Harmony 550 Official Thread. For all info and FAQs - Page 12

Suddenly my Vista 32 bit system will not recognize the device drivres for my 550 since upgrading the Harmony software to version 7.6.

The instructions from Logitech to update the frimware on the device obviously will not work.

Anyone else have / had this issue?

Everything has worked great until this recent change, but it's been months since I've had to program a device into the remote, but need to change the DVD setting my my new Sony 360 blu-Ray !

Ok, found out today I'm more programmer-challenged than previsouly thought. The free help from Logitech ran out so here I am...

I have an activity setup to watch TV. It includes a cable box and a TV. Not too tough. But I recently swapped out the cable box in favor of a newer model from TWC and want to include it in the activity. The new box responds fine to the 550, though. Am I squeezing a dead rodent by wanting to swap the box settings in the activity or should I? Swapping isn't really the right word because I'm finding a new activity would be required (with all those added button features it took me 2 years to perfect, ugh!).

Well I'm a big fan of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," so unless something isn't working, why mess with it? That said, I got a new TV a couple of months ago, and I found I was able to delete my old TV from my Harmony 550, add the new TV to it, and it "fixed up" all of the activities without me having to reprogram all the custom buttons. Just don't go deleting the ACTIVITIES and recreating those!

So, it seems that the 550 can be made to control applications on a PC.

Does it come with an IR receiver? Do I have to buy a receiver separately? Is there a particular one I need, or ones I have to avoid?

Can I use the software to tell it to control Media Player or VLC, or do I have to do some arduous manual programming?

^^^

You'll need a separate receiver designed for Win Media Center. Unfortunately you usually have to get both a receiver and remote in a single package for about $25, then toss the remote in a drawer. If all you want to control is MCE then you're done, with the exception of setting up the 550. If you want to control other apps then you need EventGhost, and some time for arduous programming. I have found the entire process to have a bit of a learning curve... determining the correct remote/receiver, getting it properly installed in Win7, programming EvenGhost, etc.

It's my understanding that many of the WMC receivers work properly out of the box in ubuntu, if that's your thing.

-Scott

^^^

If you only need to launch other apps, some pc remotes like THIS one have about a dozen hotkey combinations of Ctrl, Alt and F-keys for launching apps via keyboard shortcuts. Once the app is launched you can use the mouse on the remote (or 550 in this case) to control it. You can even turn on accessibility options on your pc for an on-screen keyboard for entering text with mouse-clicks. It's tedious, but not much worse than a Wii, and it works. At that point it's easier to whip out a wireless keyboard.

So my remote does not respond to volume commands when I have it set to "watch tv" (using samsung tv, hd/dvr cable box and pioneer 1019 a/v receiver).....I have it set for the receiver to control volume.....I taught it the commands after it didn't work and still nothing. I have the receiver set to control volume on all of my other activities and the volume buttons work fine. Frustrating!!

Have you gone into the customize buttons screens for that activity and verified that the correct commands are mapped to the volume buttons? If not, just change them to the correct ones.

I've had a 550, bought refurb from Amazon, for less than a year. Some of my buttons have gotten "sticky" and my left arrow requires a tremendous press to activate (even after it "clicks"). I went to open it up to see if there was any cleaning that could be done inside. Due to the design of the case, it is very difficult to get the top off. I ended up snapping the top in half (it draws down to a very narrow piece of plastic along the location of the arrow controls). If you ever need to open it up, make sure you use a narrow blade to push in the 4 snap clips along each side before prying.

Unfortunately, I've now got a remote I'm going to need to replace. Nothing to clean - the particular buttons that are sticking are layered under plastic and not direct contact like I'm used to.

Has anyone "stepped up" from the 550 and found that one of the other Harmony remotes was a bit better? I don't have any major complaints with the 550 other than some of the ergonomics. I'd like to have something that felt a little more natural in my hand.

Thanks.

Sorry about your 550. I have a 550, several 520s, an 880 and a One. The 500 series units were all cheap refurbs... I have not had any trouble with any of them but, that said, I do not like them all that much. They function and program much like the more expensive Harmony remotes, but the button layout is not very good... the numeric keys are way too small. I also get the feeling that, even though I have not yet had any issues, that the buttons might not last very long. For the price I paid for them, I'm not very upset... I have Harmony remotes where I might not typically have them... but if I had paid full price for the 500s, I think I would be a little more dissatisfied.

On the other hand, my 880 is almost 4 years old and still going strong (though others have reported sticking button issues)... and my One has been perfect for well over a year now... works just like the day it was new. For me, the One's hard button layout is superior to any other remote I've ever used (although I do wish it coupled its superior display graphics with hard buttons instead of the touch screen.) The one feature of the 880 and One that I sorely miss when I'm using one of the 500 series remotes is the automatic glow function... how spoiled we can get!

