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Harmony Slow Response? Read here! - Page 3

post #61 of 236
6/24/06 at 8:30pm
I have a syntax olevia 26HVX and when I am using the TV's menu it seems the remote sends a double command with the directional arrow?

If I hit the down arrow it goes down 2 spaces on the menu. If I hit the right arrow, it moves 2 places to the right instead of one, etc.

My Inter Key Delay is 500
Input Delay is 300
Inter Device Delay is 100

I am thinking maybe it's sending the signal for too long? Like if I were holding down the button. Is there anywhere to adjust the Pulse time or something?
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post #62 of 236
6/28/06 at 4:32am
hmm seems that my ability to hold down vol+ button to increase volume on my tv has stopped working. i now have to press it each to to increase the volume in increments, sucks. I wonder if it has anything to do with delay settings. It worked normally before, and still works when i control the volume on my reciever, or hold down vol- to turn the volume down on the tv...
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post #63 of 236
6/28/06 at 6:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goanna View Post

I have a syntax olevia 26HVX and when I am using the TV's menu it seems the remote sends a double command with the directional arrow?

If I hit the down arrow it goes down 2 spaces on the menu. If I hit the right arrow, it moves 2 places to the right instead of one, etc.

My Inter Key Delay is 500
Input Delay is 300
Inter Device Delay is 100

I am thinking maybe it's sending the signal for too long? Like if I were holding down the button. Is there anywhere to adjust the Pulse time or something?

i think this is adressed in the first post of this thread, about repeats. its in logitechs knowledge base as well, but mentions volume going up 2 times.
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post #64 of 236
9/3/06 at 8:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tokerblue View Post

Since this question gets posted a lot, here are two easy fixes to get the Harmony remote to respond more quickly.

Click on the Device's "More Options"
- Select "Adjust the delays (speed settings)"
Inter-key Delay: 300ms
Inter-Device Delay: 300ms

Start by adjusting the Inter-key and Inter-Device delays to 300ms or less. Then test the remote. If it works at 300ms, keep lowering the speed in 100ms increments and see if the device still responds. If it doesn't, increase it back up 100ms. In my experience, I've found that most devices will respond to 100ms and devices like Tivos will take an Inter-key of 0ms.

Click on the Device's "Troubleshoot"
- Select "Show me more problems"
- Select "Device doesn't appear to receive every command correctly."
- Select "The device responds too much to some commands (for example, volume up increases the volume too quickly)."

The default number of repeats is 3. Lower the repeat speed and see if the remote still responds. If it doesn't, increase the number of repeats until the device still responds. In my experience, most devices will respond with 2 or more repeats and devices like Tivos will respond with 1 repeat.

I've got the AVR335 and the best response for me is-
Power on Delay: 3500
inter-key: 0
input delay: 200
inter-device: 1000
repeats: 0

I've noticed that the inter-device setting can be a touchy bugger if you change it. Lowering this setting did not allow the HK to change inputs correctly.
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post #65 of 236
11/11/06 at 6:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by steveybaby535 View Post

** EDIT: This solution is for getting the harmony 880 to mimic a Microsoft MCE remote **

I got this working through the excellent logitech second level support. Here's what to do:

- Add a new device, select "computer" as the device category
- Select Media Center PC
- Select Microsoft
- Enter model number as "M9000007"
- Check the box and click next
- Check "no - i do not have a remote" click next
- Select "Microsoft A9O-00007" (recommended)

Add this device to your activity.

Doing this and changing the repeats setting (troubleshooting>more options>my device doesn't respond to every button) to 0 livened up the button presses. Thanks for the post--I battled this for a while.
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post #66 of 236
11/12/06 at 11:26am
So, I want a Universal remote and the 880 is my top candidate for a great price that I can get. The dealer warned me about the lag, but it seems that you guys all say that if I adjust the interkey delay, i'll be good to go? I dont have a lot of fancy equipment, i dont think, but I'll go with what you all have posted, but I'll post my stuff just in case, and if anythign jumps out at you as not being able to work, please post.

Onkyo Reciever TX-SV828THX
Panasonic plasma: TH-42PWD5UY
Comcast cable: Motorola DCT-5100
Denon Reciever: 3803
Pioneer DVD player: DV-434
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post #67 of 236
11/14/06 at 4:47pm
I followed the thread and its helped but things are still not as fast as I would like. Mine is an 890. Would that delay it slightly by having to go through the RF converter?
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post #68 of 236
12/11/06 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cherry ghost View Post

This is very interesting because sometimes I have these long send problems with my 676 and my Motorola 6412 III, but my problems are with the fast forward, rewind, and play buttons. Every now and then, I'll be FFing or Rew.ing and when I hit play it will take 3-5 seconds before it actually plays or if I hit FF 3 or 4 times, only the first one will take initially and then the others will kick in after a noticable delay. Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out.

