Hi, I hope this makes sense. I'm trying to setup a remote (Harmony 720) that I bought my Father for Christmas. Most things I'm eventually figuring out, but there is one thing that appears to be buggy. Wondering if anyone else has had this issue or knows what to do about it:


SCENERIO:
I have 2 activities setup that are similar.
Activitiy 1 is for watching TV using the cable box as a tuner and to switch channels, and the TV to control volume. I've added a couple custom buttons for the cable box.
Activity 2 is also for watching TV using the cable box to switch channels. But with this activity the audio is sent through the A/V receiver. So the volume controls need to control the A/V receiver, and not the TV. I did, however, add a couple custom buttons to control the TV volume, so I can turn it down (unless someone knows how to send a 'Mute' command to the TV without having the word 'Mute' constantly displayed - Sony KD-34XBR)

THE PROBLEM:
Whenever I try to change the volume controls (in Custom Bottons) for Activity 1 to control TV, they are AUTOMATICALLY added to the custom buttons for Activity 2! And when I added custom buttons to control TV volume in Activity 2, they are AUTOMATICALLY added to Activity 1!

- Are Activities and the custom buttons they use 'supposed' to be completely independent from one another?

- Anyone experienced this problem and know a possible workaround?

- Anyone know how to send a command to mute the Sony TV without the word Mute staying on the screen?
This would alleviate the need to add the custom TV volume control to Activity 2. I tried adding about 20 'Volume Down' commands, but it is slow and not elegant solution.

Thanks a lot. I'm only here for a couple more days and then my dad is on his own. I have an incident setup with Logitech tech support, but the initial guy didn't know what to do. Not sure if they will get back to me in time.

First off, why aren't you just setting the remotes "hard" (i.e., labeled) volume + / - to send commands to the TV volume in one activity and to the AVR in the other activity (you do this in the list of available buttons above the custom area commands)?

Secondly, the custom commands getting copied to other activities is one of my two big dislikes about the Harmony remotes -- the other is not being able to effectively adjust the order of the custom commands between devices (though those dislikes are considerably outweighed by my likes). Fortunately, there is a solution although it is rather clunky. The copying of soft commands happens when the same device is used in different activities. If you use a different "device" in the activities, then you can maintain different lists of custom commands. You of course don't have a different device -- you just tell the Harmony software that you do.

For example, I might want to have a particular set of commands for my AVR when watching a DVD and a different set of commands for watching TV through my cable box. To do this, I tell the Harmony software that I have two different AVRs (both the exactly same brand and model) which get labeled AVR 1 and AVR 2. In setting up my "Watch TV" activity, I use AVR 1. I then set up a "generic activity" as a "utility" (and later rename it to "Watch DVD") but in this set-up I use AVR 2. The custom commands aren't copied over because the Harmony software thinks that they are two different devices. Voila! It works, but depending on how many activities you have, it can be incredibly clunky (especially your device list). Hope that helps.

I experienced this when setting mine up as well. I was trying to set up 2 activities for using my dvdr, when where I was using the dvdr tuner and menus, and 1 with the remote controlling the cable box. Expecially with duplicate menu items in 1 actvity... such as direction controls etc.

I have given up on the idea and now just use the device menu to control the cable box. At the time I didn't get what was happening, but it was just going nuts and now I see why.

I think this is a pretty serious bug in their software, I can't think of how this would be a feature.

I think Cat99's suggestion is a possible workaround but I think it may get out of sync with the state of the device. For example if the cable box is already on and you select the other activity it will probably turn it off again. It would work from a 'cold' system though, if that's how you use it.

First off, why aren't you just setting the remotes "hard" (i.e., labeled) volume + / - to send commands to the TV volume in one activity and to the AVR in the other activity (you do this in the list of available buttons above the custom area commands)?


Well, that's exactly what I was TRYING to do, but if I set the hard volume controls to control the TV in Activity 1, they would automatically be added to the TV in addition to the AVR in activity 2. So volume would control BOTH devices. Not good!

I see the workaround with assinging a seperate device for the 2nd activity. I'm sure there are drawbacks (as mentioned by Hedge) but until I get some better ideas, I may have to try this.

- Anyone else have this problem?

- Is it definitely a known bug?

Thanks again.

Well, that's exactly what I was TRYING to do, but if I set the hard volume controls to control the TV in Activity 1, they would automatically be added to the TV in addition to the AVR in activity 2. So volume would control BOTH devices. Not good!

I don't recall ever having the problem with the hard buttons -- as I recall, it took nothing more than setting the TV column commands for volume + / - to the "blank" (i.e., no command).

I see the workaround with assinging a seperate device for the 2nd activity. I'm sure there are drawbacks (as mentioned by Hedge) but until I get some better ideas, I may have to try this.

- Anyone else have this problem?

- Is it definitely a known bug?

Thanks again.

Definitely known. This clunky workaround was first suggested to me by Logitech customer support a long while back.

I think Cat99's suggestion is a possible workaround but I think it may get out of sync with the state of the device. For example if the cable box is already on and you select the other activity it will probably turn it off again. It would work from a 'cold' system though, if that's how you use it.

Well I tried setting up the TV again as a duplicate device. Everything worked ok EXCEPT that, yes, it would turn the TV off and back on when switching between the two activities.

Unfortunately, this could be hard on the TV, so I think I'll have to switch back to the way it was and my Dad will have to live with the slight inconvenience.

It's a real bummer, though. It works so well in every other way. And this seems more like a software problem, than a hardware one. But maybe they're related. Oh well.

You can create a 'dummy' TV and/or a 'dummy' cable box to use in one of the activities. Nothing says you can only have a component of your system entered on the Harmony only once. I've also done this to create a type of macro. I have Sony TV then Dummy Sony TV number 1,2, and 3. I hope this makes since and helps!