Thanks. I started another thread to compare upgrade options. Looks like both the 700 and the One have very similar (and well designed) button layouts.

Anyone have a non-functioning 550 that they'd consider selling real cheap for parts? Even if I upgrade, I'd probably like to save this one as a second remote for as long as it lasts, but it needs a new top case trim piece.

I love my 550 and wouldn't consider getting rid of it. Hell, I like it so much I bought 3; 2 550 and 1 Xbox 360 model. I have zero issues with the button layout/size & love the size/shape/weight, Very easy to operate in the dark. I even like the rubbery back, it stays put & doesn't slide around.

Sorry - didn't mean to sound like I'm bashing the 550 in a 550 post (that would be bad etiquette). I actually like it just fine, it has signficantly simplified my home A/V system and made it possible for even my wife and kids to operate it. It's what got me hooked on Harmony remotes. I was just recounting my options if/when it's time to replace it.

No worries. I didn't take your posts as bashing. I am just stating that I like mine.

Got a quick question before purchasing. This may not be about the 550 so much as the Harmony line in general but, since this is the one I'm looking at buying, I figure I'd get specific info.

First my setup: I have a cable box, blu ray player and htpc all going through an avr to the tv.

What I want to know is, if I select an activity, say "play blu ray" will the play, pause, stop, etc. hard buttons on the remote be used to control the blu ray player? Additionally, if I then select a different activity like "watch htpc", would those same buttons now control windows media center? I've read a lot about people having to scroll through device menus on Harmony remotes and I'm confused a little by it. Is this just in the setup process or is it in day to day use as well? Any help and info is appreciated.

If properly set up, it should do exactly as you describe... and if it isn't you can always make any button perform any function for any device in the activity.

If someone has to go into device mode for anything other than a rare setup feature then the remote needs to be tweaked. Any command in device mode can be assigned to an activity if it didn't end up there by default.

Perfect. Thanks for the help.

Jcalabria is right. If you do the setup properly in the beginning, you should be in good shape. The first couple of months I had mine I kept finding commands I needed to add to my activity sets, but once I got it tweaked like I wanted it I haven't had to change anything in months...other than batteries.

My Westinghouse TV has 4 HDMI inputs and my LHAURX360 has a hard time finding the proper one, I'm not sure why. They're called HDMI 1-4 and in the remote's settings I have each of my devices set to the correct one, but when I choose the activity it always seems to go to the input below the one it should. Any ideas?

Because it starts at '0' and not '1'. The way you set yours up is '1' not '0'. Try that.

I'm not sure how to change that. I think it might be something else, though:

The Harmony gives me a few options about how I select my input, and for the most part Method 2: "The remote has labeled buttons like VIDEO 1, VIDEO 2..." is correct for my TV's remote, except that instead of putting 4 buttons for 4 HDMI inputs on the remote it only has 1 HDMI button that cycles through the 4 HDMI inputs, and one button for every other input.

Hello Harmony experts--

I've got my Harmony 550 updated to the latest firmware, and the commands I need are in the Harmony database (I've confirmed they work using the Harmony's device control). I'm not a newbie to programming the remote, I've got it extensively customized. Here's the problem: In several of my activities, I want to set up the 4 buttons on screen 3 of my LCD (additional buttons in the remote software) to access and control the "night mode" digital compression on my AVR. This involves setting the 4 buttons as follows: #1 is set to bring up the AVR's sound settings menu; #2 is set for OK/select; button #3 is set to navigate down in the menu; button #4 is set to navigate up in the menu.

After updating the remote, buttons 1 and 2 are fine, buttons 3 and 4 don't exist, that is, no text on the LCD, and no functionality. More amazingly, when I got back into the software, the changes I made there for buttons 3 and 4 are also gone--the text is wiped out, as is the selection of a device to correspond to that button. This is consistent in all activities to which I've tried to make this change. I've tried other screens/button locations, and it's always the down and up I lose.

Is it possible the flash memory in my 550 is full and can't handle any more programming? Seems like I would get an error message (I don't--I get the "remote successfully updated" msg) and that my settings in the software wouldn't disappear. Anybody have an idea on what is going on?

beware software updates my brick your remote courtesy of logitech support. got a new device so wanted to update activities. download latest harmony software, log in, add device and updated activities. Set to update remote, however first I have to update firmware. So update firmware from v2.2 to v2.6 yet it doesn't complete and give an error with an error number in hex. Call in to logitech support and they have me put the remote in safe mode. Still does not update and now will not leave safe mode (holding 2 does not work).

So now a I a bricked unusable remote courtesy of logitech support and the only solace is the offer a 50% off coupon to buy an over price remote off their site. Given past history of how their software bricks older remotes, I'm done with logitech harmony remotes.

Had a similar issue with my 550. I updated via members.harmonyremote.com and it started working again. It took a couple of tries.

Have THREE of the 550 and never an issue. Just updated for new equipment a few weeks ago too.