So I ran into a BB and picked up the new 1100 from Harmony. I just had the 1000 last month so doing a comparison was pretty easy. The software seems to run a lot smoother than it did with the 1000. There is also a lot of icons you can choose from to make your 1100 have more flare!
So far it has ran perfect and I have not had a single issue. I am going to hook it up with the RF extender shortly. I just want to get it dialed down before hand. I have it working my new Pioneer 09FD Blu ray unit, Onkyo 886 PRO, DirecTv HR21 PRO, Sony VW200 PJ, Lutron Maestro, Carada Masquerade Masking System and DVDO Edge. I haven't completed everything yet. I figure it will take another couple days to have it exactly the way I want it. I am in the middle of comparing Blu ray players at the moment which takes up a lot of time. I will say that the 1100 does not make any noise when it is docked. The 1000 made a high pitched squeal sound. I didn't like the fact either that I had to start from scratch setting up the 1100 (open new account). What I did to make it easier was a good idea (at least I think so
). I went to the 1000 and just wrote everything down page per page. It took awhile but it has made setting up the 1100 a lot easier. I have changed a couple of things but for the most part just followed my notes. My biggest complaint has to do with selecting (or lack there of) Activity icons. If I choose a generic activity I am stuck with their pale icon (symbol). I would like to be able to select my own icon from their database. Like the device icons would be perfect. Other than that one gripe so far I am good. No issues! It is very responsive and pretty strong considering I am as far away from my components as can be in my theater. I also like the all black look. Very nice. It actually matches my all black components.
So is it worth the money? It is if you want it now. I can see it being discounted pretty good not long from now. $499 is on the high side but could see spending $300 to $399 for one. I had a great coupon from BB plus a $50 gift card which made it an easy decision to try it out.
I've been trying to find the link for the advanced programming, but I can't seem to find a link on Lutron's site, but if anyone has the manual/sheet of paper that comes with the switch it is right on there. When I get home I can post the link if no one else has posted it up by then.
I'll see if I can find the file I used for the background - I can attach it here if I am able to find it... I'll check when I get home.
I hadn't noticed the clear back on the switches... it looks like I may be making some changes to my setup
Is it SAFE to put IR emitters in the box with the switches? Seems like it wouldn't be...
PTAron, the Maestro is designed for the emitters to go in the back. The emitters are also in the ultra low voltage end of low voltage. I don't see how it could be a problem placing them in wall. Admittedly, when I had the room built, the contractor used an in wall certified wire and spliced the plug in trigger into the cable. It is up to code.
Realistically ifyou DYI'd, with just a regular emitter wire, it may not be to code in your area but, I can't see any risk here. You need some kind of power to cause a problem. If you really want to go pure code though, you can find pretty cheap in wall cable at Momoprice that is in wall certified and you are laughing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeattleHTGuy /forum/post/21578142
PTAron, the Maestro is designed for the emitters to go in the back. The emitters are also in the ultra low voltage end of low voltage. I don't see how it could be a problem placing them in wall. Admittedly, when I had the room built, the contractor used an in wall certified wire and spliced the plug in trigger into the cable. It is up to code.
Realistically ifyou DYI'd, with just a regular emitter wire, it may not be to code in your area but, I can't see any risk here. You need some kind of power to cause a problem. If you really want to go pure code though, you can find pretty cheap in wall cable at Momoprice that is in wall certified and you are laughing.
Are we talking about the Maestro switches with the IR sensor on the front too? I didn't look real close at the back of the switches when I was installing them.
I only asked because I had mentioned using a blank panel in my 4-gang box for an IR receiver and someone said that low voltage wires couldn't share a box with other... so I didn't know. Thanks for clarifying.
Are we talking about the Maestro switches with the IR sensor on the front too? I didn't look real close at the back of the switches when I was installing them.
I only asked because I had mentioned using a blank panel in my 4-gang box for an IR receiver and someone said that low voltage wires couldn't share a box with other... so I didn't know. Thanks for clarifying.
PTAron, after reviewing the Lutron site, it appears the current version does not have back clear IR control. You may want to check yours. I will try and find the model that does. It is well worth it even thought they are a bit speedier than the standard Maestro 600 Dimmer.
Ok, my very, very bad. The Lutron Spacer series has the clear backs. You can find the IR dimmer series for around the $60 range on-line. They are basically a more sophisticated version of the Maestro line that can be used with a whole host of related products. So, I have Spacers, not Maestro's. I was just reading that some a maestro owners have succesfully drilled a small whole in the back box and stuffed an IR emitter right into the IR sensor area of the Maestro with good results for those unwilling to pay the extra bucks for the Spacer series. Lest I not confuse, the Spavers work just fine with the 1100. They are crazy easy to program and I just have 4 different settings on the Spacers plus on and off. Really easy to do.
