Just ordered a Harmony 900

Jules · 10-11-2009, 8:42 PM

My folks have been struggling to use their TV and freeview box since analog airwaves were switched off last week... so I decided I would donate my Harmony One and program it for them.

It sounds like such a nice thing to do doesn't it but if I'm honest it was probably all the excuse I needed to treat myself to a new Harmony 900

.

I know the 900 doesn't do sequences, but really I don't currently use them on the One so it should be the perfect remote.

Who else has a 900... are there any problems I should expect from it?

**logiciel** · 10-11-2009, 8:47 PM

So you're doing them a favour and yourself too.

It's their most reliable yet - few problems get reported here - but it's the place for you to come if any arise.

Jules · 14-11-2009, 2:01 AM

Well, the Harmony 900 has arrived and I've just been trying to set it up.

It's a very nice piece of hardware, but the software has far too many annoying bugs in it which has made this process far more painful than it was with the One.

1) If you learn any new commands for a device, all the existing commands that were mapped to buttons are removed, and you have to go back and assign ALL your required commands. This doesn't affect activities... it only seams to affect device modes, but this is particularly annoying when you have spent ages sorting out pages of soft keys.

2) The software loses connection with the remote after a short time, and sometimes the only way to get it to recognise the connection again is to shut it down and close all Harmony processes in task manager before starting again.

3) The software will sometimes tell you the download to the remote has failed and you should call customer services when in fact the download has been successful.

All these plus the fact that you can't copy your previous account to the 900 (it isn't backwards compatible with previous Harmony remotes) make it a complete pain to set up.

I'm getting there, but if you buy one of these be prepared for some very annoying problems in the setup process.

I bet alot of people will give up way before me and send their unit back.
Logitech need to sort this out, the hardware is great but the software isn't ready and needs more testing.

neilball · 14-11-2009, 9:59 AM

I've used Harmonys for a while now and recently replaced my 895 with the 900 but immediatly had problems with the RF Blaster/wireless. The change from 433MHz to 2.4GHz means the RF is more easily attenuated by the construction of my house. My kit is in a cupboard about 5m from where I sit in my Lounge but it simply will not work even though the 895 worked flawlessly. I do have solid blockwork walls to get through, if I move closer to the RF Blaster (one wall less to get through) then it works, go to where I sit and it fails every time. This is after my first unit was replaced as Logitech thought it faulty - the new unit does have better range but still not good enough for me. In the end I cut the RF mini blaster cables and connected them to some Cat5e patch leads, moved the RF blaster to the Lounge and "patched" the mini blasters through my structured cabling (I used Cat5e connection blocks and simply punched down one end of a patch cord and the ground/signal wires from the mini blasters so they operated over a twisted pair), it now works as it should but then again the RF blaster is now only 2m away in the same room as the remote. If I did not have the structured cabling in place then I would have had to ditch the RF Blaster and used a different IR-RF distribution system instead which sort of defeats the reason for buying the 900 over the One.

cmclean · 14-11-2009, 3:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neilball

I've used Harmonys for a while now and recently replaced my 895 with the 900 but immediatly had problems with the RF Blaster/wireless. The change from 433MHz to 2.4GHz means the RF is more easily attenuated by the construction of my house. My kit is in a cupboard about 5m from where I sit in my Lounge but it simply will not work even though the 895 worked flawlessly. I do have solid blockwork walls to get through, if I move closer to the RF Blaster (one wall less to get through) then it works, go to where I sit and it fails every time. This is after my first unit was replaced as Logitech thought it faulty - the new unit does have better range but still not good enough for me. In the end I cut the RF mini blaster cables and connected them to some Cat5e patch leads, moved the RF blaster to the Lounge and "patched" the mini blasters through my structured cabling (I used Cat5e connection blocks and simply punched down one end of a patch cord and the ground/signal wires from the mini blasters so they operated over a twisted pair), it now works as it should but then again the RF blaster is now only 2m away in the same room as the remote. If I did not have the structured cabling in place then I would have had to ditch the RF Blaster and used a different IR-RF distribution system instead which sort of defeats the reason for buying the 900 over the One.

Wow! That's a cool idea I'm having problems with my RF module being too far from one of my rooms and therefore would like to do this so could I just ask a couple of questions.

When you cut the blaster cable are there only 2 wires?
If so would that mean that I could connect all 4 blasters over a single Cat5 outlet as I only have 2 x cat5 outlets near my TV so being able to connect all 4 via the one outlet would be really neat
Finally the punch down side is easy but what exactly do I need to get hold of the TV end to connec the blaster cable to then plug into the cat5 outlet?

