…in the context of use with the Theatre? I know that it is compatible and I am looking for more tactile control of music volume and tracks rather than using the phone or physically approaching the theatre. I considered a beoremote one but I love the form of the Halo.
I just don’t hear much about it here. I’ve read through the thread about the last software update in April 2022 but do you think it will be in the B&O line-up for the foreseeable future with more updates to come?
thanks
The Halo still a viable choice?
33 replies
I dont think the Halo is going anywhere for quite a while.
i.e it will remain as one of they key control options for a long time yet.y And I suspect more updates will come.
(I dont have one, it doesn't suit me personally)
It does seem more useful for those with home automation, where the Halo then becomes more than just a quirky volume control / source selector.
The Halo works MUCH better with the Theatre than I had expected. You have the ease of reaching over to adjust the volume with the wheel -- which can be faster than reaching for the Beoremote One and pressing the volume buttons. Also, you can pause/play MOST sources. You just need to swipe down once from the upper left side and then press the middle dot. I say that you can pause/play most sources because some sources require the play and pause buttons on the Beoremote One rather than using the middle dot button. It would be nice to have some uniformity, but this varies even among apps on the Apple TV.
Swiping down twice from the upper left of the screen gives you a screen where you can select the video and music sources of the Theatre. The sources are even grouped by "TV" or "Music" sources.
One swipe up gives you a screen of the My Buttons. Two swipes up gives you a screen where you can choose among your Listening Positions. This is useful. Three, Four, or Five swipes up gives you up to three screens of home automation controls if you have a BLI. This can let you control light scenes, blinds, temperature control, fan control, etc. You can even start your Roomba vacuum from these screens. You can use the wheel to adjust the dimming of the lights. I find two programmed buttons to be very useful: (1) a button to set the lights for a scene for tv viewing and (2) a button to turn on a lamp on a side table to full brightness for when you need enough light to read.
While B&O is working out the bugs of the Theatre, the Halo helps fill in these gaps of control. You can set lights scenes which you currently cannot by using the Beoremote One with the Theatre. Also, when the Theatre fails to turn on the TV screen, you can program a button on the Halo to do this.
I'd add that (apologies if you know this already), that the Halo is poor / doesn't really do music browsing / search. Thats possibly one part of why the more vocal users of the Halo take advantage of its usefulness as a home automation interface (i.e with a BeoLiving Intelligence hub).
I never had the expectation of being able to use the Halo to search music nor was that ever promised as a feature. That would be quite a leap for the Halo to essentially have the functionality of a Beosound Moment. It's still quite useful for music control, though. You can see metadata of what music is playing and can move among tracks being played through Deezer.
As for the Theatre, you can use the color arrows to navigate around the TV, Apple TV, etc., screen to make selections.
sure, but some would have (not unreasonably) expected a bit of search capability.
Just saying that that lack of ability is perhaps one reason why it doesn't generate quite as much discussion as the OP noticed.
If I had home automation stuff, I'd probably get a Halo.
But for music, I find it a bit pointless.
I find it fascinating that someone who doesn't even have a Halo and hasn't spent time using one has such opinions. lol
Really, thats pretty weak.
I've played with one a few times at my dealer.
It doesn't do what I want for music. I dont need to own one to know that.
I can also see that when they added the BLI integration, that added some genuine additional usage and interest. Again, I dont need to own one to know that.
Even my dealer gets a bit shoulder shrug-y when it comes to the Halo, reflecting perhaps the OP's comment, of it not getting a huge amount of thread discussion.
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