Official Logitech Harmony 900 thread - Page 52

I have the Harmony 900 remote control and love it. I just upgraded the video card in my computer and ran an HDMI to the rear of my Denon receiver. It displays to my projector as a second monitor. Is it possible to use my Harmony 900 to control my computer when set up this way? I am not talking about using Microsoft media center. I am looking to control my entire computer from a remote to access everything. I have seen a few remotes that will actually move the mouse cursor on the screen and such.

My other option would be to order a Lenova multimedia remote with keyboard but I would rather just use one remote control.

Thanks for any input regarding my questions.

no the harmony won't do this. you could just get a wireless keyboard and mouse, or wireless keyboard with a trackball built into it.

I control my PC with harmony (and every other remote in my house) just fine, including a mouse. It cost me a whopping $8. Details HERE. That being said, I still prefer using my bluetooth keyboard and mouse for anything major.

I really don't see a good way to do direct keyboard input from a 900.. but I guess that's me. At least not without 12 screens of keys.
I'd just go the keyboard and trackball route as noted.

Thanks for the replies. I am not looking to utilize the keyboard. I just want the remote to act as a mouse to enable me to navigate on the screen to open files for viewing.

oh. if that's all you want then sure, you could just program directional arrows with an IR receiver.

Newbie questions here from someone considering upgrading to the 900 from an 880. Looked through this entire thread, but still uncear on some things.

1) Can I use a 2.5mm to 2.5mm splitter (http://prowirecommunications.com/store/product195.html -- only thing I could find. Perhaps something else exists? It looks like two might be difficult to plug into the back of the main blaster) to hook up 4 of the mini blasters sold by Logitech (http://buy.logitech.com/store/logib2...oryid.28076200) Total cost = $9+$2+$2 = $13

2) Should I instead purchase a second main blaster (and A/C adapter) and 2 more mini blasters to get it all to work? Total cost = $10+$10+$2+$2 = $24. If so, would it be better to purchase the Logitech precision cables (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/remote...s/devices/6230) into one of the ports and plug a mini blaster into the other for 5 total IR "blasters"?

3) Is it possible to use the 900 to control a mouse cursor on a TV? I have seen some remotes where you hold down a button on the remote and just point your mouse to wherever you want it to go. Not sure if it would be possible for the Harmony to learn that. Also having trouble finding one of said remotes to learn from. I see mention of IR dongles to control WMC, but I dont know if thats what I'm after here.

Thanks for the help.

Here is another option for you. These will fit to split the connectors.
http://www.rpelectronics.com/211-210...5-y-cable.html

However I do believe that even though only 2 mini emitters come with the 900 there are 4 2.5 ports on the main RF extender. You would only need the splitters if you need more that 4 emitters.

On 3 I believe th answer is no.

Some IR dongles will let you move the mouse 4 or 8 directions (I have one that works quite well). The motion sensing you describe cannot be done with a universal remote.

There are only two ports on the main that comes with the 900.

My bad thanks, tried to google for a photo of the back of the rf extender and the one that I finally found 4 pages in showed 4. It might be an image of Logitechs regular IR extender, vs. the 900's extender.

The splitter you have linked to is a stereo splitter, Logitech has stated that the splitter has to be Mono on their forum.

FYI:

The Logitech has the Harmony 900 + PS3 Adapter on special for less than the price of the 900 alone.

I have 2 stereo splitters on my 900's main blaster. They work fine.


Id recommend the 2 splitters with 2 additional mini-blasters. That's what I'm essentially doing. I'm no expert, but I think the mini blasters have a greater range than the precision cables. Also, with the precision cables I think you might have to place them over your device's IR eye. This might make it difficult to use the original remotes with your devices if that's something you need to be able to do.


And I just wanted to follow up on this. I took oman's recommendation and ordered the $2 "IR shelf emitter" at that link. I received it yesterday, and it really is the mini blaster for the 900. In fact, although I ordered only one (for $2), I got 2 mini blasters in the mail. I'm not sure if that was a mistake or how they usually come. So now I'm set up with my single main blaster: using 2 splitters to control 3 mini blasters and one line directly into the back of my Yamaha receiver.

Awesome!! I think they sell them by the pair, I remember a similar comment from someone else. So that is great for a buck each.

Also read that someone found the necessary 2.5mm splitters at radio shack, and even though the stereo ones will work they may have the mono one's as well.

