Harmony Tips - Page 3

I've written a Python script for adding Pronto codes to your Harmony account. You need to have an understanding of how to install and use Python software, but if you know that then you should have no problem. Here's the link:

https://github.com/n8gray/HarmonyPronto

Turn HDMI-CEC off on all devices. I think that it is the one that is messing up!

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As explained above, the power on and power off commands are discrete, i.e. the power on command will turn a device on regardless of how many times the command is issued. Therefore after a remote sends a power on command, the device will be turned on, regardless of whether it was on or off before the command. The power off command works in a similar way, only that it will turn the device off.

The power toggle command, though, will alternatively turn the device on and off. This is great when you know for sure that a device is on or off, but the Harmony cannot communicate with the device to find out whether the it is on or off and the remote has to alternate an internal device status in order to "know" whether it is on or off.

That tracking works only if the device is turned on or off only with the Harmony remote (otherwise it couldn't keep the device state in sync), i.e. if you turn the TV on manually, the remote will "think" that the TV us still off and will try to turn it on. Now, if you are using a discrete command to turn the TV on it wouldn't matter since at the end the TV will be on and the remote will "know" that the TV is on, i.e. they'll get in sync, but, if you are using a power toggle command, the TV will turn off instead and the remote and the TV will stay out of sync!
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One of the "features" of HDMI-CEC is that it will turn on and off the devices that are connected to the device that is being turned on or off. That could be an useful feature in some cases, but it messes up with universal remotes as the Harmony since it keeps the devices and the remote out of sync. Hopefully that long explanation above will convince you that you should turn HDMI-CEC off.

i dont know what happened but i got it to work.....when i turned off the hdmi-cec my avr would not turn off....i tried a couple things but nothing, i tried turning off the avr with the harmony from the device menu and it kept turning off the cable box, even tried reprogramming it...nothing.....i then noticed that my sound was coming from my tv and i couldnt control the avr....i then turned hdmi-cec back on.....and voila...it now works.....i hit all off and everything stays off.....i hit watch tv and everything is copasetic.....thanks everyone!!!

Glad it works now!

logitech 650 volume control

I have searched on here but cant seem to find it. I would like my sound bar and my tv speakers volume to go up and down at the same time with the volume up down on the logitech remote. i have seen claims that it is possible but cant seem to figure out how to do this. is there a macros that will do this?

I haven't tried it, but I would make two sequences and assign them to the volume +/- buttons. One sequence would be vol+ of TV and then vol+ of sound bar. The other would be vol- of each. It would send both commands when you push the volume button.

Guys,

Has anyone thought of how to speed up the process of replacing the remote? When you replace the remote on the current Harmony account with a new remote, all customized buttons are gone, and so are the soft buttons on activities. It is time consuming and tedious, almost like starting from the beginning if you have a lot of devices and activities.

I'm wondering if there is a way to create a list of settings, e.g. mapped buttons, activity soft buttons, device power settings,... like an inventory report :-) I have not seen any feature like that on either the PC remote SW or at members.harmonyremote.com.

- bodhi

Thanks for the idea, probably the easiest way for now is to log in the cloned account on members.harmonyremote.com on another laptop, and going through the settings one by one

@mdavej,

This is an open source tool for Harmony:
http://phildev.net/harmony/

Have you tried this tool? perhaps it is possible to make use of this tool do do simple thing like printing out the settings.

I would love to see you guys successfully hacked the AR XSight :-) I was holding out for that remote, but gave up because it does not have power state tracking. All we need is JP1 remote with an LCD screen!

I amtrying to get my Harmony 700 working with my HT. I have a Motorola DCT-6200 set top box from my cable company. I have added the device to the Harmony software. When I try to set up the "Watch TV" activity, the software tells me I need to add a device that can change channels. It does not let me pick the cable box. Even if I walk through the wizard and add the device again, when I get to the end, it says "None of your devices can change channels".

I'm stumped, what am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance!

Two questions:

• When you added the STB, what type of device did you add the DCT-6200 as? It should be added as:
  • [Cable/Satellite Box] / [Digital Set Top Box]
• What type of Activity did you create? You should MANUALLY create a new activity as:
  • [Watch Television] / [Watch TV (Digital Cable, Basic Cable, Antenna)]

After adding the device and activity as shown above to one of my 650s, the first question it asked in the Activity set-up wizard is which device changes channels, and the Moto was included in the list.

BTW... NEVER allow the software to add activities automatically... ALWAYS add new activities "manually". The wizard only asks a few simple questions that will actually help you understand what's going on behind the scenes. Automatically created activities never seem to work correctly and you will have gained no understanding of why they are not working.

Thanks guys, now I just have to figue out how to add an activity manually!

When you go to add a new activity, just select the second option (manually create an activity) instead of the default selection (automatically create activities based on your equipment). It will then step you through a few simple questions.

Thanks! Works like a charm!

does anyone know how to program a Harmony 720 to turn on the HDMI-CEC device? you might guess it, but i'm trying to control my PS3 without the "harmony ps3 adapter" thing. my samsung TV can talk HDMI-CEC and the only other device with HDMI-CEC enabled is my PS3. with my Samsung TV remote, I can turn on the PS3 by activating the device through what samsung calls "Anynet+". Using the TV remotes arrow keys I can pretty much do what I need to do to watch BD/DVD/CD/NetFlix. I figure if I can figure out how to get the Harmony 720 to turn on the HDMI-CEC device and I re-assign the arrow keys to be that of the samsung TV, then I can get away without having to get the Harmony PS3 adapter.

