I did some tests tonight and here is my conclusion: The Harmony One does NOT send discrete input or power commands to a device if Smart State logic thinks it is already in the desired state. Maybe someone could try these tests with their remote to see if they all work this way or if it's just me.

Background:
All tests done with Harmony One (H1) remote
TV and receiver support discrete input commands and H1 is set up to use "Method 2" for switching inputs
TV and receiver support discrete power on/off and H1 is set up to use separate on/off commands
Activity 1 and Activity 2 both include the TV and receiver devices


Test 1: Does H1 send discrete power on to all devices in an activity when switching to that activity?
Start with everything off
Select Activity 1; everything powers up OK
Use OEM remote to turn off TV
Select Activity 2; TV does not turn on

Test 2: Does H1 send discrete input commands to all devices in an activity when switching to that activity?
Start with everything off
Select Activity 1; everything powers up OK
Use OEM remote to switch the Receiver input to a different input
Select Activity 1 again; Receiver does NOT switch back to the correct input

Conclusion: H1 does NOT send discrete input or power commands to a device if Smart State logic thinks it is already in the desired state.

My opinion: This makes the Harmony remote less robust than it should be. In the real world there are many situations where the Smart State can get out of sync with the True State. To avoid this problem, the remote should always transmit discrete power and input commands for all the devices that support discrete codes when an activity button is pressed. The current design requires frequent use of the Help button to correct out-of-sync situations.