Harmony 880 Official Thread. For all info and FAQs - Page 12

Has there been any headway in getting some program to update the harmony that isn't logitech's? I ask because as I wait hopelessly for my replacement, they say they have blacklisted my remote since I refuse to pay to ship it back to them. I still don't have the replacement remote and I'm afraid that while I am still tweaking I am going to not be able to update my remote anymore.

I imagine many of use use our AV reciver to control volume all the time. How can I ALWAYS have the remote, no mater what device I am using control the volume. I know I can learn the button, but sometimes I pick up remote and have no activity selected, I would like for it to even function then. Is there a way to setup buttons to be hard coded? Also i would ideally like to have other buttons function this way such as channel, mute, etc even without pressing any activity item.

Please help.

You can set all that up online. I have 2 sets of Activities for watching tv, one turns on a/v ,plasma, and Dish, other does not turn on a/v, therfore the vol on tv is controlled when I don't care about surround sound, news, etc. If I want the a/v on at this point, all I do is hit the second "Watch Tv" activity button.

In each of your activities, simply specify that you use the receiver to control the volume. If you want the volume button to map to your receiver when in a device mode OTHER than your receiver, you'll need to "learn" the volume up/down buttons for your receiver and manually assign them to the volume buttons under the other device modes. The same is true for channel, mute, etc.

You can't do this once for all cases, though. It has to be done for each activity and for each device.

Seems like "stepmback" is asking the same thing I did in another thread. I want my 550 to always (and without having to choose an activity) use the receiver to control volume.

Say I want to "Watch TV" and I have the remote turn on the cable box, TV, receiver and set my inputs accordingly. I already have that activity use my receiver to control the volume. But, say I want to turn on closed captioning or fiddle with the picture settings on the TV. I choose the TV device and change what I want. Now, I want to go back and change channels on the cable box so I choose the cable box device. If I want to change the volume now, the remote defaults back to changing the volume using the cable box.

If I "Watch a DVD" it initially gives volume control to the receiver. If I need to adjust something on the TV, then change back to the DVD "device" I have no control of volume. I want to set my DVD player, VCR, cable box, and DVD recorder to always-always-always use the receiver for volume. And without having to run the activities again.

This sounds like what I need to do. Manually learn the codes for the receiver volume to the volume buttons for all devices. So when I select a device after running an activity, it uses the receiver's volume codes instead of whatever device I've selected. Clear as mud.

If you use the remote as intended(ie always in activity mode) then you won't have a problem. If you MUST select device mode for some obscure command, then when you are done fiddling just press the "Device" button twice. This will take you back to the activity you were in previously.

In other words, don't change back to the DVD or cable box DEVICE, change back to the "Watch DVD" or "Watch TV" ACTIVITY.

Dandy. I may start using activities now!

The only I have an issue with activities vs. devices is my X10 stuff. When I use it as an activity, it decides to resend the TV input command when switching back to the viewing activity, even though the TV state never changed. As a device, it just works better with the current firmware. Too bad there is no way to reorder devices that I have found. Would love to have that on the first of the device pages, it is just out of my control to do so.

LOL, I have the same issue; with my IR-543 controller configured as an activity it ALWAYS sets the TV input when switching from lighting to TV even though they are in no way connected. If you figure it out let me know.

If you are in the "Watch TV" activity and you need to adjust your lighting, you could add the lighting commands to your "Watch TV" activity. This will obviously have no affect on TV inputs.

If you don't want to do this, you could select the "X10" DEVICE(rather than a lighting activity), make your adjustments, then press the "Device" button twice to return to the "Watch TV" activity. This way will also not send any TV input commands.

As for the device order, that is determined by the devices being used in the current activity. ie devices in use are listed first. So in your case it sounds like the X10 device is not part of your "Watch TV" activity. If you add the X10 device to the activity(even if you don't use any of it's commands) then it should be listed on the first page of devices(at least that's how it works with my 659).

I wonder when Logitech will have the HD-DVD HD-A1 Player in their devices? I tried adding a Toshiba DVD player and it sort of works, but I do not get all the custom buttons for it. Has anyone found something that works better or can give me a model number to try?

Good idea with the add it to the activity. It should work for most activities I think, would just be on a sub page soft menu. The device way just seems smarter to me though, cause I wouldn't have to add it to every activity, plus make dummy buttons to keep the layout for the lighting the same for every activity.

On the 880, the device order seems to be governed by random chance. It isn't based on the devices used in the activity, nor is it based on the order in which deviced were added or edited.

Logitech will have it in their database when a user(such as yourself) adds it. The database is populated by end users, which is the reason it is so comprehensive(and sometimes incorrect if someone does a poor job).

I suggest learning all the commands yourself. It doesn't take long.

my dog destroyed it...only had the thing for 2 weeks and she pulled it off the couch and completely mangled the thing...luckily the xrays only showed small pieces that she was able to pass.

Otherwise a great remote...just keep it away from your dog. 300 for emergency room visit, decent price from ecost for the remote, programming the remote and being left with 8 formerly used remotes after it gets destroyed by your dog = priceless!

