Basically yes - you're looking at it incorrectly. Let's try again.
On March 13, 2008 at 03:05, Celso said...
So gave up on dedicated component command - then option
2 is the skipping - with a near 10 sec TV start up time
- the input toggle is really quite slow and inconsistent
- i would make it to Video 3 or Component 2 but never
to Comp 1 - my conclusion it won't work for my setup -
am i wrong???
It may not be working right now but it will most definitely work - you just need to set it up correctly. First, forget what the manuals and websites say. Just go into the TV device mode and try EVERY available command, especially those that have "Input" in the name, and see what they do. It is entirely possible that you have discrete (direct access) commands in the harmony database to get you to at least some of the inputs. Just try them and see.
IF you don't have discretes, it's still ok. You have to use the cycling method. If the TV takes 10 seconds to start up, then there's nothing you can do about that (but you only need to go through that once - switching activities will NOT turn the TV off once it's configured correctly - explained later). For cycling you first have to make sure the list of inputs in the harmony software EXACTLY matches the list in the TV menu - same number and same order, no extra inputs and none missing. The names don't matter, just the number and position. Make sure you answer all of the questions about what happens when the TV is turned off then back on, etc. All of these options are under Adjust Inputs under the TV device. It WILL work once you set it up correctly.
2. Power toggle's - every one of my devices seems to have
a powertoggle but no dedictated ones...so meaning i am
in activity watch a dvd and after watching DVD i want
to see a download from my media center - switch activities
- (TV is on and switches off - Onkyo is on and switches
off - Helios turns on) Having a dedicated on button sent
to the TV would tell it its already on and vice versa.
So now if i want to switch activities i need to go into
device menu's of each component to make it work
2 possibilities here: one is that you have power toggles but the software is setup for discrete commands, so the remote resends what it thinks is a discrete ON command but in reality it's a power toggle which turns it off. Again this is a setup problem. Go into the device's Adjust Power Settings menu and tell it you have a power toggle command. Problem solved.
OR the reason it turns off the TV is that you did not include the correct devices in the media center activity. By default, when you switch activities the remote will turn ON devices that are needed by that activity (if they're off) and turn OFF devices that aren't used (if they're on). You must include all devices needed in each activity. You can also check the activity option to "leave unused devices on" so that once the harmony turns on a device, it will leave it on whether the activity uses that device or not. It will turn off when you press the OFF button.
3. While in DVD activity i can control DVD player by default
but what i i want to change my onkyo to DTS surround???
Again need to go into device - onkyo - find DTS
If i am wrong and i can map all these things of various
devices into one activity then pls tell me how - and for
the other points pls explain to me if this is possible
or not
This is also a simple and common problem with 2 possibilities:
1 - you're going into Device mode for the DVD player after entering the DVD activity. Don't do this unless you need some obscure command from the DVD player. Device mode gives you access to all of the device commands (and only commands from that device). You can customize the commands you see in Device mode for each device including all of the hard buttons. You choose Customize Button configuration (or something like that - it's been awhile since I did it myself) in the Device options. Once you enter an activity you should stay there until you need another activity or you need some rarely used command for a device. You can map commands from any of the activity devices to the main activity buttons (see next section).
2 - you're in Activity mode but the buttons have not been configured. Go into the Activity options, Customize Button configuration and you can map any command from any participating device to any button (hard or lcd). e.g. you can have a command on your LCD for the Onkyo Find DTS command and next to it you can have a TV command, etc.
As an example, when you select Watch DVD and it uses the TV, the DVD player and the Onkyo, here is what should happen:
If the TV, DVD player and Onkyo are off, they are turned on. If they're already on they're left on.
The TV and Onkyo will be set to the appropriate inputs unless they are already on the requested input.
Any additional commands configured for Activity startup will be sent.
The remote is now in Watch DVD activity mode. The transport buttons (rew/ff/pause/play/etc), menu, info, exit, channel +/- etc will control the DVD player. The volume buttons control the Onkyo volume. You have LCD commands for the various Onkyo surround modes, turning CC on and off on the TV, etc.
Also be aware that the default settings for Activities are determined by the type of activity you setup. If you setup a Watch DVD type activity then the DVD controls should already be mapped to the activity buttons. Same for the volume controls and the Onkyo.
However - if you setup a generic activity or the wrong type of activity then you have to manually map all of the activity buttons.
Get your devices setup correctly for power and inputs, then create one activity of the correct type and customize the button configuration to your liking. Once you get the hang of it you can add your other activities.