I think this is a problem with the box not the remote I have the same problem witht the remote supplied with the box. Also effects channel changes occationally, end up changing 5 or 6 channels more than I wanted.
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post #69 of 236
12/13/06 at 7:44pm
thanks.
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post #70 of 236
12/13/06 at 10:02pm
The 6412 is a turd and subject to regular remote-ignoring and lockups, while it buffers numerous remote keypresses and then wakes up 4-5 minutes later and runs througha ll of them in quick succession.

FYI, the Harmony controls the TiVo S3 perfectly
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post #71 of 236
1/10/07 at 8:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashutoshsm View Post

The 6412 is a turd and subject to regular remote-ignoring and lockups, while it buffers numerous remote keypresses and then wakes up 4-5 minutes later and runs througha ll of them in quick succession.

This man speaks the truth. In my experience, the 6412 is the problem.
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post #72 of 236
1/10/07 at 6:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by catbertz View Post

This man speaks the truth. In my experience, the 6412 is the problem.

And the newer, all digital Motorola DVR's (34xx series) have the same issues.
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post #73 of 236
1/22/07 at 9:03am
What i've noticed with my 688 and XBR2 LCD is that when I press the "Watch TV" button, it powers on the FIOS box (Motorola something or other) and the TV but 5 times out of 10, the TV will go to INPUT 6 rather than INPUT 7 where the box is hooked up. Going through the troubleshooting gets me to "Is LCD TV set to Input 7" I answer no a couple of times before it switches. Which setting (timing) should I adjust?

--Mike
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post #74 of 236
1/22/07 at 9:31pm
I've been using a Harmony 880 since Christmas and have discovered that the ultimate solution to thorny performance problems is to work the issue with Harmony support.

If you simply tell them the Harmony is not as responsive as the original remote they WILL work with you until the problem is resolved.

There are cases where the settings accessible to the user simply can not fix such problems. This can be true for learned commands of course, but can ALSO be true for commands already in the Harmony database depending upon when they were entered and how much customer feedback they've received.

Level I support will explore the simple stuff -- repeats and interkey delay settings primarily. If that doesn't fix it, they bump you up to Level II support. Those folks will document which commands you are using, whether they are learned, and how they are learned. They may have you re-learn some. But if the problem is still there they will then bump the problem to their people who specialize in the command language itself.

And these folks WILL fix the problem. It may take a week but they don't give up and they do have the Levell II folks call you when they've got a revised version to try.

And then what they learn from working with you gets put in the queue for the next database update.

Considering how relatively inexpensive these Harmony products are, the amount of effort Harmony support is currently willing to put into fixing such problems is really quite extraordinary. But then it pays off for them as their database gets progressively better.

So do try the customer accessible adjustments as discussed in the first post of this thread. That will fix most problems. But if the Harmony is still not as responsive as it should be -- compared to the original remote -- don't just give up. Call Harmony support and be patient with them as they collect the needed info and get the experts queued up and on the case.
--Bob
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post #75 of 236
1/23/07 at 1:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau View Post

So do try the customer accessible adjustments as discussed in the first post of this thread. That will fix most problems. But if the Harmony is still not as responsive as it should be -- compared to the original remote -- don't just give up. Call Harmony support and be patient with them as they collect the needed info and get the experts queued up and on the case.
--Bob

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Suppose you have a TV. Suppose the TV has an on-screen setup menu that responds to the usual commands from its remote: Menu, Up, Down, Left, Right, Select, and Exit. Suppose this menu responds speedily when driven with the TV's own remote.

Now you set up that TV in your Harmony and try the menu and find it works, but very very sluggishly.

So you go in to the Harmony setup stuff again and reduce repeat count to 0 and inter-key delay to 0 and try again. And what you find is that things might be slightly more responsive but it is still way too slow.

So you try learning those commands -- either analyzed or raw -- and that doesn't help either. And now you are getting frustrated.

Then, out of desperation, you try lowering the input selection delay. And voila! Your menu buttons now work lickety-split! Of course your input selection changes (when switching Activities) no longer work right because you've eliminated the delay the TV needs to get itself set after you select a new TV input.

Well all this means is that the menu navigation commands in the Harmony database entry for your TV have been miscoded as INPUT changes instead of just normal keys. Whoever made the original database entries either made a typo or didn't know how this TV works and deliberately coded these keys for the longer, input change style, delay just to be safe.

And Harmony support can fix that for you. In fact it is pretty easy for their coding experts to fix that.

This could happen for commands already in the database and also for commands you learn.

