seeking Harmony Remote Gurus

[Ext User(Saus29)]

I am looking at the harmony 880 remote, is it as easy and useful to use as
the marketing gump says?
am looking for a remote that tracks what state my equipment is in without
making my head explode with macros. not sure if my gear has discrete on off
codes.
any thoughts on its suitability?
TIA

[Ext User(El Bastardo)]

G'day,

Saus29 wrote:
> I am looking at the harmony 880 remote, is it as easy and useful to use as
> the marketing gump says?
> am looking for a remote that tracks what state my equipment is in without
> making my head explode with macros. not sure if my gear has discrete on off
> codes.

I've got an 880, and it has replaced about 7 remotes. I have "Watch TV",
"Watch DVD", "Play CD", and "Radio" buttons. Each one will turn on the
relevant device, and turn off unnecessary devices, so it does track the
on/off states of the components in the system.

The website can sometimes be a pain, and you may need to teach the
remote some codes from your existing remotes.

I've had a few issues -- gap between key presses is too slow (maybe
that's a configuration setting), sometimes the remote 'hangs' -- but so
far it's been a great investment, and the wife is much happier dealing
with one intuitive remote rather than 7 head-scratching different remotes.

-- Geoff

[Ext User(Saus29)]

"El Bastardo" <ewww@dogwater.org> wrote in message
news:zFSLf.15724$yK1.9924@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> G'day,
>
> Saus29 wrote:
>> I am looking at the harmony 880 remote, is it as easy and useful to use
>> as the marketing gump says?
>> am looking for a remote that tracks what state my equipment is in without
>> making my head explode with macros. not sure if my gear has discrete on
>> off codes.
>
> I've got an 880, and it has replaced about 7 remotes. I have "Watch TV",
> "Watch DVD", "Play CD", and "Radio" buttons. Each one will turn on the
> relevant device, and turn off unnecessary devices, so it does track the
> on/off states of the components in the system.
>
> The website can sometimes be a pain, and you may need to teach the remote
> some codes from your existing remotes.
>
> I've had a few issues -- gap between key presses is too slow (maybe that's
> a configuration setting), sometimes the remote 'hangs' -- but so far it's
> been a great investment, and the wife is much happier dealing with one
> intuitive remote rather than 7 head-scratching different remotes.
>
> -- Geoff
Thanks Geoff
yes, the website, I hear it costs money to access after 2 months. is this
true and what is the cost?
I am particularly worried, the reason why I held off on a universal remote,
is that I wont be able to select the input correctly on the TV. I can press
the AV button or up and down to select between component, svid and
composite. so I wonder how it will go for sync problems. is it true the help
can fix this thru the remote's interrogating of the user??
any experience of this process Geoff?

[Ext User(El Bastardo)]

G'day,

Saus29 wrote:
> yes, the website, I hear it costs money to access after 2 months. is this
> true and what is the cost?

I've never heard of that. I haven't visited the harmonyremote web site
in a few months, but I just went back without any threats of coughing up
$$$.

> I am particularly worried, the reason why I held off on a universal remote,
> is that I wont be able to select the input correctly on the TV. I can press
> the AV button or up and down to select between component, svid and
> composite. so I wonder how it will go for sync problems. is it true the help
> can fix this thru the remote's interrogating of the user??
> any experience of this process Geoff?

I don't really understand the question, but maybe the following may help:

I've got my STB and DVD player connected to an AV receiver, which is
then connected via component to my TV. When I select the "Watch TV" or
"Watch DVD" activities, the TV is turned on and the input is set to
"component". No problems there.

If you've got different devices connected to different inputs on your
TV, then you can assign each activity to a different input. For example,
select "Watch DVD" and the TV is turned on and set to component. Or
select "Playstation" and input switches to "svid".

If you want to switch inputs within an activity (ie, watching TV on
component then switch to svid), then I suppose you can assign a button
on the 880 to take care of this.