Thanks in advance

**logiciel** · 14-11-2009, 3:29 PM

Jules:
Why did you have to do all that "learning"? It's unusual for a device's database entry to have many missing commands, and a note to Logitech will usually trace any that are missing. When "learning" is necessary it's better to use MyNewCommand after first renaming it, then you have both the original and the new command available to compare. The "learned" commands do apply wherever their names appear, both under the device, and under any activity that includes the device.
The remote only needs to be connected to the software for the short time that it takes to do the Update, so what is the problem you're getting about a break in the connection? The software does tend to get "timed-out" of connection to the Logitech server rather too quickly and too often though.
That message about failure when it's succeeded is new to me - Logitech support need to know about it.
It is annoying that old accounts can't be carried over, especially with the devices when the details are identical, but I recently found it took less than an hour to set mine up with 13 devices and 15 activities.

neilball: Your problem sounds like there's RF interference on the new freequency that didn't apply with the old.

Jules · 14-11-2009, 8:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by logiciel

Jules:
Why did you have to do all that "learning"? It's unusual for a device's database entry to have many missing commands

Not all that unusual when you want to add discrete commands for inputs and modes that aren't on the devices own remote.
Also for creating pseudo macros by learning in RAW.

Trust me I know what I'm doing when it comes to programming these things (and Prontos) to know when they are flakey.

Putting it into perpective I like the remote and will be keeping it, but the setup is more buggy than previous logitechs.

**logiciel** · 14-11-2009, 9:03 PM

That's interesting, that you were able to "learn" discrete input commands - they'll be useful for other owners of your devices if they get into the general database.
As they were not on the device's original remotes did you set them up in a Pronto or an equivalent, and "learn" from that?
I guess I too have done rather more programming of Harmonys than most people!
As far as I know the setup is the same for the 900 as for any other model, other than the 1000 and 1100.

neilball · 14-11-2009, 9:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmclean

Wow! That's a cool idea I'm having problems with my RF module being too far from one of my rooms and therefore would like to do this so could I just ask a couple of questions.

When you cut the blaster cable are there only 2 wires?
If so would that mean that I could connect all 4 blasters over a single Cat5 outlet as I only have 2 x cat5 outlets near my TV so being able to connect all 4 via the one outlet would be really neat
Finally the punch down side is easy but what exactly do I need to get hold of the TV end to connec the blaster cable to then plug into the cat5 outlet?

Thanks in advance

The H900 RF Blaster is not the same as the RF Extender used with the 895/1000/1100 and I've not had to cut up those so cannot be certain they are the same as the mini blasters supplied with the RF Blaster. That said I don't see why it would be any different.

All I did was cut closest to the plug end of the cable leaving about 6" of cable. The mini blasters simply had copper stranded shield surrounding an inner insulated core, a mini coax type cable without the foil shielding. I used a cyclops stripping tool to remove the outer sheath to avoid damaging the inner shield, twisted the shield to create a circular bundle and then punched both down to my preferred pair using one of these Cat5e couplers. The other side of the coupler had a Cat5e cable punched down (after I had cut it in half). I then repeated the process at the other end. Hope that all makes sense!

Now I know it works I may try making up something similar using the mini flashers from the 895 but used with the RF Blaster (it has 2.5mm jack plugs rather than 3.5mm on the RF Extender) so I can go back to stick-on emitters on my kit rather than a free standing mini blaster on each shelf next to my kit.

Jules · 15-11-2009, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by logiciel

That's interesting, that you were able to "learn" discrete input commands - they'll be useful for other owners of your devices if they get into the general database.
As they were not on the device's original remotes did you set them up in a Pronto or an equivalent, and "learn" from that?

Yep, I have a Pronto Professional and have access to lots of discrete codes for my Denon AV Amplifier. The Harmony database, as extensive as it is, has dozens of missing discrete codes... though to be fair it took alot of researching to find / generate them for my Pronto.

For example:
- I have a discrete code for setting the AV Amplifier's video scaling options
- I have discrete codes for ALL of the amplifier's surround modes
- I have discrete codes for the ALL the amplifier's Zone 2, 3 (record out) inputs
- I have created a 'pseudo' discrete power off command for the Sky HD box (sky button > delay > power button) by learning in RAW.

This is just the tip of the ice berg. There are loads more for other devices too.
It's very handy having a Pronto even if it's just to gain access to and create your own codes for the Harmony.

I doubt if they'll make it on to the Harmony's general database as I've used them for years on my previous Harmony remotes but logitech havn't bothered to add them in all that time.

zantarous · 15-11-2009, 1:22 PM

I don't think it is that uncommon to have to teach the Harmony the odd command, my TV, Xbox1 and Amp all need to be taught at least one command which was missing from the database.