I have some questions. Background first - this would be my first universal remote for my home theater. I don't have many devices to control - a Sony FP, some cheap Lutron IR lighting, a HD cable box, a Denon 5803, an HDDVD player and a Bluray player. Only the projector and the lighting dimmers are in the theater room; the rest are in a middle atlantic rack mounted flush into the side of a closet outside of the room. The theater has a door which I close so as not to disturb the rest of the household when the action begins. So most of the devices to control are not in line of site for IR, making RF a desirable solution. After 3 years of using this setup, I'm tired of having to get up and leave the room to change volume, jump chapters, change cable channels, etc. I watch in total darkness, so the ability to pause the movie and bring up the lights while seated in my recliner for a snack or potty break would be very welcome.

Question Topic #1: I use the budget CIH method of watching 2.35 aspect ratio movies: zoom and shift the Sony's motorized lens to switch between 1.85 and 2.35. I won't go into the details of the key sequence since I'm sure many members are familiar with this. Anyway, will the keys I need to perform this trick be easily available on a Harmony remote ? Will they map to hard keys, or will they be soft keys on the touch screen ? I imagine that since shifting and zooming require holding down a specific key this technique will be difficult to reproduce as a sequence or macro.. I suppose I could just use the projector's remote, but it would be nice to have just one remote in the room while watching cable or a movie.

Queston Topic #2: Does the "watch movie" activity sequence include "play" for the Bluray device ? BR movies take so long to load up that it can be more than 60 seconds from power on before the main menu comes up. (I have a Pioneer that is really slow, but I love it's analog output and video quality, so it's not getting replaced anytime soon)
And what keys are there on the 900 for things like TOP or TOP Menu which can be used to jump to the main menu screen faster ? (sometimes )

Question Topic #3: Blaster, mini Blaster placement.
For the devices that are located in a rack with no door on the front, would this work: putting the receiver in the closet with one mini-blaster mounted at the top of the front side of the rack pointing downwards (if the minis do "point"). From what I've read in this thread so far, the minis splash IR in all directions, meaning they don't have to be in front and pointing at the devices. Otherwise, I think I have some IR emitters that came with an old Ultravision plasma tv that I could, with the right adaptors, use for each device. For the projector and lighting, I should be able to get by with direct IR to each.

One other question - does the setup software play nice with a Mac ? I'm not running Snow Leopard (yet) but I seem to recall seeing comments that hinted at problems for Mac users.

The price on the 900 seems to have down a lot since this thread was started, so much so that it appears to be cost competitive to the cost of a H1 + an IR repeater kit and the hassle of getting that wired up through my walls and into the equip closet. I'm hoping maybe for a good Black Friday deal on the 900 too.

Thanks.
Bill

1: You can map your commands (or sequences) to any button you like, as far as you can remember what is that you've assigned to that button (for hard keys) or as long as you give the button a familiar name (for soft keys). You can hold down a hard key and it will send the command repeatedly (the inter-key delay is customizable), I don't know about the soft keys though (my Harmony 525 doesn't have a touch screen)
2. You can configure your activity so the play/pause/stop/etc. keys will send commands to your bluray player and other keys send commands to your other equipment, as needed. It is also possible to automatically send Play command to your player when you start your activity (after your devices have been powered on and inputs have been selected properly).
3. Somebody else might answer this question, I don't use blasters.

As for your MAC, I know that the software for programming the Harmony remotes is available for Macintosh OS X, but I haven't tested it or read about Mac issues. Don't forger that every time you will need to configure the remote you must be connected to the Internet, as the configuration is done on the Logitech server into your own account.
Good luck !

Thanks for the reply. I realize now that putting a "play" button in a "Watch Movie" activity is not very helpful as most of the time the user has to press the "select" button on the player's remote to choose whatever action (play, special features, scene selection, etc) from within the movie's menu system once the Bluray player has come to that part of the disk . I think I understand now that the purpose of an activity is mainly to power on the correct devices and select the proper inputs for the AV and TV/Projector devices.

