Harmony 885 activity

[beerglass007]

I have brought a 855 over the weekend and setup most of the devices I need.
But when I create an activity to WATCH TV i'm getting a few problems.

For example....

The plasma, telewest and av amp need to be turned on.

So if you press WATCH TV when all 3 devices are in standby mode all 3 come on and is great. But if the TV was already on, then the av amp and telewest box would come on and the TV go off.

How can I get them in sync or maybe use something like discrete remote codes?

[bu5ter]

Your best bet is to ring the freephone number as chances are they may have the discreet cod4es for on and off for your tv which is what you need that way it wont turn it on and off.

I got mine at chrsitmas and am still tweaking it..its not perfect and so far im about 70% happy with it!

The tech support guys are very helpful and will make the changes you need whilst your one th phone for you and then make you test it but make sure you have a good hour free whn you call em!

[bravogolf]

Ah, I have a remote on the way was thinking about that same thing. So I need what are called discreet codes instead of whatever the normal codes are? Can this be acquired online or does one have to call the support line?

[bu5ter]

Some of them are already in there but its hit and misss depending on the kit you have!

[KingOfGondor]

this is not necessarily true

the remote has Smart State whic means it remembers what state the device is in and only adjusts it if it isn't correct

it doens't matter if you have discreet on and off codes for your tv or if it has only a toggle button, the remote shoudl still know what state it is in

[bravogolf]

Originally Posted by KingOfGondor

this is not necessarily true

the remote has Smart State whic means it remembers what state the device is in and only adjusts it if it isn't correct

it doens't matter if you have discreet on and off codes for your tv or if it has only a toggle button, the remote shoudl still know what state it is in

Cool, so when I setup a macro or activity to say "Power on amp, set to AV, turn volume to 20) but the amp is already powered on for something else it will then go ahead and perform the aforetyped macro/activity but skip the Power on amp step?

[czzer]

Originally Posted by beerglass007

I have brought a 855 over the weekend and setup most of the devices I need.
But when I create an activity to WATCH TV i'm getting a few problems.

For example....

The plasma, telewest and av amp need to be turned on.

So if you press WATCH TV when all 3 devices are in standby mode all 3 come on and is great. But if the TV was already on, then the av amp and telewest box would come on and the TV go off.

How can I get them in sync or maybe use something like discrete remote codes?

Why was the TV already on?
You need to get used to ONLY using the Harmony to turn things on or off, and ONLY using activities to do it.
ie DON'T turn devices on or off using the buttons on the devices themselves, the original remotes, or the Harmony in Device mode. Doing any of this will confuse Smart State, as it has no way of knowing you have manually changed the state of something.
If you do get something out of synch though, just press the "Help" button to fix it.

re discretes: The Harmony can use discretes if they are available. However, not all devices have discretes available for them...this is up to the device manufacturer.
If a device has discretes available they are more than likely already in the Harmony database. To check, select device mode and try any command that looks like it might be a discrete(eg PowerON, PowerOff, InputComponent).
If you find discretes, set up the Harmony to use them by selecting "Power settings" and "I have a button for ON and a different button for OFF", or for inputs select "Adjust Inputs" and "I go directly to the input I want".

If you can find a discrete in Pronto format you can get it added to the Harmony database by tech support.

[bravogolf]

Originally Posted by czzer

Why was the TV already on?
You need to get used to ONLY using the Harmony to turn things on or off, and ONLY using activities to do it.
ie DON'T turn devices on or off using the buttons on the devices themselves, the original remotes, or the Harmony in Device mode. Doing any of this will confuse Smart State, as it has no way of knowing you have manually changed the state of something.
If you do get something out of synch though, just press the "Help" button to fix it.

re discretes: The Harmony can use discretes if they are available. However, not all devices have discretes available for them...this is up to the device manufacturer.
If a device has discretes available they are more than likely already in the Harmony database. To check, select device mode and try any command that looks like it might be a discrete(eg PowerON, PowerOff, InputComponent).
If you find discretes, set up the Harmony to use them by selecting "Power settings" and "I have a button for ON and a different button for OFF", or for inputs select "Adjust Inputs" and "I go directly to the input I want".

If you can find a discrete in Pronto format you can get it added to the Harmony database by tech support.

So for me, where the amp may already be on for something else, and I select Xbox 360 which had an action to switch on the amp, would it still go ahead and continue with the rest of the actions since the amp was already on?

[czzer]

Originally Posted by bravogolf

So for me, where the amp may already be on for something else, and I select Xbox 360 which had an action to switch on the amp, would it still go ahead and continue with the rest of the actions since the amp was already on?

If the amp was turned on by the Harmony, then yes.

With a Harmony remote you don't program "macros" in the old fashioned way. Instead, you specify states that you want your devices to be in(called activities).

So when you set it up, you tell it what activities you want, what states the devices need to be in for that activity(power and input), and how you select inputs. When you then select an activity on the remote it makes up it's own "macro" on the fly to get your devices from the state they are currently in to the state required for the newly selected activity.

For example, you might set up a TV that has one button that turns it on or off(ie a power toggle), and to change inputs you press a "menu" button then select the input from a list. You tell the remote what inputs the TV has, and what commands navigate the list.

You then might set up a "Watch DVD" activity, and a "Watch TV" activity. For "Watch TV" the input needs to be "Tuner" and for "Watch DVD" the input is "Component".

When everything is off and you press "Watch TV" the remote knows everything is off and the TV needs to be on so it sends a PowerToggle command to turn it on. It then navigates the input list to select Tuner.

If you then press "Watch DVD" it knows the TV is currently on, and needs to be on for WatchDVD, so it doesn't send any power command to it. It knows the DVD player is currently off, so it sends it a power command to turn it on. It knows the TV is currently on the Tuner input, and needs to be on the Component input, so it sends the commands required to go from tuner to component.

This is the basic "Smart State" activity setup/switching process, but you can also add more control by choosing to leave unused devices ON when switching between activities and other things.
One of the other things you can do is add commands to the activity start and/or end sequences. This is where you could add commands to raise/lower/mute the volume etc which would be sent any time the particular activity was started, or stopped, depending on the settings.

[bravogolf]

Thank you czzer for that helpful post, I had hoped that would be the case (with regards to the powering on and off of devices).

My remot arrives today so am looking forward to setting everything up

[hunts1uk]

Originally Posted by bravogolf

My remot arrives today so am looking forward to setting everything up

Hope you've got a spare 5 hours. Well worth it when you have it set up though.

[bravogolf]

Originally Posted by hunts1uk

Hope you've got a spare 5 hours. Well worth it when you have it set up though.

Heh, it's arrived now. I have about two hours tonight before the missus comes home

Hopefully it can move the couch for me too then I'm sorted I wonder is the app easier to use in Windows than a Mac though ...