Official Logitech Harmony 650/600 remote thread - Page 25

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovinthehd 

As far as I'm aware only that really crappy low end Harmony used the special site/software and pretty sure that was called myharmony, all the others use the same software...I've got version 7 myself. If you want to retain settings for a particular remote then yes you want to establish a new user id/pw for another remote; I do that for my 600/650 as there's no option (or was) for separate models in the same account.

Thanks for the quick reply. Needless to say, I'm eager to get started and got de-railed just as I got started.

While I was waiting and researching, I also found this thread:

http://logitech.lithium.com/t5/Remote-Control-Software/Do-you-use-the-software-or-myharmony-com/td-p/897910

Basically, you both say the same thing. So I will use my pre-installed Desktop v7.7.0 (yes, still the latest version) and create a new account for the new remote.

I really like their remotes (there is no equal AFAIK) but some things are pretty lame.

- None of their software appears to support multiple remotes (need separate accounts for each) ... still after all these years.

- They created new "cloud based" software (for the only the new remotes ... which is understandable) but it's not as full featured as the desktop software that it is positioned to replace.

- The 650 now uses a new proprietary cable, while the old remotes (like a 670) used a standard mini-USB connection.

Nothing I can't live with, but these ... and the current official Harmony line-up ... kinda makes you wonder what is going on over there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bri in Mtl 

Personally I like the MyHarmony. I tried both and felt it's easier to use but there are more settings you can adjust with the software version.
For my Samsung TV device there were more pages/buttons available on the LCD screen with the MyHarmony.

Interesting. I suppose I should withhold judgment on MyHarmony until I actually try it myself.

I am already familiar with the Desktop software. I still use it for my 670.

I suppose what it comes down to is that I would like to setup the new 650 only once. There is a XBMC MediaCenter involved (and 5 other devices), so it will be fairly complex. I would like to build the config in the definitive full-featured program that I am suppose to use for full-functionality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oryan_dunn 


The 650 uses a standard USB called microUSB. Other than Apple, it's the global standard on cell phones as well as a lot of other equipment.

Thanks, not sure how I missed that ...

Ok, so they went from from Mini-USB to Micro-USB ... no biggie. I retract that bullet. 

Ok, so for XBMC (a popular Media Center like app) running on Windows 7 (64bit) using RC6 compatible remote (just happens to be a HP model).

I'm building it from scratch (all learning and custom). I called it Windows 7 RC6 XBMC.

Does that get uploaded to logitech.com? Can you guys use it now? Is that one of the ways the database gets built-up?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dropkick Murphy 


There's no need to reinvent the wheel. Add a new device under "Media Center PC"

Manufacturer = Microsoft

Model = Windows Media Center SE (I know that you're using XBMC, but the commands are the same)

This code set gives you the most options for commands including many keyboard shortcuts.

Thanks.

It gives enough to control XBMC pretty good, but to do things like Start XBMC and other things inside ... advanced things inside XBMC, you also need the Media Center Keyboard device .

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1295315/how-to-use-a-harmony-remote-to-seamlessly-use-xbmc-hulu-desktop-and-netflix

I'm maxed on devices already, so I can't add another (and have 2 dedicated for XBMC use).

I was trying to do this "cleaner" than the way I setup the other machine with 670. Guess I'll fall back to the more complicated way and hack on XBMC some.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Culpepper 


Indeed you can. I have tweaked my 650 to control 7 devices this way. Not ideal, but it works.

Looking at this ...

Looks like you can add custom learned buttons (even from a second remote) but the keys get entered as a generic name and can't be changed. Looks like you can change the displayed name, but not the actual function. I guess you keep a list of how they are really mapped?

This system has a working amp and plasma, but they are 10 years old. I can't use the amp as a switcher like we normally do these days. I have to switch inputs on plasma and amp on each activity.

The plasma is having a problem selecting the proper Input, especially when first turning on. Help button fixes it eventually (but who wants to use that always).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tesla1856 

This system has a working amp and plasma, but they are 10 years old. I can't use the amp as a switcher like we do these days. I have to switch inputs on amp and plasma on each activity.

 

The plasma is having a problem selecting the proper Input, especially when first turning on. Help button fixes it eventually (but who wants to use that always).

 

Well, it wasn't what I thought. My fault because I don't actually use this TV remote much.

It seems you have to press Component button once for Comp1 and twice for Comp2. All the other Inputs have their own keys. Cycling through the Inputs (with the Source button)  is very lame and there are other problems with this way. Investigating a better solution.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Culpepper 


I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean. In my case, my AVR is a part of all activities. So I learned (taught?) all needed commands for the extra 2 devices into the AVR's command list, including naming them appropriately. Then, I can create new activities using those available commands to control the extra devices. Does that make sense? Hard to explain. :-)

Yes, perfect sense.

It's just that when you first Learn them, it is calling them MyNewCommand1, MyNewCommand2, etc. I didn't see a way to rename them. I also don't see a way to Delete them. On same screen, if you over-ride the Database profile for a Command by learning it with the real remote ... I don't see a way to revert that back to the default Database setting.

The only way I saw to reverse or undo any learned functions was to delete device and start over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tesla1856 

 

Well, it wasn't what I thought. My fault because I don't actually use this TV remote much.

 

It seems you have to press Component button once for Comp1 and twice for Comp2. All the other Inputs have their own keys. Cycling through the Inputs (with the Source button)  is very lame and there are other problems with this way. Investigating a better solution.

Amazingly, got it to work without config-ing to cycling though all TV Inputs every time. Pretty cool Harmony made allowance for this.