-- Geoff

[Ext User(Saus29)]

"El Bastardo" <ewww@dogwater.org> wrote in message
news:E2XLf.15911$yK1.9559@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> G'day,
>
> Saus29 wrote:
>> yes, the website, I hear it costs money to access after 2 months. is this
>> true and what is the cost?
>
> I've never heard of that. I haven't visited the harmonyremote web site in
> a few months, but I just went back without any threats of coughing up $$$.
>
>> I am particularly worried, the reason why I held off on a universal
>> remote, is that I wont be able to select the input correctly on the TV. I
>> can press the AV button or up and down to select between component, svid
>> and composite. so I wonder how it will go for sync problems. is it true
>> the help can fix this thru the remote's interrogating of the user??
>> any experience of this process Geoff?
>
> I don't really understand the question, but maybe the following may help:
>
> I've got my STB and DVD player connected to an AV receiver, which is then
> connected via component to my TV. When I select the "Watch TV" or "Watch
> DVD" activities, the TV is turned on and the input is set to "component".
> No problems there.
>
> If you've got different devices connected to different inputs on your TV,
> then you can assign each activity to a different input. For example,
> select "Watch DVD" and the TV is turned on and set to component. Or select
> "Playstation" and input switches to "svid".
>
> If you want to switch inputs within an activity (ie, watching TV on
> component then switch to svid), then I suppose you can assign a button on
> the 880 to take care of this.
>
> -- Geoff
maybe its not true about the subscription price.
what I am saying is I don't think there is a discrete ir code to select av1
or av 3 on my tv. I have to toggle the buttons to get there, I wonder if the
880 can get around this to, and keep in sync.
thanks for your help Geoff

[Ext User(El Bastardo)]

G'day,

Saus29 wrote:
> what I am saying is I don't think there is a discrete ir code to select av1
> or av 3 on my tv. I have to toggle the buttons to get there, I wonder if the
> 880 can get around this to, and keep in sync.

The 880 can learn commands from your TV remote. If your current TV has a
button to cycle the AV inputs, then that can be be assigned to the 880.

I don't believe the 880 can remember which AV input is currently
selected, however. So it may not be possible to assign distinct buttons
for "av1", "av2", etc. But if, when the TV is turned on, it always
starts with av1, then you can probably use macros to work from there.

You may want to check out the Harmony forums at remotecentral.com for
further advice:

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-harmony/list.cgi

Maybe someone has already solved this problem.

-- Geoff

[Ext User(Saus29)]

"El Bastardo" <ewww@dogwater.org> wrote in message
news:vj6Mf.16120$yK1.2475@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> G'day,
>
> Saus29 wrote:
>> what I am saying is I don't think there is a discrete ir code to select
>> av1 or av 3 on my tv. I have to toggle the buttons to get there, I wonder
>> if the 880 can get around this to, and keep in sync.
>
> The 880 can learn commands from your TV remote. If your current TV has a
> button to cycle the AV inputs, then that can be be assigned to the 880.
>
> I don't believe the 880 can remember which AV input is currently selected,
> however. So it may not be possible to assign distinct buttons for "av1",
> "av2", etc. But if, when the TV is turned on, it always starts with av1,
> then you can probably use macros to work from there.
>
> You may want to check out the Harmony forums at remotecentral.com for
> further advice:
>
> http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-harmony/list.cgi
>
> Maybe someone has already solved this problem.
>
> -- Geoff
>
thanks for the link, I was afraid of looking at remote central because of
all the problems that cant be solved! lol
I remember talking to some guys at a cedia conference a couple of years ago
saying that RC was a double edged sword.
BTW found another problem on the forum, if I am recording on the topfield
PVR I wont want to switch it off at night, only the TV and amp, so I would
need a special off mode for that. woe is me
thanks Geoff for your replies.