Sorry to give bad intel, but the concept is the same.
I was kind of getting excited about the idea of using a different emitter channel for each switch - but realized I would need a much bigger screen on my remote! LOL!
Quote:
Originally Posted by oman321 /forum/post/21561076
It's worth a shot. Before you take it apart see if you can activate an activity. I wonder if its just your screen that's out. Try shining a flashlight on to the screen at an angle to see if you see anything. What struck me as odd was that you did get a white screen at one point.
Could be something as simple as a loose connection. Good luck.
Well it looks like it is a goner. So I bought the Harmony Link and so far it does almost everything I want other than some customization I had for the 1100. I like the interface and the clutter reduction of having one less thing on the couch. Overall, I am happy and will probably stick with this cheaper alternative. Guess I am going to sell my broken 1000 and 1100 on eBay. I see broken ones with non cracked screens going for $70-$80 each.
Okay, guys. I just picked up the Lutron Maestro IR with remote (MIR-600THW) today at Home Depot. So far, I've been able to program the Harmony 1100 to the point, when I start or end an activity, the lights will turn off or on accordingly.
Now, the question becomes. How do I get the lights to react individually to the commands when I'm watching, say, a blu ray disc? I've seen videos of people's theater lights turning off when pressing "play", and the lights turning on when pressing "pause" or "stop". Which part of the programming area do I need to access these changes?
See the link on my signature on the posts above and below you.
The 1100 or 900 do not do sequences therefore you have to do the referenced sequence workaround to be able to do combined commands.
FWIW, I don't set my Maestro's or my Grafik Eye to be affected when entering or exiting activities. Reason being (and this will depend on your situation of course) is that I found that my lights were typically at the scene I needed them to be at when entering or exiting activities. Particularly when I had programmed them to dim or go off when hitting play and coming up when pausing or stopping. Usually the lighting is turned on manually when entering the room(s). Then they are already dimmed when leaving after hitting pause stop. In the software I indicated that this device is always on so power on and off commands do not effect the light switches.
I edited the post after the fact to give you a little background on how I control my lighting and what I found works best for me.
One tip with the Maestro's is that they have one preset scene that you can go to including off. So you if you set the preset to lets say 50 percent, this could be what the lights come on to when pressing pause or stop. You could have them turn completely off when pressing play. On the other hand you could have the lights come on fully when entering the room and have the lights dim to a comfortable level when pressing play, then have them go back to full on when pressing stop.
When you have multiple Maestro's, that preset button comes in really handy because the Maestro's all respond to the commands being sent. So one preset can be halfway while another could be full off. Works nice if you have overhead lights that you want off but sconces that you would like half way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oman321 /forum/post/21582443
FWIW, I don't set my Maestro's or my Grafik Eye to be affected when entering or exiting activities. Reason being (and this will depend on your situation of course) is that I found that my lights were typically at the scene I needed them to be at when entering or exiting activities. Particularly when I had programmed them to dim or go off when hitting play and coming up when pausing or stopping. Usually the lighting is turned on manually when entering the room(s). Then they are already dimmed when leaving after hitting pause stop. In the software I indicated that this device is always on so power on and off commands do not effect the light switches.
That is a great point. I never thought about that. I think I'll leave the entering and exiting activities alone. I'll just set the lights to be controlled via the play, pause, and stop buttons for each activity. I am having success getting the new commands programmed. Now, it's just a matter of time until I get to try them out and see if they work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oman321 /forum/post/21582574
One tip with the Maestro's is that they have one preset scene that you can go to including off. So you if you set the preset to lets say 50 percent, this could be what the lights come on to when pressing pause or stop. You could have them turn completely off when pressing play. On the other hand you could have the lights come on fully when entering the room and have the lights dim to a comfortable level when pressing play, then have them go back to full on when pressing stop.
When you have multiple Maestro's, that preset button comes in really handy because the Maestro's all respond to the commands being sent. So one preset can be halfway while another could be full off. Works nice if you have overhead lights that you want off but sconces that you would like half way.
Great idea! I think I will program the pause buttons to operate the lighting at the "preset" level, the play buttons to turn the lights completely off, and the stop button to have the lights come on fully.
As of right now, we only have one Maestro switch. Almost all of our lighting is overhead, save for a couple of table lamps. I wish we had some wall sconces, but the basement was already finished.
But when you put a BD into the player with all the lights on int he room...the Disc automatically starts playing (trailers, etc...), and eventually you get to the menu, where you select (vie Enter button) Play Movie. You are not necessarily pressing the 'play' button. So you would still have to shut the lights off with the remote manually.
I think the above scenario is only good during the movie when you need to pause/play the movie.
