I am newbie to these programmable remotes, but I have an MX-900 which I recently purchased and am trying to learn the programming. So far it doesn't seem too bad. The only issue I am running into is when I switch devices while they are powered on. I have a Harmony 880 which when I switch from say watching tv to playing xbox, it turns off the devices the devices that it needs to and turns on the xbox, etc. Is it not possible to program the remote to do this or do I have to have separate setups? Maybe one to go to Xbox when the system is completely off and then one when the system (DVR, TV, Receiver) are already on and they just switch inputs?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

I only have 4 components

Vizion P50HDM
Harmon Kardon AVR-235
SA 8300 HD cable box
Xbox-360

Thanks

There are many ways to do this. The first way is to assign variables to denote the system is on already and to just change the things that need changing. For example - when the TV is turned on TV_VAR will get set to 1, when you hit the same button again, it will not change the TV if there is a variable check statement.

The second way is to have a press for 3 seconds to change the inputs and turn on the TV , a quick press will only change the inputs or whatever.

The third way is to have a power button assigned to turning on the basic system , an d a watch cable/watch dvd/listen CD, etc to just turn on the needed componenents .

There are probably more ways to do it , but these are the basic.

VB

fyi, vars not supported on the mx900

Variables were supposed to be planned for the MX-900 in a limited way, most especially for the Power toggle, but I don't know if they still plan on implementing that.

Sounds like he isn't using discrete power commands.

Right....no variables on the mx-900 yet so let's forget about that route for now.

Find and utilize discrete commands for power on and power off for all of your devices if they exist and reference those commands during your source/activity macros so that the desired source and its associated equipment are ON and any others that you wish to be OFF are turned OFF. Variables and harmony style programming which at times will require an ask and answer technique to determine the state of a device are band-aids for poor programming and work-arounds for devices which do not have discrete power commands.

Here's a basic example to get you started:

TV - ON
delay
Amp -ON
delay
Cable - 0
delay
Cable - Exit
delay
DVD - Off
delay
Amp - TV/DBS
delay
Amp - Surround
Goto Cable Page 1

Notice I typed ON and OFF and not power which would assume a toggle command for both on and off? So this example macro would set the system up for watching (via video switching in a receiver) and listening to a cable box (through the receiver) and turning OFF the dvd if it was ON but not ON if it was OFF. Mess around with this type of string in your macros and you'll get it.

I took the above example and added one line to the beginning. I like to double hit the amp source. Once at the very beginning so that if the system is already on it happens quickly, and once at the end in case the amp was just turned on and needs the delays before it will accept a source change.

Although this example didn't have a tv video source command, I do the same thing with tv video source, hit it once right away and once after the delays in case the tv wasn't on.

Even if you are using the receiver to change the video source, still add it to your macro (twice if you follow my advice). This way, even if it gets changed (manually or however), the system will heal itself.


Amp - TV/DBS

TV - ON
delay
Amp -ON
delay
Cable - 0
delay
Cable - Exit
delay
DVD - Off
delay
Amp - TV/DBS
delay
Amp - Surround
Goto Cable Page 1