[Ext User(El Bastardo)]

G'day,

Saus29 wrote:
> BTW found another problem on the forum, if I am recording on the topfield
> PVR I wont want to switch it off at night, only the TV and amp, so I would
> need a special off mode for that. woe is me

I leave my Toppy on all the time. It's functionality is controllable by
the 880, but the 880 does not turn it on or off. The TV, DVD player, and
AV receiver switch on and off via the 880, but not the Toppy.

Before bed I'll manually turn the Toppy off, and then I'll manually turn
it on again in the morning. If there's a recording scheduled for the
middle of the night, the Toppy will wake itself up.

-- Geoff

[Ext User(Michael)]

My TV doesn't have a discrete code for AV3 (component), but if you program
your universal remote to turn on using the internal tuner instead of the AV
inputs, and then switch to AV, the number of presses to get to AV3 is always
consistent, no matter what input you were last on.
Eg.
Send a '9' to turn your TV on to channel 9, then send AV 3 times after.

I tried using discrete on codes, and just selecting the AV, but that can get
out of whack; unlike the method above.


"Saus29" <myob@nosey.com> wrote in message
news:44014994$0$30854$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
>> Saus29 wrote:
>>> what I am saying is I don't think there is a discrete ir code to select
>>> av1 or av 3 on my tv. I have to toggle the buttons to get there, I
>>> wonder if the 880 can get around this to, and keep in sync.

[Ext User(Mr Q)]

Michael wrote:
> My TV doesn't have a discrete code for AV3 (component), but if you program
> your universal remote to turn on using the internal tuner instead of the AV
> inputs, and then switch to AV, the number of presses to get to AV3 is always
> consistent, no matter what input you were last on.
> Eg.
> Send a '9' to turn your TV on to channel 9, then send AV 3 times after.
>
> I tried using discrete on codes, and just selecting the AV, but that can get
> out of whack; unlike the method above.
>
>
> "Saus29" <myob@nosey.com> wrote in message
> news:44014994$0$30854$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
>
>>>Saus29 wrote:
>>>
>>>>what I am saying is I don't think there is a discrete ir code to select
>>>>av1 or av 3 on my tv. I have to toggle the buttons to get there, I
>>>>wonder if the 880 can get around this to, and keep in sync.

I've missed a bit of this so forgive me if it's already been answered:

All the Harmony remotes will remember which input you're using. If
you've set the inputs up correctly and told the remote how the TV uses
them (eg. if the TV stays on the chosen input when you turn it off and
on) you should have no problem. It doesn't need to know discrete codes,
it just knows which inputs you've got.

Of course, if you manually change inputs the Harmony will get out of
synch, but if you've got it set correctly you should never need to do it
manually.

--

Mr Q
-------------------

[Ext User(Matt McLeod)]

Saus29 <myob@nosey.com> wrote:
> yes, the website, I hear it costs money to access after 2 months. is this
> true and what is the cost?
> I am particularly worried, the reason why I held off on a universal remote,
> is that I wont be able to select the input correctly on the TV. I can press
> the AV button or up and down to select between component, svid and
> composite. so I wonder how it will go for sync problems. is it true the help
> can fix this thru the remote's interrogating of the user??

My experience with the "help" is that while it can fix the problem
when it crops up, it doesn't seem to remember what was needed so it
happens every time.

I've got a Samsung TV which automatically switches to the internal
tuner on power-on. When you press AV it switches to whichever AV
input (3 composite, 1 S-video, 2 component) was last used, and if
you need a different AV input you keep pressing AV and cycle through
them all.

The Harmony remotes don't seem to be able to deal with this. If they'd
expose some of the programming rather than hiding everything with the
stupid web "wizard" then it could probably be fixed, but their
assumption seems to be that all end-users are idiots and nobody could
ever want to get their hands dirty making the remote do something
they hadn't already thought of.

If you can get hold of one on a trial basis, give it a go. Mine
looks like it'd be pretty good if it'd handle the TV properly.

Matt