Official Logitech Harmony 650/600 remote thread - Page 18

I believe that sequences are only available in the 650 if you use the Harmony client software... if you use MyHarmony.com, sequences are not available.

As far as I am concerned, MyHarmony.com is worthless, but if a new-to-Harmony user starts out with a 650, they unfortunately may not even be aware that the client software exists.

Thanks for the info. I've always used the software. Never used myharmony.com.

I got a 650 a few days ago. Got it programmed, added sequences for favorite channels, tested it out, and everything worked great. The family loved it. BUT, the backlighting never turned off. I tried adjusting the delay from 20 seconds, to 10 sec, to 5 sec. No change. Tried turning off the tilt sensor. No change. It goes through new batteries in less than 48 hours!

I haven't gotten a response from customer support. I've resorted to taking out the batteries when the remote isn't in use. It sucks. Any suggestions?

Stuck button possibly?

I'll check when I get home. There is a button on the side of the screen that likes to get a corner stuck, so maybe theirs another one I haven't noticed. Wouldn't that keep it from operating so flawlessly though?

Possibly. But I can tell you my backlight goes off when it's supposed to and my batteries last about 6 weeks. So something is being pressed, keeping the remote from sleeping and draining the batteries.

Customer service finally replied, and they had the same thought. They suggested "massaging each button." Unfortunately it didn't work. Still stays lit up...

If you're certain no buttons are stuck, then yours is defective and should be exchanged.

I'm starting to think customer service checks with you before responding!

They just replied that they would process an exchange. If Logitech isn't paying you, they should be!

Thanks.

Got my first Harmony remote today, been playing with the software for a bit and really like the feel and the weight of the remote. Buttons and nice and laid out well. This remote is a 650 and I also have a 900 coming at the end of the week.

The 650 is replacing a cable remote and a tv remote. The TV has two inputs, cable box and Popcorn Hour, 90% of the time it is used for cable nad 10% for the PCH. The issue I am having is that my TV doesn't have discrete power commands and the power is getting out of sync far to many times. With the cable remote we push the power button for on and then go from there, the "Watch TV" on the 650 is overkill for us, you have to hold the remote to the tv for too long as it goes through all of the steps.

What I am trying to think through is a way to have 3 activities..."Watch TV", "Watch PCH", and "Return to TV". Is this possible? I want the "Watch TV" to do nothing more than toggle the power. We will use return to tv when we were on the PCH and want to return.

Is there a better way to do this?

Mike

What model tv exactly, because most have discretes (except vizio and some samsung)?

Harmony is designed for overkill mode, so no way around that. First, you have to hide all your other remotes and get used to aiming for a long time so the tracking doesn't get messed up. You can probably reduce some delays, but you'll have to call support or switch to the old 7.7 software to do it. All you need is Watch TV and Watch PCH. Some sort of Return activity will only make things worse.

Sounds to me like you're more comfortable with a more traditional remote where you can have complete control over the macros. The Xsight Touch is just such a remote and much cheaper than the 900 you just bought. I recommend you give one of those a try before spending several hundred dollars on more harmonys.

Thanks for the reply, the TV is a Toshiba 40RV525U.

I think the 900 will serve me well, I purchased that for my media room in which all of the components have discrete codes. We have been using a Pronto remote for years to run that system and I can already tell that when we get the 900 the family is going to see it as a big upgrade becuase of all the hard buttons. You can make the Pronto really pretty but in reality touchscreens don't make a great remote, at least not for us. Maybe for a dedicated theater where you touch and play but for young kids that are always changing channels and changing inputs they aren't that good, requires two hands and looking at the remote to do anything.

I took a look at the remote you suggested, nice looking remote for the price. Once things are powered up the 650 seems to work well and actually for navigating around the PCH I think I like it better than the OEM remote. I bought the 650 cheap and was just hoping I could get it working so that once the 900 arrived we would have similar remotes for upstairs and downstairs....learn one and know both. Really the limitation for my situation is that my TV doesn't have discretes and no remote is going to solve that.

Mike

I added the Toshiba 40RV525U to my H1 configuration and there are three powr commands, PowerOff, PowerON, and PowerToggle. Under the H1 this implies that the PowerOn and Power off are discrete codes. You should check again.

I am using a cable box that does not have discrete codes and cannot remember the last time that I physically pressed the power switch. With my activities the box is turned on when required and turned off when not in use. This is the beauty of the Harmony state tracking feature. Maybe there is a family training issue for you.

Correct the discretes are in the configuration but this particular model is not able to use them.

We have many remotes in our house, currently a Pronto remote in our media room and none have ever required family training. I would say any remote that required training isn't of much use as we would have to train family, friends, grandparents, babysitter, etc.

Harmony remote is designed with state tracking. The whole purpose of state tracking is to solve this problem.

OP is defeating it by using other remotes and not waiting for macros to finish. Discretes do exist for OP's tv and will help if they are used. Alternatives were offered if OP can't adapt to harmony.