I'm really interested in getting the 880. Is there any compelling reason to get the 890 other than the RF? I don't have anything currently that would work with RF, nor are any of my IR devices significantly obstructed, so it seems silly to pay half again as much for something from which I would get little or no use.

dfetzer: Ouch. Has she eaten anything like this before or was this out of the blue? My dog chewed all sorts of things when he was a puppy (most notably, clean through a GameCube controller cable -- WHILE I WAS PLAYING), but quit about three years ago (he's four now).

Maybe if you plug your dog into the USB port of your pc, you can get him to bark correctly to change devices and activities?

Sorry... at least you'll be able to replace the thing and still have all the programming in tact on your account. Good luck to you and your dog...

Larry

Larry - yeah, my wife and i made the same jokes about squeezing her stomach and getting the tv to turn off...it is funny only after everything passed..

Ty...shes been kind of on a tear lately - she tore apart a couple books, but she probably learned it from my other dog that likes to eat undies...I would prefer undies over electronics, but maybe she's a gadget hound - lol

In all seriousness, I dug this remote. I have the Sony brick (RM-1000??) in the basement and I really like the macro building ability. this was a simpler setup, but the macro recording isn't as great - i know you can tune it to do what you want, but not to a 't'. I'll probably end up getting another, but prob shoot for the 890 with rf instead of IR. I had buyer's remorse for future proofing once I got this knowing that my future home will have everything set up in a media closet of some sort.

For this reason, and several noise-related ones, I prefer cats...

As far as macros, I don't know what you'd need that for. I have a Sony XBR960 tube tv, Pioneer Elite 79AVI DVD player, a Dish 622 HD sat receiver, and a Pioneer Elite 59txi receiver, and I got them all working together, routing audio through the receiver and video ALL through a Monoprice HDMI switcher. I had to get some help from Harmony's advanced customer service to get some timing issues worked out, but the 880 does all I'd need it to do.

Good luck with your 890... maybe feed Ty a little more. Now that I think about it, the 880/890 IS kind of shaped like a bone... You may be in trouble here...

Larry

Why someone would need macros? Maybe they have certain sound fields, picture controls, room lighting, etc that go with different program types. It is possible to do all this with an activity, but that can become a big waste of activities if you have lets say 3 to 5 modes ber activity. A simple 4 activity remote with 5 macro like modes, becomes 20 activities. Or with macros, 4 activities with 5 macro buttons. Get it?

Watch out for that. My friend's sister's dog was in the habit of tearing up underwear. One day he just stopped eating and moaned and moaned. They took him to the vet and discovered several elastic bands from the underwear lodged in his intestines. They had caused them to get knotted up, which required expensive surgery to fix. Since then, they bought a hamper.

Incidentally, my handle is my dog's name...lol

I've been using a Sony AV-2100 for about five years, but have become disenchanted with it of late. The Harmony 880 is the first (affordable) remote to pique my interest.

1. Can you change the order in which devices are turned on accordingly?

2. How can you add a delay between power on of devices (eq. I want to turn on my projector, wait 10 seconds, turn on my receiver)?

Both can be done by tech support only.

1. Yes, but it's done indirectly by changing the Power On delay times. In general, those devices with the longest Power On delays are the last to be turned on, while those with the shortest are started first.

2. Under each device, look for "more options", then select "Adjust the delays (speed settings)". You'll want to change the "Power On Delay", which adds a delay between that device being powered on and the next one. I think the online FAQ has a description of how each delay type is used.

1. Unfortunately it doesn't always work this way.

2. Power On Delay only affects the time from when a device is powered on until the same device is sent subsequent commands. It doesn't affect the delay between powering on different devices.

Tech support are the only people who can make both these changes reliably. They have access to features not available to us end users.

Just because it doesn't always work is no reason for him to not give it a try. It might just work for timn99. Who cares if it doesn't work in all cases, if it helps timn99, then it really doesn't matter if it doesn't work in a setup that he doesn't care about, does it? Sheez...

CZZER,Your right, I tried a delay on my tv because it boots up kinda slow, all that did was make me wait to send any remote signal to the tv, all the other componenets turn on right away. I might just call tech support to get it right.

Several people have posted that they have a mysterious "A" & "B" on their custom Activities page.

My Watch PVR Activity only deals with my TV (HP6580n) and my PVR (MOXI) - I'm using the TV's speakers.

I have the mysterious "B" (no "A"), which doesn't seem to do anything, and also a Clear function for my PVR Activity, plus 3 other commands. The weird thing is that when I go to the Customize > "Change or add buttons for this Activity: Watch PVR" on the Logitech site, only the 3 other commands are even listed - not the "B" or the Clear.

Anyone know how to get rid of the "B" and/or why the Clear command isn't even listed?

I have an "A" that does the dish network receivers version of aspect changes.

FYI, Logitech has released a version of the software that works on Intel Macs finally.

I was one of them. needless to say they made a somewhat complicated thing very confusing! Even weirder, they disappeared! I don't know why or how, but I made a few adjustments on the 880 one day and they were gone. Go figure - I just hope they don't come back!