Bill

Yes, and even more: within an activity you can configure your Harmony keys to send controls to any of the devices included in the activity (eg. Play will send Play command to Bluray player, Volume up/down will send Vol up/down command to your audio system and let't say a soft key named "Dim" will send Dim command to your light controller).
I think that some of the video reviews of the Harmony 900 on the Youtube might be much more comprehensive about the features of the remote

Cristush -
Thanks for the reply. I don't want to pour gasoline on the sequences fire - I get it and yes it is a letdown,but so be it. I was wondering, though, about possible workarounds. I thought I read a post where someone said you could add things to the activity, or a create a sub activity to make up for the loss of sequences. Right now about the only main thing that I would like to be able to do that normally would be put in a macro or sequence is the often mentioned "pause movie - bring up the lights" and "resume movie - turn off the lights". With my equipment the first one would be no more than two commands, the resume movie would be about 3 commands (my BDP need a double-tap on the play button to get it out of pause). Is this something that could be assigned to a pair soft keys (or two activities ?) for one button simplicity ?

After reading the first 35 pages of this thread, I'm still fairly interested in this remote. I can see that RF would be great for me (my equipment is in a closet outside of my "man cave") and the distance would be under twenty feet. The wall the RF signal has to pass through, might give it problems as I built it solid - double layer sheet rock on both sides ( 1/2" + 5/8").

Thanks.
Bill

(now on to reading pages 36 through ... )

The best sequence workaround is to put multiple commands in one raw learn. 2 or 3 is usually very do-able. There is no such thing as a sub-activity on harmony.

As mdavej says multi step raws a very do-able.
This topic comes up from time to time and I always need to dig for the old posts so I have added a link on my signature on the how to that I describe back in the 1100 thread. Same holds true for the 900.

Thanks for the info mdavej and oman. Some advice then - where is the best location to put a "pause-lights up" and "play-lights down" ? Would you recommend assigning it to the hard play and pause keys, or put it on a soft key ? I'm new to programmable remotes and I'm just trying to think things through and wondering if there might be lots of times when you wouldn't want the lights dimmed or raised when the play and pause key are pushed. Plus, with my BDP player, the play key has to be pressed twice when you want to resume the movie from a paused state. I'm not sure without some experimentation if I'd always want a double play command being sent from the 900 whenever the play key is pressed one time. Do you follow what I'm saying or am I not thinkin straight ?

Bill

I follow you storman. I have 2 like activities HT Movie and HT PS3 since I use my PS3 as my Blu Ray player. All commands are the same except for play, pause, and stop. When in movie mode I have control of the lighting with those commands, when in PS3 all the original commands are in place. You can do the same with your Blu Ray player.

Ultimately however it will depend on what you prefer or actually having it like I mention. Perhaps even adding the soft buttons for lighting control in the non movie mode. I have lighting options for soft keys even for movie mode as well.

Hi all, I brought back an old thread hoping someone would have an answer but no luck in 5 days (see here).

Want to know has any new technology surface that will control the Wii (at least to turn On and Off) using the 900?

The answer to that is no, the Wii is controlled by Blue Tooth

So is the PS3 and they have an adapter for that. I would think they could make an inexpensive USB adapter seeing as how the Wii has far greater installed base than the PS3. However, given the fact that it doesn't function as a DVD/BDP maybe they thought it wouldn't have mass market appeal.

I know its controlled by Blue Tooth but so is the PS3. And I have the adpator for the PS3 to control it. But thanks for the answer.

To BenJF3, thanks for the respond also. You would think something would come out by now. If Wii2HDMI is out why not an adpator for control on and off ?

A while back (see original post) I mentioned my inability to get the Raw commands my H-900 learned to work with my Panasonic DMP-BD80 player. I can get Raw commands to work on my TV, DVR, and Receiver, but not the BD80 or an older Panasonic DMR-EA38V DVD-R/VCR combo. I'm trying to use Raw commands to create a sequence.

I've contacted logitech tech support via email, but they've been of little help, just giving me the old advice of varying distance and angle when learning the Raw commands. I didn't mention to them that I was trying to create a sequence, since I knew they'd say that wasn't supported.

So I'm about to give up on getting this to work, unless anyone has any other tips they can give.

Thanks!

I read the orig post and response from me before, but I just wanna be sure you tried doing the sequences in analyzed (regular) mode.

The 900 sends the regular commands correct?

For the heck of it try adding a generic device like an amplifier or a switcher. Using the original remote teach this device the multi step commands, might as well try both raw and analyzed.

I had a device that the commands were not showing up on my screen, when I added the device as different type and taught the commands to that it worked.

Hey to save you a step, try teaching the necessary commands to an existing device, tv or dvr the commands may take in there. If it's a device such as the tv it will always need to be part of the activities and you'll be able to add macro as needed.