programmable.

Having now used it for a few days, I suspect the real exit strategy is for the company to be bought by a TV manufacturer or a set top box manufacturer or even a cable/satellite TV company. It brings together all these devices in ways that is far more seamless than the Logitech Harmony, provided your devices are compatible.

 

[iVegas]

I had one and returned it. It kept locking up the Apple TV and I'd have to cycle the power (on the ATV) to get it to turn on. Guessing it was some sort of CEC/HDMI communication issue.

The other thing I didn't like about it was the lack of buttons. A keypad would have made a world of difference. I'm not a fan of the voice activated remotes.