Any help would be appreciated...

thanks for the reply mdavej.

I don't mean to waste anyone's time, but I've spent at least 2 hours with the harmony program trying to figure this out and many more hours googling for the solution without success.

i know how to customize buttons to map the arrow keys to the samsung commands. i'm all good there.

what i'm trying to figure out is how to have the harmony remote step through the process of pressing "tools" and selecting the "Anynet+/HDMI-CEC" device, which triggers a HDMI-CEC command to turn on the PS3. I would like this to happen as the last step when I choose the activity of "Watch Movie on PS3".

I'm embarrased to say I have no idea what I'm doing with the Harmony 650 that I've tried to set up for my son's new apartment.

I followed the directions, went to the website, setup the devices (tv, cable box, avr, and xbox), and setup a couple of simple activities (watch tv, play xbox).

The problem is that the tv model was not found. I just bought it at Costco a few days ago (LG 47LV4400, which is listed on the LG website as a current model). Most of the on-screen codes don't work, but since the avr is doing the hdmi switching and handling the volume contol, the cable box (hd-dvr) is changing the channels, and the tv's speakers are turned off, all I really need the tv to do is power on with the activities and power off with the "all off" button. Unfortunately, the tv does neither.

Under the tv "device", there are three commands assigned to the screen...Power Toggle, Power On, and Power Off. I was so excited to see that there were discrete power commands, but neither of them work...but the Power Toggle does.

I spent an hour on the phone with Harmony tech support trying to simply fix the tv power issue for the "watch tv" activity...and still nothing. I repeatedly told the rep that the Power Toggle command worked, thinking that he might be able to assign it to the activities and the "all off" button, but that never happened.

I've read about "stand alone software" that would allow me to have some control over programming this remote, but I don't know where to find it.

If Harmony does not have this LG tv in their database, wouldn't just about any other LG tv's discrete power commands work? I've had multiple Sony tv's over the years, and their discrete power codes were the same from model to model.

Even though I would much rather try to find and use tv discrete power commands for activities and "all off", if I'm forced to use the power toggle, how would I assign that command from the tv "device" to both the activities and the "all off" button?

If you have to use Power Toggle then do this in the device page for the LG TV:

1. "Adjust Power Settings"
2. "I want to turn off this device when it's not in use"
3. "One button on the remote for On and Off"
4. "I don't have the original remote, but I know the command that is used:"
Power Toggle

After this, Harmony SW will recheck the activities to ensure everything is still correct.

You can also go into each activity and look at the sequence to verify that at the beginning of each activity the TV is turned on (select "Review the settings for this Activity").

Under the "Device Status / Actions", the TV Power Toggle is sent with "LG TV is on" (or something similar).

Thanks bodhi78, but I don't recall seeing these options on the basic website (myharmony) that I was directed to in the instructions that came with the 650. Are you refering to the stand alone software?


mdave, when I originally entered the LG model number I had added two letters to the end of it (which I got from the back of the tv). When I entered this number the website software said it did not find that number, and then recommended a different LG model number (it wasn't even a LV series), and since I was so sure that I had it correct, I declined the suggested number and stayed with the original one I entered. I assume that Harmony used whatever LG tv codes it thought would work, because many of them did.

Interestingly, the Harmony tech asked me for my myharmony login info so he could go in and make changes to try to fix the problem. At one point he did say that he found the correct LG model number, and he asked me to resync the remote. The correct model number ended up on the remote, but it didn't fix the problem. I'm starting to wonder if maybe this particular LG model doesn't respond to discrete power codes...but I've never heard of that being a "model specific" issue before.

I know I must be missing something because I didn't see many options to customize the macros (activities) on the myharmony site. I have the original oem LG remote with a power toggle button, yet I didn't even see where I could "learn" a code from another remote, let alone how to make modifications to the activities macros (or how to program the "all off" button).

I have custom programmed my own URC MX-810 for my fairly complicated home theater and lighting system, including many multi-step macros and scenes, which is why my initial Harmony experience has been a bit frustrating. I'm sure it's not the 650...it's my lack of knowledge. That's why I'm turning to the experts for help.

Another issue (though not as important) is with the names of the devices as they appear on the remote screen. Each device is listed with it's full manufacturer name plus a long model number. I would much rather they be labled "TV", "RECEIVER", and "CABLE BOX" (I would even like to get rid of the "Microsoft" from XBOX). Is there some way to change the screen label names for the devices?

Yes, you can do all these with the stand alone software. Power settings, sequence (macros), changing name of devices... You can download the software at the link mdavej mentioned above.

I downloaded the stand alone software, and did a new remote setup. I'm not at my son's apartment, so I can't test it yet.

One thing I noticed is that I can't reorder the screen activities. I want to put the two primary activities (Watch TV and Play Xbox) on the first page, but after setting up, then deleting, then setting up again the secondary activities, either the Watch DVD or Listen to iPod activities end up on the first page with Watch TV.

Is there any way to reorder these activies?