Good point mekkerl, you can program play to be the OK command. Or teach the combined command to be OK and lights off. This should work so long as when you pause you are able to press ok to resume your media. Worse comes to worse program an ok-play-lights off command instead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheCrow1994 /forum/post/21582799
Great idea! I think I will program the pause buttons to operate the lighting at the "preset" level, the play buttons to turn the lights completely off, and the stop button to have the lights come on fully.
As of right now, we only have one Maestro switch. Almost all of our lighting is overhead, save for a couple of table lamps. I wish we had some wall sconces, but the basement was already finished.
One word of caution, having the lights come fully on from a darkened room after a long movie stings the eyes a bit. I initially set up my Maestro's the way you suggested and quickly realized that I wanted pause and stop to go the same lighting level.
Funny, I thought I replied to this and asked this question - but I don't see it...
oman - how many commands can you "shove in" when trying to combine? If I wanted my Maestro switches to come up to a certain level that is NOT programmed into the switches - lets say 4 presses "bright" when I hit pause - can I squeeze in all of that to map to one command?
I'm thinking Hit play - go to "Favorite", hit pause - go to slightly bright for bathroom/popcorn/beer runs, hit stop - go to full on preset with increased length of time to full brightness programmed into the switches.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oman321 /forum/post/21582885
One word of caution, having the lights come fully on from a darkened room after a long movie stings the eyes a bit. I initially set up my Maestro's the way you suggested and quickly realized that I wanted pause and stop to go the same lighting level.
Another good point, oman. Sounds like the lighting preset for the pause and stop buttons may be a wiser choice. I think I'll test out the fully on setting tonight and see how that works out.
I have successfully done 5 commands to one button press. This method was used prior to the 880 coming around which was when sequences ended up being introduced, if I recall correctly. I remember folks being able to get as many 7-14 commands in there, sometimes with the assistance of a simple $10.00 universal from Rat Shack or Wal-Mart. They would use the basic universal remote to learn some of the combined commands and then use this to reteach the Harmony.
4 Bright presses should be no problem I have 4 aspect button presses to go from Full screen to Scope mode on my video scaler.
The 880 can still do sequences can't it? ...or did they lose that feature in an update?
I just remembered (I'm slow lately) that I could program the sequence to my 880 and use that to teach it to the 1100 if that still works... or I suppose I could use my universal from my HK 635 that does macros.
Okay. I got to try out my remote tonight with the new Maestro dimmer switch installed. So far, I've had mixed results with the match. I am able to control the dimmer switch through the "devices" menu on the remote. But, only one of the "learned commands" through each activity has worked. The one I had success on involves the pause button for my HD DVD player and the lights raising to the "preset" level.
I assume I am on the right track with how to set up these commands. For example, I click on "Customize Buttons" on the "Watch Blu Ray" under the "Activities" tab. From there I click on the play/pause tab and then click on the "Learn Command" button. At that point, I click on the blu ray player for what I want to learn the command. Then, I scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and type in Play Lights Off in the "Learn A New Command" box. Then I press the appropriate buttons on the Lutron remote and the blu ray player remote at the same time. Then, it asks me to do it again....and I do. Next step is clicking done and going back to the play/pause tab and use the drop down menu for the "Play" button and fine the new command.
I'm hoping you guys can tell me whether I am on the right track, or not. Like I said earlier. I did get the lights to raise to the preset level when I pressed pause on the remote, but I forgot to try and see if the pause button worked still with the hd dvd player.
You're getting there. You should press the buttons one after the other, not quite at the same time. The commands, are still there own commands which need to be seen by each device.
Also when typing the name of the new command you are learning don't use any special characters or spaces. i.e. playlghtsoff vs. play lights off.
I had bad results if I tried to use characters other than alpha, doesn't matter anyhow for hard buttons or if your doing a soft button you can name it what you want later in the activity, with special characters if need be.
Not without an IR repeater of some sort. Problem is when you assign one device to send RF the 1100 will not send out the IR signal the extender will. So one device or the other will not see the signal, since you have to learn the commands to one device or the other. The devices you want to affect have to both be IR or RF without added accessories.
I have the opposite, a PS3/adapter which is being controlled via the extender and my lighting which is controlled via IR. Luckily I also have an IR network in place with a Xantech unit. All I needed to do was to re-teach the commands to the lighting device so the combined commands would be sent via IR.
Since my Xantech IR receiver is directly in the path of lighting IR receiver, the xantech also picks up the signal and it is routed to my PS3/adapter via an emitter attached to the xantech controller.
I should note the only commands the PS3/adapter is seeing via IR are the programmed play, pause and stop commands programmed into the lighting device. All other commands sent to the PS3 are sent via the RF extender for reliability of the power off sequence needed with the PS3 and IR2BT adapter.
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