That is not correct, while the discrete codes may exist in the database for the 40RV525U this particular model does not have the ability to use discrete codes which is well documented.

We have only had the remote for about 24 hours so we certainly aren't making any hard and fast conclusions but I think it would be fair to say that for most people it isn't intuitive to hold a remote facing the tv for 3 to 5 seconds after pushing the button.



Mike

That would have been nice to know before everyone trying to help you went on a hunting expedition for these codes.

That's why they invented RF. If 3 seconds is too much to ask, you need to ditch the 650 and replace it with a 900 or some other RF remote.

In my first post I said "The issue I am having is that my TV doesn't have discrete power commands"

Mike

I have a setup that has similar issues. My cable TV box does not have a discrete on or off. I have set up my 700 (just like the 650 except it has a rechargeable battery) so the cable TV box is always on, from the time I first turn anything on, until I turn everything off. Can you do the same thing with your TV?

Problem is that my cable box also does not have discretes.

Mike

First off, you can use the remote in Device mode to control just the TV or make an Activity just for the TV with the TV controlling the volume.

Second, you don't need an Activity to return to anything. If you are in Watch PCH Activity and want to go to Watch TV just push Watch TV. The Harmony will turn off unneeded divices and change inputs (for some/most equipment).

My Harmony 600 has completely replaced my Panasonic Plasma remote. I use it in Device mode just to watch TV. My Watch TV Activity turns on my receiver. Watch DVD turns on all devices.

I'm still having a problem switching to the TV tuner for my GT25. The Harmony will go directly to all inputs except tuner in Activity or device mode. I'm dealing with Harmony support trying to resolve this without much success.

Thanks a good suggestion, make this an activity that basically powers on the TV. That's really what I am looking for as 90% of the time all we really need to do is power up the TV and control it as it is already on the correct input.


Then I could use this command to return from the PCH, basically three activities. I will give it a try, thanks for the suggestions.

You shouldn't need more than 2 Activities.

Not sure why things are taking so long. My Watch TV Activity turns on my TV and receiver in 2-3 seconds. The Watch a DVD takes about 5-6 seconds to have the TV, Receiver and BD player turned on and switched to the correct inputs. Are you using the downloaded software are connecting to their (MyHarmony.com?) software?

Guys,

Harmony remotes are not designed to be used like multiple individual remotes in Device Mode. It is designed to be used with Activities, and its State tracking will manage all devices power on/off and inputs. It should work for all scenarios, if you stick to that concept. Holding a remote for 3 to 5 seconds is normal, just like you use other smart universal remote with macros. Isn't it?

The OP is used to RF and doesn't want to change his behavior. The 650 (or any non-RF remote) simply won't work for him.

Are there any known issues with the Power On Delay settings not working on the 650? I'm trying to adjust my XBOX 360 to not come on until my receiver (Denon 3808) is completely turned on and ready (about 8-9 seconds). I've tried adjusting the delay for the 360 and the receiver and it doesn't seem to make a difference in the start up time. I'm on 7.7.0 for the Harmony software FWIW.

The power on delay is not what you think it is... it only determines how long the remote waits before sending another command (e.g., input selection) to the same device. All power-on commands for all devices are sent out in immediate succession at the start of an activity, separated only by the inter-device delay.

Thanks, if I understand you correctly, it sounds like I'm adjusting the wrong setting? Will setting the inter-device delay set to 8-10 seconds for the Xbox 360 prevent it from turning on immediately?

Off hand I'm not sure if you even can adjust interdevice delay that long... and it may have unintended consequences for other operations. The intent of the inter-device delay is to provide a clear "gap" between commands to different devices so that the devices don't see them as running together... it is not necessarily intended to be used as a startup sequencing delay, but you can certainly experiment and see what happens. (FYI... there is a good explanation of the various delays HERE.)

Is your issue that the receiver's input port is not ready to negotiate (present it's EDID table and HDCP keys) with the XBOX until after the XBOX has given up on the negotiations? There are a few other possible workarounds for such issues (all of these would require that you use the full 7.7 client software rather than MyHarmony):

• Set up the XBOX device to be "always on" it's device setup, then manually add a delay plus the XBOX PowerOn command to the activity startup command list, as well as a PowerOff command to the activity shutdown command list. You would lose power-state tracking of the XBOX, but this would otherwise behave completely normally.
• Sometimes such issues are caused only because the AVR is on a different HDMI port until it's ready to be told to switch to it (whatever port the the AVR is set to will usually present it's EDID and HDCP info immediately upon power-up). If this is the case, you can add a command to switch to the XBOX input to ALL of your activities' shutdown command lists. That would always make the XBOX input hot immediately upon turning the AVR on. This should present no input-state tracking issues as long as the AVR is set up for discrete input commands (it should be if it's not).
• A third option would be to add the following to the XBOX activity startup command list... a delay, then a switch to any other input, then a switch back to the XBOX input. This would force the XBOX to see a fresh hotplug detect, which would force a new handshake negotiation.

I would suggest trying the third option first if this is, in fact, your issue.