So you leave Samsung plasma's Input Switching on Type #2 Default (each Input has unique key).

Set both Watch TV (Component-2) and Watch DVD (Component-1) ... to Component-1 in normal setup.

Then, go back into Watch TV Activity and add a Custom Action to the list. It was something like "Change Component key State to Component 2"

The custom Activity line now reads:

4 - Samsung Plasma - SetComponentInput Component 2 - Remove - N/A

Also, moved Plasma to be turned on first (in every Activity it is a part of) just to make sure it has time to power up before Inputs are attempted to be changed, but the real problem was the toggled Component button.

Quote:

Originally Posted by uclabruinn 

Has anyone set up their 650 to run the new Samsung Smart Hub?

Not sure if this helps, but I setup VieraCast (a similar thing) on my Panasonic plasma as a seperate Activity. This was on my Harmony 670. but that doesn't matter (they program the same)

IIRC, you add a custom action (line item) that presses the button that gets you into the interface.

From there, you just use the TV's remote. The TV is already part of the Activity, so those keys should be available for assignment (to real keys or little display).

Edit. But come to think of it, I only did that because I had to switch some Inputs. For you ... if you have AudioReturnChannel working, you might just be able to add the SmartHub button to the normal watch TV Activity (maybe on the little display).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wise Man 

hi i use to have harmony 300 now i have the harmony 600 and i am having trouple setting it up, first lets say i am in a watch tv
activity, and i want to go to one device to do something with it, i press devices and chose the device i want to do the change with, now
how do i go back to watch tv activity how do i do that, if i press the watch tv activity on the remote everything would turn off??
that means if i press watch tv activity once it would turn on the devices involved, and if i press it again it would turn off the involved
devices in that activtiy , and i really dont want that, i want is when i press the activity it just turns on and never off any of the devices
involved in that activity?! activity set up

As long as the device is part of both Activities that you jump between ... it remembers that the device is already on, so it doesn't send the PowerToggle code again. However, it might re-send any Input switching ... which should be desired (or at least not hurt anything).

This happens even when you have the Activity set to "turn off devices that aren't being used" (which should be the default).

I also suggest you add commonly used Device Functions to the Activity Screen. You can add them to "Additional" tab, and they will be on little lcd (which can be scrolled). They can be for any Device that is part of that Activity. By doing this, I hardly ever use the Device selections themselves.

Now, you can have many Activities and not just one for "Watch TV". I think that is the big difference between 300 and all the others (like 600,650, etc). Also, note that Activities and Devices have their own different kinds of Settings. Put everything on an Activity ... Watch TV, Watch DVD, Use Computer, Listen to CD, Listen to FM Radio, etc.

Well, I got the 650 all programmed up for my WorkOut room system.

I'm really liking it. The motion detector (for screen and keys backlight) is a cool feature. On my older 670, I have to press the BackLight key (but only at night ... it's monochrome LCD is always on, and even visible in daytime with no backlight.). If it wasn't for the 5 Device limit, I would move 650 into the main room.

Not bad ... I did both rooms for $120.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davelr 

ReadMeFirst.rtf 10k .rtf file
Thought I'd revive this topic to offer another approach. You should download and install the XBMC Add-On "MCERemote". This tweaks the registry mappings of the codes sent by a MCE remote (like the Harmony with the MCE SE device loaded) to more correctly match the controls used by XBMC. Just installing and running the addon fixed a number of little quirks I was having.

Thanks. Yes, this is what I ended up doing (just using MCERemote in XBMC-Eden). This is also how I did the other system last year with the 670. It wasn't as hard as I remember it being.

Do you ever try to do anything from the Windows desktop (like maybe load XBMC) with the Harmony? For help with that, that's why also adding the MCE Keyboard device looked interesting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmborah 

Hi All, just stumbled upon this forum in my frustration with my Harmony 650. I have 1 main gripe which I would like to fix, and other minor gripes about this remote. Like others, I was very excited about being able to "program" my remote, but once I tried to use logitech software to solve specific problems I found that the cookie-cutter approach they use to script activities is really annoying.

Main gripe: I am able to set each "activity" to use TV volume, but I would like to override device volumes as well, to make TV my master volume no matter what device or activity I am on. For example, if i am on my apple tv device, the remote does not use the TV volume, in fact the volume does not work at all on that device because there is no volume associated with apple tv. I mean, come on logitech, really? So basically I'd like to make TV vol my master vol.

MInor gripe: When I switch between activity it must turn on devices that are already on, usually turning them off. Again, come on logitech, really? Part of this is due to the fact that I can not disable TV on the activity because then I would not be able to control the volume later on, so it therefore can not be removed from the activity startup script. So my gripe has to do with the limited definition of devices associated with activities and lack of control over scripts and what devices/buttons can be programmed.

I would also like to add 2 more devices to my 650, but that's my own fault for not anticipating additional hardware when I bought it.

I searched for hacks, but did not find anything I could figure out on my own. I don't know how to compile, so concordance is over my head.

I apologize if these issues were previously covered in the thread, but I wasn't able to read through the entire 25 pages. Thanks in advance for any help or advice.
-Jon

Use the Desktop software v7.7.0.

Main: Well, it asks you which device controls the Volume ... just say TV. It's the same as me using the Amp for everything volume.

Minor: You can say "leave devices on" but then you have to add the Power button as part of the Activity screen (so you don't have to visit Device screen). But if TV is always volume, just make it a device in all Activities. This would be the same as you using the discrete remotes.

More devices ? You are suppose to be able to add buttons from other remotes (see above posts). Learn buttons and put on TV or other Device that is in every Activity.