Hello all, and thanks for the Harmony advice earlier.

Now, I have a new Harmony 670 and am programming it now and all seems to be going fine (I am at work, so I can not test it out until I get home).

I seem to be able to program everything in except having a button to turn the TV off. I see there is an "off" button on top, so does this just turn everything off? I do not see a way to set a button to turn just the TV off.

I have the DVR set to never turn off (the only thing I want to make sure is always on), so I assume that pressing that "off" button will turn off the TV and DVD player (the only other two devices), and not the DVR, correct?

Edit to add another question: I also do not see a choice to program a button to toggle through all the input devices, which is one I was able to program into my DVR's remote (although I don't remember the code). Sometimes I have additional devices I hook up to a component input, like a camcorder, and I would like to change the input right from the remote, rather than on the TV directly. What do I do if I don't see that option on the list?

I seem to be able to program everything in except having a button to turn the TV off. I see there is an "off" button on top, so does this just turn everything off?

Yes.

You can also go to the Devices tab and set up the buttons for each individual device. So, no matter what activity you're in, you can hit the device button and now you're controlling that device. I usually put the on/off commands for each device on the top buttons of the LCD screen when in that mode.


I have the DVR set to never turn off (the only thing I want to make sure is always on), so I assume that pressing that "off" button will turn off the TV and DVD player (the only other two devices), and not the DVR, correct?


Correct.


Edit to add another question: I also do not see a choice to program a button to toggle through all the input devices, which is one I was able to program into my DVR's remote (although I don't remember the code). Sometimes I have additional devices I hook up to a component input, like a camcorder, and I would like to change the input right from the remote, rather than on the TV directly. What do I do if I don't see that option on the list?

Usually, I set up an activity for everything I might do. For example, I have an activity for "Play VCR" and "Listen to Radio" even though I haven't used the VCR in over 5 years and I never listen to Radio on my AV Receiver (I don't even think I have antennas hooked up). But, you never know when someone might come over and want to play a video tape of their kids baseball game or the world might be ending and I'll need to try and use the radio. I'd just set up an activity for "Camcorder" and have it all set up.

Regardless, you can still set up an input toggle (assuming your TV's remote has that button) by learning that command from the TV remote once you get home. You can then assign that button to the LCD screen in any activity or you can assign it to the TV device like I mentioned earlier. Then you can just hit "device", then "TV", then "input toggle".

Hello all, and thanks for the Harmony advice earlier.

Now, I have a new Harmony 670 and am programming it now and all seems to be going fine (I am at work, so I can not test it out until I get home).

Edit to add another question: I also do not see a choice to program a button to toggle through all the input devices, which is one I was able to program into my DVR's remote (although I don't remember the code). Sometimes I have additional devices I hook up to a component input, like a camcorder, and I would like to change the input right from the remote, rather than on the TV directly. What do I do if I don't see that option on the list?

I don't know what TV you have, but many TVs have discrete codes for inputs even though you have to toggle through them on the original remote. Go into Device mode on the 670 and select the TV. Use the Next button to go through all of the commands on the LCD screen and try all of the commands. If you find ones that will select the inputs you need, redo the Activities and select the input commands to switch to the desired input for each activity.

Great, those are very helpful suggestions. In the "learn IR" section I see all of the discreet codes for each input source, so I can map them to buttons, but there really are not a lot of extra buttons on this Harmony to assign stuff like that to. I guess the learned code could show up in the LCD options for the device.

And, BTW,everything worked GREAT when I took it home to use it! My wife was very excited to be able to simply press "Watch TV" and everything just worked.

Great, those are very helpful suggestions. In the "learn IR" section I see all of the discreet codes for each input source, so I can map them to buttons, but there really are not a lot of extra buttons on this Harmony to assign stuff like that to. I guess the learned code could show up in the LCD options for the device.

And, BTW,everything worked GREAT when I took it home to use it! My wife was very excited to be able to simply press "Watch TV" and everything just worked.
So you can set it up so that the main off button turns off everything except the DVR?

bsavitz: it seems that the "never turn DVR off" command overrides the "turn everything off" command, which is very handy since the DVR needs to stay on.

bsavitz: it seems that the "never turn DVR off" command overrides the "turn everything off" command, which is very handy since the DVR needs to stay on.
Perfect.
Thanks!

Great, those are very helpful suggestions. In the "learn IR" section I see all of the discreet codes for each input source, so I can map them to buttons, but there really are not a lot of extra buttons on this Harmony to assign stuff like that to. I guess the learned code could show up in the LCD options for the device.

And, BTW,everything worked GREAT when I took it home to use it! My wife was very excited to be able to simply press "Watch TV" and everything just worked.

Note that if you are in the customize buttons page of an activity, you can have a whole new set of buttons by assigning them in the PICTURE BUTTON menu. and then a whole other set for the SOUND BUTTON (they can be viewed by using the pull down menu on the top left of the customize buttons page). that way you can have all the button on the remote be configured one way while an activity is active, then when the PIC button is pressed they could all be set to different commands and then again for for the SOUND button. this gives you 3 times as many assignable buttons... hope that helps...

You could have a set up Activity buttons, then when the PIC button is pressed, it could be all TV buttons, etc. etc....

xboxfreak, that is very helpful, I was not aware of that! I was wondering what that "pic" button was for. :0)

Note that if you are in the customize buttons page of an activity, you can have a whole new set of buttons by assigning them in the PICTURE BUTTON menu....You could have a set up Activity buttons, then when the PIC button is pressed, it could be all TV buttons, etc. etc....I just got a Harmony 659, and am having trouble myself getting my head around it. Having owned literally dozens of remotes, and Universal remotes, the Harmony concept is strange to me--I want to have a DVD button and then an On-Off for it for example! I'll get used-to "Activities" I'm sure...

But this PICTURE and SOUND thing still has me puzzled--how do you tell which mode you're in i.e. which of these two buttons have been pressed?

I just got a Harmony 659, and am having trouble myself getting my head around it. Having owned literally dozens of remotes, and Universal remotes, the Harmony concept is strange to me--I want to have a DVD button and then an On-Off for it for example! I'll get used-to "Activities" I'm sure...

But this PICTURE and SOUND thing still has me puzzled--how do you tell which mode you're in i.e. which of these two buttons have been pressed?

It will tell you on the LCD screen if you are in Sound or Picture mode.

You can go into Device mode and scroll through the choices on the LCD screen and select to turn the DVD player on or off. However, the remote will not remember whether the DVD player is on or off. It only remembers the on and off status of the components that are turned on by an activity. Harmony remotes are not designed to operate in Device mode for normal use.

Have you set up your activities yet? When you have everything set up correctly, you press one button and it will turn on your TV, DVD player, Receiver and set them to the correct inputs. If the TV and Receiver are already on from another activity, the remote remembers they do not need to be turned on.

You can go into Device mode and scroll through the choices on the LCD screen and select to turn the DVD player on or off...There it is! The Power buttons are on Page 3, but they're there, and I think I saw somewhere that you can change the positions of all of these! Great!

Yeah, I set up my "Activities" but haven't actually sat-down to do anything yet. In fact that's part of my problem--I don't use my TV or HT enough to "get good at" juggling the many remote controls.

I can see now that the Harmony may be the answer to my prayers; it even fits my hand like my favorite remote of all time, the Tivo remote. Thanks BB... :)