---------------------------------------------------------------

There are other ways the coding can get screwed up as well -- not all of them quite so trivial to fix. But it looks like the current Harmony support team is ready and willing to tackle any of them.
--Bob
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post #76 of 236
1/24/07 at 9:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau View Post

I've been using a Harmony 880 since Christmas and have discovered that the ultimate solution to thorny performance problems is to work the issue with Harmony support.

If you simply tell them the Harmony is not as responsive as the original remote they WILL work with you until the problem is resolved.

There are cases where the settings accessible to the user simply can not fix such problems. This can be true for learned commands of course, but can ALSO be true for commands already in the Harmony database depending upon when they were entered and how much customer feedback they've received.

Level I support will explore the simple stuff -- repeats and interkey delay settings primarily. If that doesn't fix it, they bump you up to Level II support. Those folks will document which commands you are using, whether they are learned, and how they are learned. They may have you re-learn some. But if the problem is still there they will then bump the problem to their people who specialize in the command language itself.

And these folks WILL fix the problem. It may take a week but they don't give up and they do have the Levell II folks call you when they've got a revised version to try.

And then what they learn from working with you gets put in the queue for the next database update.

Considering how relatively inexpensive these Harmony products are, the amount of effort Harmony support is currently willing to put into fixing such problems is really quite extraordinary. But then it pays off for them as their database gets progressively better.

So do try the customer accessible adjustments as discussed in the first post of this thread. That will fix most problems. But if the Harmony is still not as responsive as it should be -- compared to the original remote -- don't just give up. Call Harmony support and be patient with them as they collect the needed info and get the experts queued up and on the case.
--Bob

Well put, Bob. I have the 890 and a fairly complex system with 16 (yes, it will do 16 or even 17) devices, about 25 activities, and use the same remote in two rooms (RF in one room and IR in the other). Needless to say, I spent about 50 to 60 hours tweaking it (just before Christmas). But then, everything went wrong, so I wiped it clean and started over. Big mistake. It took another about 40 hours to reprogram (thank god for the learning curve), but, low and behold, the same problems surfaced. This time, I called support. While they were very surprised how much I got the remote to do on my own due to the complexity of my setup, they worked with me for about three hours to get it all working. While I was never officially stepped up to level II, my level I rep did keep putting me on hold - obviously to speak with a level II rep.

I will add this to Bob's posting, though. For those who have fairly complex setups, make sure you test all your activities, as device changes they make, may render other actitivites ineffective. This is my case, so I need to get back on the phone and have them fix some of my more complex activities. I am confident they will.

By the way, Bob, I would suggest you post a similar note in the regular Harmony forum. I am sure many who are new to the site, would appreciate knowing that they don't have to solve all the ills. I still, like Bob, encourage most to struggle through the steps Bob lays out in his subsequent post. Trust me; going through some of the pain will make you really understand this remote more, and thus, use it to its full potential.
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post #77 of 236
3/1/07 at 12:55pm
Hello. I just ordered a Harmony remote as it looks like this is the remote to get for a component slow wife. Plus, I hate 4 remotes.

What "pre game" things should I do before it arrives from my shipper? Is there anything i can do between now and Monday to speed up the total set up, like documentation, etc? I've never had any luck with codes and all, so this one sounds like it is going to solve all my problems if I take the time and do it correctly. I just want to stay ahead of the learning curve!

Thanks.
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post #78 of 236
3/1/07 at 5:15pm
Thread Starter 
You can take the remote for a test drive and start to set things up, but you don't really save that much time. Here are a few pointers.

First Setup
1. Set up all your devices.
2. Set up all your activiities.
3. Make sure everything turns on/off and goes to the right input when you change activities.

Second Setup
4. If everything is running fine, compare the reaction time of your original remote to the Harmony.
5. If commands from the Harmony are slower, change a few of the delays and see if that speeds things up.

After a few tries, you'll get used to the Harmony. Don't worry about help. Between the AVS forum and Remote Central, I'm sure you'll get everything close to perfect.
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post #79 of 236
3/1/07 at 5:38pm
Cool. Much appreciated.
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post #80 of 236
3/3/07 at 3:37am
Weird situation, maybe someone can advise me. I set all the delays for a tivo series 3 into the 880 and now all the keys work pretty well except the guide button. For some reason I have to hold the guide button down for a few seconds. All other keys are quick responses. I set the delay to 0 and the repeat to 0, that sped up all the keys except the guide button. Is there a way I can specifically set the response time of the guide button?
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post #81 of 236
3/5/07 at 5:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tokerblue View Post

Since this question gets posted a lot, here are two easy fixes to get the Harmony remote to respond more quickly.

Click on the Device's "More Options"
- Select "Adjust the delays (speed settings)"
Inter-key Delay: 300ms
Inter-Device Delay: 300ms

Start by adjusting the Inter-key and Inter-Device delays to 300ms or less. Then test the remote. If it works at 300ms, keep lowering the speed in 100ms increments and see if the device still responds. If it doesn't, increase it back up 100ms. In my experience, I've found that most devices will respond to 100ms and devices like Tivos will take an Inter-key of 0ms.

Click on the Device's "Troubleshoot"
- Select "Show me more problems"
- Select "Device doesn't appear to receive every command correctly."
- Select "The device responds too much to some commands (for example, volume up increases the volume too quickly)."

The default number of repeats is 3. Lower the repeat speed and see if the remote still responds. If it doesn't, increase the number of repeats until the device still responds. In my experience, most devices will respond with 2 or more repeats and devices like Tivos will respond with 1 repeat.

Is it true that the Harmony XBOX360 Remote doesn't allow these timings to be configured. I couldn't seem to locate these settings for that remote...

~gs2gf
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post #82 of 236
3/5/07 at 10:07am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TAsunder View Post

For some reason I have to hold the guide button down for a few seconds. All other keys are quick responses. I set the delay to 0 and the repeat to 0, that sped up all the keys except the guide button. Is there a way I can specifically set the response time of the guide button?

- Try setting the Repeats to "1" instead. That's what I have my HR10-250 set at. The Tivo will still react very quickly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GoSlow2GoFast View Post

Is it true that the Harmony XBOX360 Remote doesn't allow these timings to be configured. I couldn't seem to locate these settings for that remote...

- The 360 is programmed the same way. Are you using the website interface or the desktop interface? My original instructions were for the website interface. I actually helped my brother update his 360 last night and you can definitely adjust the timings.
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post #83 of 236
3/6/07 at 3:38am
Thanks for the 8300HD information...now I can actually fast forward a show and stop on a dime!
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post #84 of 236
3/6/07 at 8:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tokerblue View Post

- The 360 is programmed the same way. Are you using the website interface or the desktop interface? My original instructions were for the website interface. I actually helped my brother update his 360 last night and you can definitely adjust the timings.

Using the web interface. Thanks, I was able to locate the settings now.

~gs2gf
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post #85 of 236
3/6/07 at 12:41pm
I'm on hold for a Tier 2 guy @ Harmony now. Its just the weirdest thing...
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post #86 of 236
3/6/07 at 1:58pm
I've found that the 890 is slower than the 659. For example I have the same delay settings for my Motorola STB 6416 for both the 659 and 890. The origianl remote can scroll through the channels in the guide screen lightning fast. The 659 was able to do it reasonably fast. However the 890 is a fair bit slower. It's tolerable..barely. Any slower would be very annoying. I don't think it's a matter of delay settings as they are the same as what I had with the 659. I think it's internal to the 890. I think a button press on the 890 has a slight delay before it sends the signal that the 659 didn't have so there is just no way to speed up STB guide scrolling. Maybe a firmware upgrade.
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post #87 of 236
3/7/07 at 11:44pm
Is there a way to edit the settings without using the web interface? Is it possible to access a xml or text file and copy it manually to the device? I have a 550 BTW.

Also, great post and thank you for the information. I have been suffering with lag for some time until now. I was contemplating selling the remote on ebay and getting something else. But now, I'm happy. Thanks again, and don;t forget about my initial question ^^^^
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post #88 of 236
3/10/07 at 10:17pm
Alright, I have a Dish network 211 HD receiver, dvd player, tv, and avr. All controlled with harmony 550. When I use the macro to watch TV, the TV comes on, the AVR comes on immediately after, but then the 211 takes 2 full seconds before turning on. Ive turned my delays all way down. Power on delay is 500, interkey is 0, and interdevice is 100. Repeats is at 3, cant go any lower it doesnt respond to key presses without having to hold the key down for a long time. Anyone have any idea why its taking so long for my hd receiver to turn on? I used the factory remote and is turns on as soon as I touch the power button. Also, when I use the on/off button on the harmony while in Devices, the 211 powers on immediately, so its obviously something in the macro thats doing it. maybe reordering the devices??? Thanks in advance.
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post #89 of 236
3/11/07 at 1:54am
dafeist, It seems like the power on delay of the device preceeding your AVR is set too long. If not, change the setting anyway and re-update your remote. Then change it back to the original desired value if needed. In summary, I would check your power on delay of all the devices in that activity, if that looks right, then make an update just to get a new image onto the temote.
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post #90 of 236
3/12/07 at 1:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by g-speed View Post

Is there a way to edit the settings without using the web interface? Is it possible to access a xml or text file and copy it manually to the device? I have a 550 BTW.

No. All programming must be done via the software/web interface.
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